#Morocco 24.12.23

Today is December 24th, but here it feels like a normal day. There are very few Germans at the campsite, the people from Pfarrkirchen drove on today, but it was funny and a little strange when I heard them say "Merry Christmas!" at 7 a.m. was welcomed, because that wasn't on my radar at the moment!

For Muslims this is not a holiday in itself, because Jesus is honored as Issa in Islam, but celebrations take place on other days, but they are very open-minded here, one of the guides today also said "Merry Christmas".

What can I say about our second full day in Morocco other than I still find the country exciting and magical?

But again, thanks to a hiking app, we had found another hike that we thought would be easy to do, so we drove to Akchour so we could see the waterfalls and hopefully the Bridge of God.

The bridge thing failed because of the path because it wasn't easy enough for Christian to walk on for our Mutschl Nerone. There were a few places where he would have had to jump quite a bit, but that didn't necessarily have to be the case. Overall, we noticed on the hike that Moroccans react differently to black dogs. There were the people who then shouted WAUWAU, the others who stoically walked past us and also the people who squeaked back and partially hid. Overall it was still relaxed because the street dogs also accompanied us part of the way. The nice café owner wouldn't have been shy, but Christian actually preferred to take the tray and the like from him, because Nerone in particular has a real sense of people's fears and then takes an extra sniff.

I am still amazed by the people here, they are extremely friendly and always say hello. Cynics will say that they have to say hello because of course almost everyone wants to sell you something, but I vehemently disagree with that. We are always greeted on hikes or walks, occasionally congratulated after nice doggies and even spoken to in German, it almost never happens with anything else in mind.

If I go to the shopping streets of Chefchouen, it's of course completely different, you're constantly being chatted up, but you can also say "No, thank you!" in a nice way. say, then they'll leave you alone.

We then drank a mint tea right at the waterfall. It was from the young man who told us that it would take us about 15 minutes to get to the waterfall and about 2 hours to get to the bridge. He was happy that we stopped by his place.

Today we experienced pure Morocco, off the beaten track, because we chose a restaurant where no tourist bus or motorhome will stop. It was great because the chef probably didn't expect it, he didn't speak English, French or Spanish, but we managed it together and actually got our food, tagine, and way too much. I think that's Moroccan hospitality, it works even without a common language, and the people are wonderfully generous! We don't really know that anymore from our faster, further, more society, it's so refreshingly different!

We have now also stocked up on a Moroccan gas bottle and our water supply, everything is ready for this evening, but thanks to the opulent lunch I will probably only be able to bring down a little something.

What was also great for me was the secret collaboration between my husband and one of my best friends; the Christmas surprise was definitely a success! THANKS!

We had already received the matching fairy lights and a self-painted picture from my nephew, which we both appreciate very much. Today the fairy lights were used as a Christmas decoration and make it cozy and cozy!

Merry Christmas to everyone reading this today or in the next few days!