Northern Morocco adventure
Sorry for the long lapse in entries! hope you enjoy…
On a normal Tuesday at work I had my post-lunch day dream session, where I floated off into la-la land. However, this time I snapped back with an idea to go north to Spain… on Friday. I called Said and some friends and managed to round up the usual ‘maybes’ and ‘we’ll sees’. However, this time it came true. At the last minute, Friday afternoon, I managed to confirm three others. By 7 pm the 4 of us were packed in the car and heading north. Not to Spain however, but rather to Chefchaouan and Akchour.
Entrance to Akchour...through the valley into the canyon.
We arrived to Chefchaouan by 1 AM and 20 min later we had found a hostel and was lounging on the roof watching the mist fill the valley below. All under a bright starlit sky.
profile of Said
Typical Sakina
Rita & Mint
The next morning we took the typical Moroccan breakfast, tea and b’simin, and lost ourselves within the blue alleys of Chefchaouan. For those of you not familiar with Chefchaouan, imagine a fairy tale of a town carved into a mountain side. All of the streets as narrow as two arm spans. Streets so crooked that within the next 50 meters you don’t know whether it will have you turn left, right, drop down or climb up. Following any alley long enough will lead you to the entrance of one of the plazas. The main plaza is lined with cafes and accompanied by the sound of pouring mint tea while old men chattering about politics and last night’s events.
Many Moroccan town tend to adopt a color to identify with. Chefchaouan’s color is blue. The houses are blue, the walls of the alley’s are blue, and even the cobblestones are blue.
typical Chefchaouan stall
Sakina, Said and Rita
Sakina with a view of Chefchouan below
Chefchouan in the summer is sizzling. There’s a few streams that run through the area’s valleys. One of these streams runs through the town itself. Its a mountain stream so its clean and crisp. The locals use it for the town’s drinking water, hamams, laundry and also for recreation. Below are some pictures of some local kids jumping off the local bridge into a small pond. The water was about chest deep at most.
first kid in mid air to attempt jumping from the highest point.
mid flight
Belly flop
about to ruin someone's peace with a splash. Reminds me of me and my brother
one in out the other
After one night we decided to head over a few valleys and find a place some friends told me about where we can jump off cliffs into rivers and lakes. We found out its called Akchour. As we approached we saw that this particular valley captures all of the clouds and moisture. Once you enter the valley you can see the difference in color. Akchour is incredibly green compared to the surrounding valleys and the local stream is much larger. We got lucky and ended up renting the local water and parks officer’s cabin. He lives there for part of the year when doing research and measuring the river’s flow and height. There are two main hikes in the valley and one leads you to a very impressive natural bridge that spans the sides of a canyon.
natural bridge. below, the stream snakes through vegetation. Said and i followed it swimming and climbing over small waterfalls. There was no one around because its quite difficult to make it through. needless to say it was incredibly serene.
Sakina with a view. Taken by Rita.
Said coaxing Rita into the water. The water was quite cold.
Said at the waterfall's edge
Said in mid air
There were a few great cliffs to jump off. The highest jump off point had a sketchy scramble leading up to it. We watched a local climb to the tallest point, over 50 feet, and proceed to dive. However his dive was a shallow dive that looked like a stall in air. Its so that when he hits the water he doesn’t go deep. A good thing too, because his landing was a small opening in the river at the base of a waterfall. He’s pictured below. I attempted to slow the shutter so to blur the background. I’m not entirely happy with the end result, but what did come out very interesting was his landing. The shape of his splash resembles that of an angel. Its as if the picture shows the mid transformation.
This guy scaled a rock face 50 feet high to do a delayed dive into shallow water. i tried to use a slow shutter to blur the background.
His landing. As if the water has transformed him to an angel.
