Veni Vidi Vici

After all the ups and downs from the past couple weeks and the disappointment in Casablanca, I decided that it was time to breathe some fresh mountain air up North. 

Off I went on the bus with my new friend, Hamed, on a peaceful, quite bus ride staring at the countryside and into the mountains.  We stopped and ate fish and harira soup together and I sat with Hamed and the bus driver.  As most Moroccans do, they kept saying, “Kooli, Kooli”, which means eat, eat (spelled incorrectly). At that moment, I felt a sense of relief just being around kind, down to earth individuals in the mountains and away Casablanca madness.

Arriving by bus in Tetouan, all the people exited the bus and Ahmed tells me “Atone,” which means wait. He says it is late and he will drive me over to the city centre and his friend will help me find a hotel-so kind. His friend is a tiny old man who appears to be about half the size of me. As we walk up hill, he insists on taking my bag and he carries it all the way to the top. He shows me a couple hotels, which are located in the the centre, but do not meet my expectations. I envisioned sleeping somewhere in the mountains away from the city therefore I decided to contact my host for the first night.