Another Weekend, Another Vacation

I don't know how it's been almost a week since I last posted anything. Perhaps it's because the weekends always go by so quickly. This last weekend we went on another trip, this time to Chefchauen and Tetwan, which are about 2 hours away from Tangier.

There's a lot of blue decoration in Chefchauen.

Chefchauen is probably my favorite city that we have visited so far. It's beautiful. It's a rather small city, settled into the mountains. There are also waterfalls nearby, but I didn't have time to hike to them. However, I might go back during one of our upcoming free weekends. I took a lot of pictures, which you can view here (28 new ones at the end of the current album).

View of the mountains from our hotel.

The city is very laid back. The weekend essentially consisted of shopping, eating, hiking, and swimming. Not too bad at all. The city is especially known for it's wool and its artwork. It was warm trying on wool clothing, but I did make some purchases.

One of the things that I've noticed is how the articles that we are reading in class are affecting the way that I look at things in Moroccan society. For example, we spent a bit of time reading about drugs and begging in Morocco. For the first (and second time) this weekend, I was asked if I wanted to smoke hasheesh, which apparently is pretty popular here...not to mention the marijuana farm that was just off our hiking trail...

Mosque on top of the peak near our hotel.

But what really is bothering me is the people who beg on the streets. There are a lot of them, and I always feel so badly when I pass by them, especially if they are holding a child. We read an article about how these people will purposely use children as part of an act to get more sympathy and more money. So whenever I see beggars, I wonder if they are really as bad off as they appear...and then the thought that I am even considering this makes me angry at myself. So usually I just walk by them, struggling with understanding them...

Hanging out under a tree during our hike.

The most unique thing that happened in the other city we visited (Tetwan) was when we were walking through the medina and saw two WHOLE (yes, everything), skinned cows on a cart, on the way to the butcher's store. It was totally gross. Give me camel hooves hanging on a hook any day...

Oh, and the king was in town that day, but we unfortunately didn't get to see him, just the opening of one of the huge doors to one of his palaces.

Happy Monday!