Waterfalls and Hippies Galore

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Wake up time was 6:30am. We got picked up from our Riad at 7:30am to make the drive to Cascades d’Ouzoud. About 30 minutes into the drive, the dust, dirt, animals on the side of the road, the music playing in the car made me realize that I was not in Kansas anymore… I realized that I was in Africa!

About 2 hours in on the way to the waterfalls, we made a pit stop in the middle of no where. We went to the wash rooms where there was a girl who spoke English. Turns out she was there with a female friend as well. Ok - so, one girl is a teacher (as is my travel buddy Betsy) and the other girl quit her job and is traveling extensively for the next few months. We met our identical British twins. Quite random!

We made it to the village where we were greeted by Moulod, our English speaking tour guide. We started our trek around the waterfalls. As Moulod grew up in the village, we walked where no one else was! We learned all about how the village owned the property, yet families still owned the olive trees (as there were thousands) which were marked by different colors… After about 1.5 hours, I was loosing steam. The hike downhill was strenuous as it was a balancing act at times not to fall. On our way down, Moulod points out where people sleep, mainly campers. When we actually arrived at these sites, they were all freakin hippies! Imagine spending your time in 100 degree heat… lounging around in the water all day. There are random restaurants/juice stands in the most random parts around the falls, yet no electricity. Hmmmm… we walked further to find a Bob Marley tribute - where the smell was crystal clear - mint Moroccan tea, body odor and marijuana. This was just plain strange as I never read about this in any tour book! Fascinated, we continued our hike closer to the main tourist area. This became much more slowly paced as lots of people were coming from the opposite direction. We made it to areas where all the local Moroccans swim, jump off cliffs and enjoy their day. I was impressed by the amount of elderly people who make it down - as the traditional way to get towards the bottom of the falls has 1,000’s of stairs. Anyhow, we stopped midway back up for some lunch. Out meals were cooked in little pots over fire which was pretty neat. Without knowing anything about us, Moulod told us how his happiness is most important. If that means leaving his village to find his happiness, he will. His shirt said ‘I am who I am’. He was super sweet, spoke 5 languages and has huge plans to see the world and find his wife as he is not going to be set up for an arranged marriage. I almost forgot - the waterfalls were AMAZING! They were super beautiful. As much as I cursed a bunch during the day as I was a wussy going downhill and couldn’t stop sweating. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this day as I saw things I wouldn’t even ever imagine… European hippies camped out at the bottom and/or around a waterfall! I didn’t realize that people would consider coming to Morocco to camp out - it never even crossed my mind. I am still unsure where they go to the bathroom - as there weren’t any!

We made it back to our Riad around 4pm. Long cold showers followed by major relaxation and rehydration took place! Our hosts at the Riad made us dinner which was the best meal yet! Off to Agadir tomorrow for some cooler temperatures and the beach!

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