Chefchaouen, Morocco
Thé à la menthe, with Orange Blossom, encore.
Rachid calls us his “clients” now.
Café SW of the Chefchaouen Medina Main Square
Waking up, without a schedule - that’s luxury. We knew we had to get another mint tea from Rachid (we finally learned his name) and see if “The Man with the Beard” opened his shop today. After a nice breakfast of msemen - Moroccan crêpe, unpasteurized butter and farmer’s cheese, we ambled down the hill.
It is the weekend, which means that this sleepy hamlet is now awake and lit: Moroccan tourists from Fes and Tanger making day trips, Spanish tourists flying in for long weekends. There are more street vendors, more crowds, more people hustlin’. Including, a cute 6-year-old boy, who was selling small coin purses and kitchy keychains. He didn’t have to say a thing. With that face, we couldn’t help ourselves. 10 dirhams? Sure.
At exactly mint tea o’clock, we headed over to Rachid’s and had tea. Three days in a row, we’re on first name basis. And we learned a bit more about his hustle, which - in addition to his baller mint tea game, includes an organic foods business and education program in the local schools that teaches environmental sustainability. Because it was our last day in Chefchaouen, he comped us a b’ssara, a warm fava bean soup, served with bread. It was surprisingly easy to eat, despite the 32º C weather. ¯\(ツ)/¯ Our farewell included a selfie, naturally.
“The Man with the Beard” is in the business of leathercraft. He makes bags, belts, shoes. He also makes these cute little shoes in miniature for keychains. We made it our mission to get one and after two attempts (closed early on Thursday, closed all day on Friday), we finally did! We struck up a conversation in English, Spanish, and French - at once, picking from all three of ours’ limited vocabulary to learn more about his wares. He was pleased to learn we were from San Francisco. “Ahh! California!”
We’ll end by saying that the recent EgyptAir Crash has rattled us a bit. It is very much on our minds. Leading up to this trip, we watched the travel climate get more and more tense (Paris, then Brussels) and we prepared ourselves for it - tactically and emotionally. But, with recent events, it’s like we’re starting all over again. Bryan - more than Yennie, has been walking us of out of our own heads about it. 😔
N/A, “No/Alcohol”
