al hoceima

al hoceima is a city on the northeast coast of morocco, along the beautiful mediterranean ocean. a few weekends ago (this post is late), four of my friends and i rented a car and drove out to al hoceima for the weekend, while the rest of the CLS program headed down to the sahara to ride some camels and roll around in sand. i actually might have loved going down to the sahara, but it was about that point in the program where i really needed to get away from those whom i frequently (daily) feel the urge to punch in the face.

and i don't think i could have made a better decision. al hoceima was one of the best cities i've visited so far. and, i saw the king. as much as i liked chefchauen for its blue buildings and shameless catering to tourism, i like hoceima because it wasn't quite like that. and because the king was there.

so, we took this trip on a weekend we happened to be given friday off classes, about mid-way through the program. we got the rental car around 4 in the afternoon that thursday, and started our long drive out to hoceima. the drive was beautiful and slightly treacherous. unfortunately, i wasn't feeling confident enough in my manual-driving abilities to take the wheel on any part of this trip, despite all the practice i got driving karl's car up the hills of kalamazoo this year. anyway, we arrived in hoceima around midnight (maybe a little later), only to be greeted by tons of moroccan flags and banners lining the streets, as well as news that there were 'no' rooms available in all of al hoceima because the king was in town. which, of course, turned out not to be true... we found a room. it just wasn't the most ideal room in the city. so, after we found out that the king was in town, and finally found a room, we fell asleep.

the next morning, i was supposed to be everyone's alarm clock, but decided to be generous and let us all sleep an extra hour or so. (hey, i was tired too.) so, by the time we all got up and moving it was about 10:30-11:00. and we moseyed over to a cafe across the street for some coffee and croissants. then we jumped in the car and headed toward the beach. as we were driving through town, toward the port, we noticed a strange crowd standing behind barricades, lining the street we were driving down... and it dawned on us that the king would be passing by soon. so, we hurried to find a parking space, got yelled at by some guards, and made it out to the street in time to see the king drive by in his rover after friday prayers. it was cool. he waved.

then we spent the day at the beach.

the next day, we intended to do some hiking. but had some unfortunate complications that involved two poorly-labeled national parks on either side of al hoceima, with neighboring cities that had almost identical names, and and unclear guide book... it was very, very confusing. and we ended up doing a little off-roading in a car completely unsuited for it. ever heard of a picanto? don't take them off road.

eventually we found somewhere to climb around for a while. and afterward, we spent a few hours playing frisbee on the beach. then, we ate dinner, drank some wine on a beach, and went to sleep.

and we were fortunate enough on the drive home to find great frickin radio stations and see lots of keef fields....