Ouzoud Hotel Beni Mellal Azilal

... our goal being a small village called Imlichil famous for its yearly Marriage Festival sometime between September and October. A few Ks before Imlichil we stop at what it's going to be our camping site for the night, a beautiful, quiet spot by a lake called Tislite, "the Bride", not far from a slightly bigger lake called Islite, "the Groom." The story goes that an unhappy couple was unable to be together because of family status and rivalries, so from ...

... we've just missed the Summer tourist rush! - we decide to stay for two days and enjoy a full day swimming by the waterfalls. It is indeed a great place that the LP describes as "Morocco's most spectacular waterfalls...a popular attraction with both tourists and Moroccans", but looking at them on my lazy time spent there I couldn't help but think that they are not that different, in terms of tourist potential, from the Oued Oumrabiee source (see previous ...

... car: bottles of water, some Dirhams, pens... Halfway down this road (which finally returns to the main road) is where the river Oum er Rbia is born. This is the longest river in Morocco, and the second largest. It is almost impossible to make the car pass, it seems all the pepple from the whole region come here to eat and have a swim. There are cars parked on both sides of the road and it takes a lot of "traffic organizers ...

... know me, this will be a struggle and a half, but with God as my witness, I will do this and I will do to the best of my ability. I have to remind myself that most people on this earth go without, and though that may not make it easier for me, that is reality. This is definitely "Peace Corps". As always, your love, support, letters, emails (or packages *wink wink*) are greatly appreciated. Now that I'm done playing a violin for myself, I ...

Woke up to stunning setting of Todra Gorge, wow - basic brek and then off for a walk thru the palmery. Local guide was great with details of area. Started with a great pond, crystal clear with lucky fish - fish keep water clean too. Entered palmery, went via abandoned mud brick village. The village and all the homes are still owned by the locals, even if they have moved on. They can not sell the land it is passed down thru families. They can lease the ...

... to us and they wrote some arabic words down and how to pronounce them for us which was really nice. At Tinerhir, the bus driver asked where we were going to and put us into the hands of a tout. He took us to the next bus which was leaving in ten minutes and while we popped to the toilet he reserved front seats for us! We're not sure why he did it but we weren't complaining! We arrived in Quarzazate and went back to the same hotel as before which had a guy outside telling us it had a ...

... day. There was a kitten there that was really cute but quite young and scared of us when we went and sat near him, but the mum was really nice and didnt seem to mind. That evening the hotel people came in and played the bongos and danced with some poy, and then let us have a go and tried to get us involved which was really nice. The next day we went for a walk in the desert and claire started moving stones to see what was under them. We found a scorpion under one! We also saw a huge ...

... money. We didnt want to go the that little town and get stranded though, and claire and chris were more keen on going straight to zagore anyway, so we left him and went to the buses. The taxi tout kept following us and everytime we went near a different taxi or bus he was in front of us so we couldnt ask anyone else to see if he was lying or not. We asked about the but the tazenaki thinking we could grand taxi it to zagora which is what the english couple had recommended, and ...

... The drive here was striking, and the landscape is very similar to that of New Mexico's except that it is a ábit more lush. While here we have been taking Moroccan Arabic lessons (derija) by Language-Culture facilitators in addition to some important life lessons like: learning how to pee in a Turkish toilet, how to wash your clothes in a bucket, and the finer points of wrapping a scarf around your head ...

... of this group of people is diverse, and as I mentioned before, incredible. Ranging from a former Fulbright scholar, to a person who used to study sage grouse, to a professor, to people that had lived and worked all over the world. All of them are enthusiatic and commited. We didn't do much that related to Morocco, it was all very general- Peace Corps background, talk about your fears, kumbaya, etc. On Monday the 6th, we left ...