Morocco Blues

I arrived in the town of Chefchaouen, in Morocco's Rif Mountains, from Tetouan earlier today, two strikingly different towns only 90 minutes apart by bus. Tetouan, not far from Tangier, doesn't attract many tourists and is thus a more traditional kind of town. Now during Ramadan, for example, at the break of fast after sunset it is practically impossible to get even a cup of coffee or tea at a cafe until the locals are finished eating. Here in the tourist town of Chefchaouen on the other hand, not only can you get dinner and drinks at sunset, the tourists eat and drink out in the open throughout the day, as if unaware of the fact that practically 100 percent of the local population is fasting. Chefchaouen is a well-known place for tourists to come to buy hash. While walking around town it is on offer about everywhere. But today not only hashish smokers are attracted to Chefchaouen; the town is evolving into a more gentrified, mainstream tourist destination for families and kids as well. Chefchaouen is also known for the lovely pale-blue wash on many of the buildings, first used here in the 1930s by Jewish refugees. In fact the color is so prevalent, on buildings, clothes, souvenirs, etc, that after spending a few days here you can't help wondering whether some of the residents don't eventually tire of all this blue everywhere.