Beni Mellal and Ouzoud

This past weekend, a group of us went to Ouzoud to check out the waterfalls. It was quite the adventure to say the least. Our teacher let us out of class at 4:00 and we had to catch a train across town at 4:30. So we booked it, and thankfully made it on time. We took a 1-hour train ride to Casablanca where we had plans to walk to the bus station, however once we got there, all the tickets were sold! So we had to come up with plan B....take a taxi.

The ride was about 3 hours long. As you can see from the photo, lanes do not matter. Let's just say that the driving is a lot different here. While leaving the city, 2 guys got in a fight in the middle of a traffic circle. Like...one guy went up to the taxi (not ours) and started yelling at the driver. They yelled and yelled, and the guy standing up started swinging his arms. The driver then got out. It was freaky. Our cab driver laughed at us because we were all screaming. We didn't see much more because we kept driving, but oh man...

We had reservations for a hotel for 2 nights in a town called Beni Mellal, about 2 hours away from Ouzoud. We got there around 10:45 pm and went to bed. The next morning, we woke up and left for Ouzoud in another grand taxi around 9:00 am. The drive was very scenic, as Ouzoud is in the Atlas Mountains. :-)

When we arrived in Ouzoud, we were greeted by a guide waiting for tourists so he could bring us around. The price was decent, so we went with him. We walked down a steep "path" and arrived at an un-busy part of the falls so we could swim. He even showed us places where we could jump into the water! It didn't look like it was that high above the surface, but once you were standing on it, it totally was. I jumped twice. It was really fun!

The water was surprisingly cold, but it felt so good compared to the humidity and heat outside. I stayed in the water until we decided to bounce.

We went to a cafe that looked out over the falls. The food was good and the view was quite nice. Before that, we took a group picture. :-)

There were also monkeys in the wild! They would actually come up really close to you. They were kinda cute :-)

On the way back up the mountain, we took the normal path, so I didn't feel like I was going to die. It was really steep and made Cardiac Hill in Pittsburgh seem like a bump. Needless to say, we made it up alive and rode back to Beni Mellal for the rest of the evening.

The next day, we slept in pretty late, grabbed some food, and then caught a bus to Casablanca. Interestingly enough, the CMT bus isn't as sketchy as Greyhound, which I found quite surprising. We then took a train from Casablanca to Rabat and got back at 7pm, giving us enough time to grab some food.

On Friday, King Mohamed made a speech in regards to the constitutional amendments. Apparently, some people were unhappy and there were 3 protests scheduled to take place, one of them being in Rabat in front of the Parliament building, which just so conveniently happens to be right next to the train station. Thankfully, the protest didn't happen, so we all made it home safely without getting caught up in any trouble.

In terms of normal, everyday life, I really love my Arabic class, my new friends, and pretty much everything about Morocco. The food is really good, but it's cooked with a lot of spices. My host dad made a comment today at lunch that I really don't eat very much. I'm actually quite surprised...I eat as much here as I do at home (in terms of portions), but it really isn't that much! If I say I only want a little bit of food, I get a smaller heap, but it's still quite large. I thought I ate a lot, but apparently I don't!! I thought Americans ate a lot, but I can honestly say that the Moroccans beat us! (Only I think we're a fatter nation because our food isn't as healthy.) I'm thinking I'll lose some weight here because I don't eat as much as everyone else, we walk a lot, and it's really hot. The only thing that's hard to avoid is the carbs...bread is eaten at EVERY meal and it is essentially it's own food group. I try not to eat too much bread because I don't want to carbs to blow me up.

This weekend, we will be going on our southern excursion to Marrakech and Essaouira! I am so excited, but it will be really hot. And I'm going to the hammam again today! My days are very busy and it's hard to find the time to post blogs, send emails, and get all of my homework done. It can get a little overwhelming, but I'm managing quite well and I'm still having fun!