Our (a little bit too) eventful trip to the north!

So, the entire time I've been in Morocco I've been dying to travel to the north! I love the Mediterranean and I really wanted to see Chefchaouen (a city that is painted entirely in blue because of its Spanish Jewish background). I've been waiting 7 weeks for this trip and finally we went!

We got together (three of my classmates + my host sister) and planned the trip. We decided to stay in a town called Tatouen which is on the coast and only an hour away from Chefchaouen. We booked an ocean-view apartment in a nice resort (pool included) and split the cost five ways. 

Friday came and I rushed home from school to pack, only to arrive home and find out that my host sister actually would not be able to make the trip because she had to go to Fez to take a test. Cue major panic. Since we were splitting the cost five ways, it would be 20% more expensive without her and therefore impossible. After about two hours of pulling our hair out, another classmate decided to join the group and make us five again (thank goodness).

In order to get to Tatouen you have to take a train from Meknes to Tangier and then a grand taxi from Tangier to Tatouen. The train was excruciating. It broke down several times and the weather was stifling. We got to Tangier about an hour later than expected and stopped to grab dinner. We agreed on a price with the taxi driver in exchange for taking us to Tatouen and we set out on the road again. When we arrived the taxi driver demanded 100 more dirhams because of traffic (major eye rolls). 

We enter the hotel and show the staff our booking, to which the immediately reply: Oh, that's a scam.

[If you can't tell, the theme of this trip is absolute mayhem]

Apparently, the person put up the ad using the name of an established and credible resort (that is not actually located on the ocean) and expected us to pay up front upon arrival. Luckily, the man working the desk at the resort was INCREDIBLY nice. He understood that we were foreigners and it was midnight and we had nowhere to stay. He kindly called a friend and got us an apartment on the harbor with air conditioning for the same price that the ad offered. So, after much debate among the group, we headed to the new apartment.

Saturday: There had been some debate about whether or not the group wanted to stay in the apartment since it didn't actually have an ocean-view and there was a small contingent (aka one person) who wanted to go back Tangier for the weekend. We agreed to get a quick breakfast and then make a decision. Turns out, quick breakfast isn't a thing in Morocco, so after much more discussion we decided to just stay in Tatouen, go to Chefchaouen on Sunday, and get a long breakfast. 

Breakfast on the harbor was one of my favorite parts of the trip. We had a killer view and the cafe made excellent omelets and fresh orange juice. Here are some pics from our breakfast joint.

 After breakfast we went for a dip in the ocean and spent the rest of the day laying around on the beach. The highlight of the day for me: double chocolate magnum ice cream bars.

The next morning I got up and found everybody else very unwilling to get up in time, so were unable to go to Chefchaouen (however, I will make it a point to visit if I'm ever in Spain or Morocco again). We took a ride back to Tangier and spent the day wandering around the city before we got on the train back to Meknes. The train pulled in at midnight and I didn't get to sleep until about 2am (spoiler: I slept the entire next day).