A Weekend in the Blue city

This past weekend the crew and I traveled to one of Northern Morocco's most famous vacation spots, Chefchauoen.  The views and the sites from the Blue pearl, as it is known, are among the most unique Morocco has shown me.  You won't find a city that looks quite like Chefchaouen anywhere else in the world.  With its blue walls and unobstructed views from near the top of the Rif Mountain Range, it was an experience I will never forget.  Additionally, about 45 minutes to an hour outside of the city is a breathtaking hike (about 2 to 3 hours there and back) to a waterfall.  I'm sure there are tons of great hikes in and around the city being so high up and close to the mountains but I was only there for a weekend so we wanted to pick the most memorable one we could find.  Accommodations were a lot better than expected in all honesty.  AirBnB is my savior as we found a beautiful little house at the top of the city with a fantastic view and only paid 30 bucks for the whole weekend!

Some things to keep in mind about Chefchauoen for interested parties, it is the weed capital of Morocco and because of that it is extremely touristy.  Marijuana probably is not the only reason but it is probably one of the primary reasons and while we were in the city walking through it we probably got approached by dealers at least 2 to 4 times on any given walk.  Also you can sometimes see the fields on the drive over from Tetuoan or Tangier.  Now because the city is so touristy it is not the best place to buy souvenirs in the souq because they jack up the prices like crazy.  I just noticed the prices of hats, bags, and the like on the street and knew it was only going to get worse from there.  As if that was not enough evidence of the impending price surge I also noticed multiple shops selling postcards; the international symbol of gift shops.  No other place that I have visited in my almost two months here have I seen a shop selling postcards.  So shoppers and knick-knackers beware, Chefchauoen is out to empty your wallet.  Not actually.  The people are very kind and are just trying to make a living but prices there are just higher than other places in Northern Morocco.  Knowledge is half the battle.

Knowledge is also winning the battle against my sanity this week.  It's probably been the hardest week of the program in awhile.  At the same time it was very rewarding though because I started practicing for our Oral exam next week to measure the progress we've made in our speaking and it was so much easier than the first time around.  For the first time in this program I can see my progress and it's very motivating but I still feel like there's so much more work to be done.  I take that as a sign that I'm in the right business if I can make this much progress in something over an entire summer and still want to push further and develop my skills to an even higher level.  It's been a very fulfilling realization for me.

Discussions get better each week with this week's discussions ranging from how Oil shaped the Gulf to Guantanamo Bay and Contemporary poetry.  I am always interested in what topics are book picks to discuss although sometimes they seem pretty grab bag.  What's more interesting is to see what articles our teachers pick for us to delve into each week and this week it was Guantanamo.  I wish they would focus more on news relevant to the Arab World because whenever I find myself in a discussion about issues in Morocco or the Arab World I feel unprepared and our News class could easily fix that issue.

I did lead a discussion about Tamazight (berber) culture in Morocco and efforts to give the Berber people more access to education and a more significant political voice.  Naturally I drifted more towards talking about language issues specifically and effort by the Institute for Amazight Culture to create a written form of Amazight to be used by all Berber people in Morocco across the 3 different dialects.  I really wanted to visit the Institute while I was in Rabat but time got away from me.  The most difficult aspect of Berber issues is that there are so many different tribes and groups that it becomes difficult for them as one to voice their concerns.  It's even more difficult when they don't have a language they share as the different dialects are not mutually intelligible.

The majority of grade school education in Morocco is done in either French or Arabic so when Berber people enter school and don't speak one of those languages they quickly fall behind.  Since Berber life is centered around the family and supporting the family many just drop out and help on the farm or around the house.  Additionally, they may sell jewelry or fabrics in a souq to make money for the family as well.  

There are a lot of movements and efforts today to expose Berber culture to the general public in Morocco but when I was trying to do research on Berber culture and social life all I found were mostly articles about the conflict between Berber culture and Moroccan culture or other topics about the problems facing Berbers.  I think this in of itself is causing the problem because no one actually takes the time to try to learn what Tamazight culture is like from the people.  While they are in the minority, there are a decent amount of people that speak both Amazight and Arabic and even French who are willing to introduce people to the culture.  If we could tap into that we could make some serious headway into ending this intercultural conflict.

Sorry this post is not as meaty but as always, I welcome suggestions on what to write about. 

Until next time,

Johnny M.