Thursday, Sept 12th, Chefchaouen, Morocco

Greetings!

Morning departure on a travel day means getting your bags out in front of your room by 8am, having a variable buffet (with an omlete chef and table service for drinks) breakfast by 8:30, and boarding a bus at 9am.  Depending on how much gear we unpacked the night before, it means making sure that we haven't left any electronic adapters or cables behind, and that the clothes and bathroom supplies are packet.  I inevitably leave my shampoo in the shower.

Zack is one of the youngest guides at Overseas Adventure Travel, with seven of their tours on his resume.  His enthusiasm for learning, his attention to detail, and exceptional sense of humor, make him perfect for the tasks.  We are enjoying him immensely, and feel comfortable we are in good hands.

We're surrounded once again with seasoned travelers, and are enjoying the fruits of many adventures between them.  Most have chosen OAT in the past, and it''s been interesting hearing about their experiences with the company.

Except for a stop at an entertaining barbecue restaurant, our drive north and east from Casablanca was a long educational talk helping us with basic communication and Morocco 101.  Late afternoon found most of us asleep while we passed through a series of towns named after the day they hosted community markets. 

I've been looking for birds, and only finding snowy egrets and some stork nests.  The photo I took long ago in Spain titled "Cranes in Spain" featuring stork nests on the tops of building cranes were probably related to those here.

Our final stop (Chefchaouen) is a beautiful town, full of blue buildings and a fort built in 1471 to defend the area south of here against the Portuguese and their colonial ambitions.  For a Berber tribal community, whose future protection depended on Spain, France, and the      Arab world, Chefchaouen seems like a place to spend the night and take stock of the country.

To see more photos taken today, click on Thursday, Sept 12th, Chefchaouen, Morocco.