The Camera That Almost Got Away

NOTE:  As of January 17, 2012, I have moved my blog to my new website:  www.onegirlsadventures.com

I will still be doing duplicate posts on this website for the next 6 months or so, but plan to close it down after that.  Please go to my new website and subscribe!!

MERCI BEAUCOUP!

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It is early morning in Chefchaouen, Morocco...well early morning for me, 6:47am.  I just heard a burro bellow out and a rooster sing.  I am snuggled all up in my cozy bed at probably one of the cutest Bed and Breakfasts I have ever been in.  It is run by a Spanish couple from Malaga, Ana and Carlos.  Ana designed and decorated the whole place.  She used bright, bold, warm colors, lots of beautiful tiles and different textiles.  The result is beautiful...to top it off, their B&B is at the very top of the old Medina here in Chaouen so the views from the terrace are beautiful and vast.  Ana told me that I can take breakfast up there this morning if it is sunny out...I am hoping it is.  Best part too is that breakfast is between 9am and 10:30am....so I can be particularly lazy this morning :)!  Yay!

The reception area of La Casa Palma.  Ana served me a delicous orange upon my rather late arrival.  The bus from Casa took about 8 hours (I was told 5!)...during that time I only consumed one bag of hazelnut cream filled wafer cookies.  A little fruit was definitely appreciated.

My bed...which I am enveloped in right now!!

I will take a picture of the bathroom too...just everything is so cute, clean and colorful.  Plus the mattress was comfortable.

That is Carlos with my bag!  Like I wrote above, they are located at the top of the old Medina....and is not accessable by cars, just old winding paths that go straight up.  Chefchaouen at night was brilliant.  I was here 2 years before but had forgotten what a pretty and character filled city it is....Issaquah is lucky to have it as its sister city.

Although I arrived in Chaouen just fine, my departure from Casa was not without incident....which I am becoming use to in my travels :).  Drama tends to speckle this adventure...but I guess that is what makes it such.  My bus left at 1:15pm from Casa, so my plan was to take a leisurely stroll in the morning, grab coffee and walk through the old medina and kasbah in Casa...easy plan...but then fate took grip :).

This was breakfast in Casa...pretty much the perfect way to start any day...cafe au lait, pain au chocolat and  sitting out on the sidewalk of a beautiful city that is just waiting for you to explore it.

This is where the trouble started.  The guy motioning to me in the picture is my self imposed guide, Mohammed.  He found me just as I was leaving the medina to head back to the hotel to checkout, collect my things and then head to the bus station.  The schedule was well worked out in my head with little time for deviation...however, he did convince me that I needed to see an older part of the kasbah.  I looked down at my cell phone clock and decided I could spare a few minutes, but nothing more.

The old medina is like a maze...a very big maze that is jammed full of vendors selling everything from traditional moroccan clothing, to fake handbags, to leather goods, to jeans, music, fruit and fresh fish.  As I was walking with my guide I was marveling at the ease he was finding his way down every twist and turn.  I wasn't paying a lot of attention to how we were getting to the places we were going as I was focused on just getting to the destination he suggested and then heading back to the hotel.  A stop made was at a vendor that had an outside stall as well as a store that we walked into at the edge of the medina.  The vendor and the guide took me into the store in hopes I would purchase something...both got their wish (I bought 2 beautiful silk scarves from the south of Morocco). As is evident from this picture, my guide offered to take a few pics of me in the store...not necessarily wanting them, I obliged. Instead of handing the camera back to me, he put in on a pile of scarves.....uh oh....and I forgot to pick it up on my way out the door....bigger uh oh.

The time to walk between the old Medina and my hotel took about 15 minutes.   It was about 1/2 way back to my hotel that I realized that I had left my camera behind...but I couldn't turn back...I only had a few minutes to get back to the hotel to check out on time....and I still had to pack-up...and I had to be at the bus station in 30 minutes.  I thought the easiest plan would be to check out, take a cab back to the old medina, hopefully find my way back to the store and then get dropped off at the bus station. It was as this point I started running...there was a lot to accomplish in a short period of time.

I packed up and checked out in about 2 minutes :).....when asked about a cab, I was given a look that made me realize that wouldn't be an option at all.  Apparently I needed a cab when everyone in Casa needs a cab and therefore the chance of getting one was zero.  This meant I give up the camera or I start running.....I started running.  What took me 15 minutes to walk, took me 5 minutes to run...and when I say run, I don't mean jog or light gallop, I was doing what you see people do in airports when they have 2 minutes until the door of their flight closes and they are on the opposite side of the airport.  Oh, the looks I got...some of the people I had already passed running on the way back to the hotel, so I am sure I was raising eyebrows, "crazy American!"  I got to the Medina still determined I would find the shop...but then after about 7 minutes of just becoming more and more lost with every turn I took I started to feel the onset of dispair.  I asked people if they recognized me or could help me get to the store where I bought the scarves...people wanted to help, but just couldn't.  I looked down at my cell phone clock.. it was 12:22pm...I had to be at the bus station in 8 minutes and still had to get back to the hotel to grab my bags...my body and spirit gave up in that minute. BUT then I got a tap on my shoulder.  I turn around probably looking like my kitten just died :) to find a young teenage boy.  He asked me if he could help...I almost said no, but just decided to let him know why I looked so sad.  The determination I had lost, he must have found...cuz he was going to find my camera for me...and he knew the time restraints so together we RAN through the medina.  He made several stops at scarf stores, but they weren't the right ones...finally at the 3rd one, I motioned that I actually walked through the door of this store.  That is where the light bulb went on in his head....he grabbed me and started running again....in 30 seconds we were extactly at the store where I left my camera.  OH MY did I give that kid the biggest hug!  The vendor had the camera right where I left it so I grabbed it...it was now exactly 12:30, the time I was suppose to be at the bus station.  The boy tried to get me a cab, but to no avail...I had to run again, so I did!  Sweat dripping and with a bright red face, I arrived back at my hotel.  The man at the reception called me a "champion" for doing what I did :)...he also told me that although I was past the point where I needed to be at the bus station, I would be fine.  He insisted that I just walk slowly to the bus station with my things cuz my body can't take any more :)....I didn't fight him.  I collected my things and made way to the bus station.  I arrived in plenty of time as my bus left late...the first thing I did was suck down a Fanta Citron :).  I am not sure any drink has tasted better.  What a relief...and what an angel that young boy was.  I gave him 200 dinars as a small thank you (about $23...about a tenth of the cost it would have been for me to replace the camera)...I think it was a small miracle that it was found...and just a another example of how kind and great people are in every nation.

I am going to hit the shower now...Chefchaouen awaits!  And boy will I be taking pictures of it today!!!! :)