See Simi Travel Blog

Adventures of a Travel Snob

Les Cascades d’Ouzoud…

… was the location for our Oxfam-Quebec training session on Gestion Axée sur les Résultats. Ouzoud is a very small village about 7 hrs (heading south) away from Rabat, the capital of Morocco and the place I call home. We left early Friday morning and took a bus to a neighbouring town to take a “Grand Taxi” straight to the falls. The drive there was AMAZING! A wild roller coaster on winding roads through a mix of barren canyons and lush mountains. Along the way we stopped to freshen up at pipes that carry natural spring water along the mountain.

After what seemed like a long journey we arrive at this very small village of Ouzoud, which offers little more to attract the outside world except for the falls. This allows it to remain a charming, hippy-style village packed with tourists in tents, tons of souk vendorsand a string of restos and cafés that face the waterfalls.

We settle in at Chellal d’Ouzoud, a simple hotel with a terrace on the main floor for its clients to hang out. There I saw my first TARANTULA, which shared my room with a giant cockroach, Francois and myself. Needless to say, I did not sleep very well. Marie Helene and I decided to check out the offerings of the merchants, meeting up with some friends of Francois’. They took us out for tea (Moroccan mint, served extra sweet) and crèpes salés with butter and cheese. Directly in front of us were the falls, a beautiful sight inspiring thoughts of exotic escapes and paradise itself. Down below were tons of locals and tourists swimming and diving, some from some pretty impressive heights!

They then took us for a short walk, over a decrepid bridge, and up alongside the mountain to see… MONKEYS!!! My favorite! They were jumped from tree to tree and then climbed up the rocks to play at our feet. Although very cute, I was still terrified of the baby monkeys… I never really trust them! I ate couscous for dinner at the hotel and finally fell asleep in the warm embrace of Moroccan insects.

On day 2 of our trip we went on a 4 HOUR HIKE through the mountain. Strenuous, especially in the mid day sun, but well worth it. We got to see mountain set villages, go through caves, cross really slippery rock bridges and ended the trek with swimming in one of the spring water creeks! I, of course, started to complain about being hungry quite a bit towards the end, ended up sliding all over the place so much so that out guide had to practically hold my hand the entire way, slipped in one of the creeks and lost my shoes (need to gain weight if ever want to attempt to battle that current again!!!!). The guide and Marie-H recovered them for me though!

Francois, Marie Joelle and I (those two gave into my whining) joined me for “tajine de dinde” since Marie-H returned to the hotel for some R&R. We then had a really good picture session before returning to the hotel for some R&R ourselves. After dinner we returned to the hotel for a night of playing cards and drinking tea with our guide, his friend, the owner of the hotel, and César my adopted kitten for the weekend.

Newsbreak…

A tourist girl did end up going missing while we were there so at night we hung out with the guide… she still hadn’t been found when we left the next morning…

Sunday we went shopping and swimming once again before heading home. That in itself was a quasi disaster since we caught the bus at the very last minute which took us only to Casa and then had to find a train to take us back to Rabat. Sitting for four hours on an un-air conditioned bus next to a man who picked his nose and ate it AND infront of a man who sang Arabic songs to himself the entire way made the experience even more uncomfortable…but all in all, this was an amazing weekend

Les Cascades d'Ouzoud … was the location for our Oxfam-Quebec training session on Gestion Axée sur les Résultats. Ouzoud is a very small village about 7 hrs (heading south) away from Rabat, the capital of Morocco and the place I call home. We left early Friday morning and took a bus to a neighbouring town to take a “Grand Taxi” straight to the falls. The drive there was AMAZING! A wild roller coaster on winding roads through a mix of barren canyons and lush mountains. Along the way we stopped to freshen up at pipes that carry natural spring water along the mountain.

After what seemed like a long journey we arrive at this very small village of Ouzoud, which offers little more to attract the outside world except for the falls. This allows it to remain a charming, hippy-style village packed with tourists in tents, tons of souk vendorsand a string of restos and cafés that face the waterfalls.

We settle in at Chellal d’Ouzoud, a simple hotel with a terrace on the main floor for its clients to hang out. There I saw my first TARANTULA, which shared my room with a giant cockroach, Francois and myself. Needless to say, I did not sleep very well. Marie Helene and I decided to check out the offerings of the merchants, meeting up with some friends of Francois’. They took us out for tea (Moroccan mint, served extra sweet) and crèpes salés with butter and cheese. Directly in front of us were the falls, a beautiful sight inspiring thoughts of exotic escapes and paradise itself. Down below were tons of locals and tourists swimming and diving, some from some pretty impressive heights!

They then took us for a short walk, over a decrepid bridge, and up alongside the mountain to see… MONKEYS!!! My favorite! They were jumped from tree to tree and then climbed up the rocks to play at our feet. Although very cute, I was still terrified of the baby monkeys… I never really trust them! I ate couscous for dinner at the hotel and finally fell asleep in the warm embrace of Moroccan insects.

Baby Monkeys On day 2 of our trip we went on a 4 HOUR HIKE through the mountain. Strenuous, especially in the mid day sun, but well worth it. We got to see mountain set villages, go through caves, cross really slippery rock bridges and ended the trek with swimming in one of the spring water creeks! I, of course, started to complain about being hungry quite a bit towards the end, ended up sliding all over the place so much so that out guide had to practically hold my hand the entire way, slipped in one of the creeks and lost my shoes (need to gain weight if ever want to attempt to battle that current again!!!!). The guide and Marie-Helene recovered them for me though!

Francois, Marie Joelle and I (those two gave into my whining) joined me for “tajine de dinde” since Marie-H returned to the hotel for some R&R. We then had a really good picture session before returning to the hotel for some R&R ourselves. After dinner we returned to the hotel for a night of playing cards and drinking tea with our guide, his friend, the owner of the hotel, and César my adopted kitten for the weekend.

Newsbreak…

A tourist girl did end up going missing while we were there so at night we hung out with the guide… she still hadn’t been found when we left the next morning…

Sunday we went shopping and swimming once again before heading home. That in itself was a quasi disaster since we caught the bus at the very last minute which took us only to Casablanca and then had to find a train to take us back to Rabat. Sitting for four hours on an un-air conditioned bus next to a man who picked his nose and ate it AND infront of a man who sang Arabic songs to himself the entire way made the experience even more uncomfortable…but all in all, this was an amazing weekend!