The town of Chef Chaouen is just north of Fez and my way to Tangier. The entire mood of Morocco has changed for Ramadan. During the day, there is not much going on. Tired shop owners sit on stools outside their shops. They no longer make an effort to try to get you into their shops. They are barely staying awake most of the time. Only tourists can be seen eating. If you're not in a restaurant and eating in public people get mad at you.
All the buildings follow the same paint motif in blue and white. It is chalky and rubs off easily as we unfortunately learned. There is a football (soccer) game on the hills outside of the city. We walk by it on our way to the hill with a mosque overlooking the city. The entire city slowly lights up as the calls of prayer echo in the distance.
After the evening prayer call the city comes to life. A giant feast goes on in the main square area. You can only see guys out at night drinking tea. Moroccans drink mint tea with a more than ample dose of sugar. That is the activity of choice for post feast activities for Moroccans. The activities don’t end until early in the morning. Throughout the night there are sounds of drums and bugles. The bugle or trumpet sounds start around 3 or 4am. The first bugle blows and then throughout various parts of the city other bugles join in. It almost sounds like a prehistoric war/attack signal.
It is here that the three Brits and I part ways. They are leaving for tangier and heading to Gibralter to fly back. This is also my route but my flight is much later than theirs. At the hostel in Chef Chaouen, I find two Aussies that are also on my travel plan. We are both heading to Asilah to check out the beaches there before heading to Tangier, overland to Gibraltar.
The first photo is very much like a painting, especially the door steps.
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