Freezing...

Man, who knew that Morocco could be so cold?

I'm in Chefchaouen (spelling debatable... pronounced Shif-Shao-in) right now, a small mountain town tucked into the Rif mountains, right on the edge of kif (marijuana) country.  The computer here sucks, so my entry will have to be brief, but there is a lot of pot around here.  every time you walk through Plaza de Uta Hammam (the main square in the medina), you get solicited like ten times.  The russian thing is working so far, though.

My last night in Fes, I caught up with those two American girls and we went out for dinner and tea in the medina.  It was a great time, ended up hanging out and talking with them until like 11:30 and catching a cab home.  Cool girls, and if nothing else, it was someone to joke around with for a few hours.

so i made the five-hour trek to chefchaouen yesterday by bus, got assaulted by offers for restaurants, hotels, and pot as soon as i got off the bus, and checked into the Pension de Castellanas, which is actually a great little traveller's hotel right off the main square.  The people are nice, they speak good Spanish, and I met some Swiss kids from Valais (the province where Zermatt, my favorite town in the world, is).  Went out for dinner with them and then hung around the courtyard of the hotel.

So yeah, good times, except i fear i may have miscalculated on time spent in each place.  There's not much else in the way of things to see or do or places to stay in Morocco's northeast, and I flat-out refuse to go to Tangier (there are some things i just won't put up with), so i may be here in chaouen for awhile.  maybe a week, do some hiking and some wandering around.  the hotel's better and cheaper than anywhere else i've been so far in morocco, and the town's less crowded and the risk of pickpocketing is less here than it is in the major cities.  that in itself is respite enough.