Far from Home

From the moment I stepped off of the ferry in Morocco, I felt conspicuous, confused, lost, and nervous for the first time in my travels.  I had to walk about a half a mile to my meeting point and I spent most of the time getting there refusing help from a great number of local 'tour guides' who could offer me...well, anything I wanted really.  Especially a hotel room, a personal tour, or the location of the nearest cash point.  One guy followed me to the nearest ATM, pointed it out to me and said "Don't you want to get some money out?"  Haha, really, does that work on people?  Another guy literally ran after me to ask if I needed somewhere to stay.  There are only so many times I can politely refuse things.  But Morocco has a way of testing that type of patience and I was just getting my first taste of it.  Happily, I found the meeting point, clamored into an 80's Mercedes taxi, and, clutching my backpack and hoped fervently that it would take me to the right place.
It did, and my adventure had begun.
There were 24 on the trip and we rode in our trusty steed, an enormous overland Merc, that would essentially be our home for the next fortnight.  It held our food, our tents, our belongings, and would take us many miles throughout the country.
Our first stop was in Chefchaouen (chef-showen (kind of)) a city of about 35k founded in 1471.  It was open to tourists only in 1956 after Moroccan independence.  It is a charming place with brightly blue colored buildings throughout the old town and our tour somehow felt obtrusive as we wound through less touristy back streets admiring the bright blue buildings, and amused by local children who delighted in our presence.
It was a great, relaxed day here complete with dinner in the city center that evening.
We set up our first camp and much to my surprise/delight were were camping in a proper camp site which was an experience in itself.  Throughout the trip we reveled in finding actual toilets, getting the key to the one hot shower, and sleeping on the 'nice' cots.
The next day we went to Volubilis, a Roman outpost dating from the 3rd century BC.  It is fairly well preserved and has most of the modern amenities typical of Roman life.  A brothel, for example.  More importantly, it has some spectacular and very well preserved mosaics which are worth the trip.


In the afternoon we arrived in Fes and I had my evening of 'unwellness' which unfortunately robbed me of a five course dinner.  Oh well.