I'm typing this in a room in Hotel Madrid in Chefchouan, an incredible city in the Rif mountains in northern Morocco. I have to say, I love this city. Walking through the market streets in the old Medina of Chefchouan, me and some others on the program came across a carpet seller who proceeded to invite us into his shop, sit us down and bring some "Berber scotch" (despite the name, its non-alcoholic tea) to enjoy while he showed us his carpets. He kept insisting that even if we didnt buy a carpet "we are still brothers". I ended up not buying a carpet, but thanking him alot for the tea and hospitality.

That was yesterday. Today me and some others on the program decided to hike up the surrounding Rif mountains and try to reach a peak called Jebal El-Kalaa. It was an absolutely beautiful hike carved out alongside the mountain. There were patches of coniferous forest, times where you were walking under sheer cliff faces, time where you were looking out over vast hill and plains of semi arid looking land.

After a couple hours of hiking like this we came across a village. As we entered the village we almost immediately drew the attention of 10-15 young kids (6-10 years old probably). So now there were four of us hiking along with our 15 new friends. The took us off the path and we started climbing straight up the mountainside. These kids were funny and entertaining, but also mischevious. I caught one of them opening my friends backpack while he was walking and taking stuff out of it without my friend knowing. The same happened with me.

We didnt reach the summit, but made it pretty high. After soaking up the view, we quickly parted with the kids and headed back to Chefchouan.