10 Meters More

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We spent the day today on an expedition arranged by our host ("host" being the guy that runs the riad, the small hotel we stayed in). We thought we were going for a nice drive to the mountains. Well, the drive was nice. The Ourika Valley is about 70 km from Marrakech and is at the base of the Atlas Mountains. So we're just happy as clams, rumbling out there at about 30 mph in our Mercedes taxi (circa 1974 model, diesel I think, with carpeting on the dashboard and bungees holding the trunk closed), listening to Abdul (the driver), and just living the life.

Abdul speaks Arabic and French. I speak English. With an American accent. Turns out my French vocabulary of 50-60 words beat his English vocabulary of, say, 0 words. At least he knew where he was going.

When we reached the base, he handed us off to our chain-smoking guide, Hassan. Guide? Hey, I thought we were here for lunch, which I'm pretty sure I can handle myself (although I'm not sure about this mystery meat they call "kefta"). Heck, the kids even know how to eat without a guide. So where's lunch?

Lunch? Lunch is for closers. And to close this deal, we (me+Lisa+Ellie+Anna+Hassan) apparantly must prove our lunch-worthiness by hiking up to the see the waterfall. Hey, sounds fun. Waterfall! Ok. After about 30 minutes of hiking, Anna asks how much farther. So I ask Hassan - who thankfully does speak English - who tells me "it's just 10 meters more." Cool. We're getting hungry now. About 30 meters later, I ask again for Anna, and Hassan replies "just 10 meters more." I'm now questioning his English skills and/or his math skills. A couple more "10 meters more" and now we've been hikning up this mountain for over an hour. With the kids.

Long story short, eventually we all made it up to the waterfall in one piece.

(A quick note on fluid and efficient pricing models here. At the first '10 meters more' point, there was a place to stop and buy water for 10 dirham - about $1.25 USD - and the price increased the further up the mountain you went. At the waterfall it had doubled to 20 dirham. Just like in Rome where we learned that the price of an umbrella when it is not raining is 1 Euro, and the price when it is raining is 5 Euro.)

On the way down, Hassan (now acting as Anna's best buddy) whisked Anna up and sped across a bridge carrying her. I use the word "bridge" loosely here, because the bridge was, well, loose. And missing things, like things to step on to cross the bridge. But I digress. Before we knew it, Anna was across and in the next moment Ellie had slipped and was headed for the water. Heroic Hassan pulled her back - no harm, no foul, but too close for comfort (just ask Ellie sometime).

We make it down without further incident. For this, we were rewarded with another great Moroccan meal - but priced at 2x the price of the same meal in the city. (See above note on efficient pricing models.)

Taxi: 750 dirham (this amount - about $95USD - for an hour drive out there, Abdul waiting for 3 hours while we hiked and then ate, and an hour drive back)
Guide: 70 dirham (less than $10) for about 1.5-2 hours
Lunch: 300 dirham

A great family outing with great stories: Priceless

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Photos

water for sale
There were probably 6-8 places like this to buy a drink on the way up/down the mountain.

waterfall
congratulations, you've just won a waterfall!

bridge
the "bridge" in question. hey, i could have built that.

alive
hey, we're still alive! let's eat! i think hassan was as relieved to be down as we were.

Comments

[The Alexis Family]

Bridge!
Look at that bridge! And to think that I thought you guys were roughing it!