je ne prend pas les drogues

I am now in the city of Chefchaouen in the Rif mountains of northern morocco. It's apparently the marijuana capital of the country and every asshole in the streets is trying to sell it to tourists. If you ignore them its actually a pretty nice place with huge green mountains, good weather, and the whole town is painted a very clear white and blue. Also it's got a lot less garbage than most other moroccan cities.

I got off the bus at a town called Dardalla which you will not find on any map, and soon realised i would have great diffictuly getting to the city, especially because it was a cold night. There was a gas station with a cafe across the street and I was planning on waiting there, except it had flooded or something and there was water and garbage all over the floor and the owner/staff people were sitting outside looking sad.

I then walked across the street and met some very friendly police officers who made me drink their redbull and wanted to hear my bad pronounciation of arabic words. they were pretty solid, especially when they stopped a cab heading out of town and made him turn around and drive me for a very reasonable price. moroccan police get shit accomplished.

finally found a hotel, and the next day i met a very nice australian guy. He was very different from any australians i had previously met, and i quickly found out it was because he doesn't drink. what a difference that makes. we hung out, and were walking around town, getting offered hash from everybody and they all said, "hello my friend, i have good shit, all natural, good price." every single one. same pitch every time. And it didn't matter how many times you told them you weren't interested or didn't do drugs, they'd still follow you down the street yelling at your back. One guy even offered me opium after I told him I didn't want any hash. What the hell?

After that we met up with three guys from new york and hung out in their hotel room complaining about drug dealers and carpet salesmen. When the australian guy and i got up to leave at 4am we found we were locked in the hotel and had to nap on the hard couches and it was cold as hell. woke up two hours later and the reception guys were finally there. they let us out and i slept pretty well in my hotel.

tomorrow i am going to climb the biggest mountain in this part of morocco. much love.