THUNDERSTORM IN CHEFCHAOUEN

I know a lot of people are afraid of thunderstorms, and it's a logical fear: thunderstorms can be destructive and dangerous. But personally, I love thunderstorms, always have! I don't know if it comes from the fact that my parents used to bring us outside, under the little roof in front of our front porch, and look at the lightning or count the seconds before the thunder, or from the fact that I used to be a lifeguard and used to get paid to hang around with my friends when the pool was closed for a storm, but either way, I still get as excited as a little kid on Christmas morning every time I see a storm coming in. My favorite thunderstorm ever, though, is the one that struck will my friend Gabrielle and I were in Chefchaouen.

That day had been one for the books already when we started heading back to our hostel. We had spent the day exploring the beautiful blue pearl that is Chefchaouen, taking millions (at least) of pictures and petting the kittens that seem to belong to no one, but really belong to everyone. That night, we were staying at a hostel close to the Medina. Just like every building in Chaouen, everything inside and out of that hostel was covered in blue paint of different shades. It was a small hostel with only about 20 beds and the staff was very nice and attentive, always asking if we needed anything and available to offer suggestions or just answer any question we might have, We had a great time during our stay. One of my favorite parts of this hostel was the roof top terrace where we had a 360 degree view of the city and the surrounding mountains. It was prettily decorated with lanterns and white iron furniture. It also had a solarium with one wall open where we could hang out no matter the weather. They had a sound system where we could plug-in our phone or iPod and confortable sofas.  A little piece of heaven in the middle of hectic Morocco.

That evening, Gabrielle and I were relaxing in the solarium after a long day, writing down in our notebooks, listening to some music and reading novels. The hostel staff had brought us a pile of blankets as the night was getting chilly and had lit up the lanterns and brought us some tea so we would be as confortable as can be. Late into the evening, we started seeing flashes in the distance every few minutes. At first, I thought they might be planes going through the clouds, but as the storm started coming in closer to us, we started hearing the thunder. Suddenly, the rain started pouring on the roof of the solarium and the hostel staff ran to ask us if we needed help carrying anything back inside. But neither of us had any intention of hiding inside with a spectacle as beautiful going on outside. So, hidden in our little solarium, with soft music playing in the background, Gabrielle picked-up the book of poetry she had brought along and we had been reading a few pages at a time since the beginning of the trip (Bloom, by Beau Taplin) and started reading the poems out loud and we stayed there long into the night watching as the lightning danced in the sky over the little town and the mountains and enjoying the sound of the rain on the terra cotta roofs.

​It was such a simple moment, that none of us could have planned, but to this day, it is one of my favorite moments of my trip to Morocco. Crazy right?

"HOME IS NOT WHERE YOU ARE FROM
IT IS WHERE YOU BELONG.
SOME OF US TRAVEL THE WHOLE WORLD TO FIND IT.
​OTHERS, FIND IT IN A PERSON." - BEAU TAPLIN, BLOOM