Our car ride from Imlil to Ourika was only 1.5 hours, and the time blurred by as I got lost in the views. I recently learned that it’s almond blossom season in Morocco, and I saw my first of these pink and white flowering almond trees along this route. They stood among bright green grass and rolling green hills, in the forefront of the snow capped Atlas Mountains in the distance. The landscape stretched unobstructed from houses or towns for many miles. I’ve found myself so many times shocked by the landscapes here, they’re so varied and unexpected from my preconceived notion of a desert sprawled Morocco. I also found myself surprised by how much I was reminded of Central CA on this drive. The rolling hills with many trees and spread out homes brought be back to driving along the hills of Paso Robles, a warm reminiscence of a place so close to my heart.
Another fun observation along this drive was noticing just how common hitchhiking and shared cars/ carpooling is here. It’s extremely common to see people standing along the side of the road, waiting on a shared taxi or someone to pick them up. I love the widespread collectivist culture exemplified here - people working together with shared responsibility without structure. There is no Uber app with a guaranteed driver, just an accepted understanding that people will help out, giving you a honk and allowing you to hop in.
Arriving in the town of Ourika was a big contrast to the peaceful farmland that surrounds it. The town center was bustling with people - not one tourist in sight. Locals were going about their daily activities - shopping for produce and bread, gathering with friends, commuting to work. The streets were full and bustling. We navigated the busy streets with our big backpacks in tow, trying to find our accommodation. As the sun shone down and the streets stirred up dust around us, we realized we couldn’t find it. A couple people tried to kindly direct us in French and Arabic, but we were clearly lost and had to call our guesthouse owner. She also didn’t really speak English, but we were still able to communicate through many smiles and thank yous. Entering our guesthouse felt like an oasis. Just a minute or two walk from the main street, here we were on a farm! We immediately felt the calm and quiet rush over us. Chickens cooed in the garden, and the goats next to them looked at us curiously. With many benches, chairs, and swings in the garden, it was the perfect place to chill out and figure out what to do in Ourika.
Our plan: enjoy a relaxing reading session somewhere along the 20 mile stretch of the Ourika river that flows through where we were staying in the Ourika valley. We walked up to some taxis to find a ride about 15 minutes south of us. The challenge, we were finding, is the conflict in pricing. Because we’re tourists, we’re first told a really high tourist price for transportation. Of course, we’re willing to pay a bit more since we are in fact tourists and there are differences in currency strengths. But when the pricing is 5x more than the local price, we begin to have the feeling of being taken advantage of. Although, usually it is just a difference of a few dollars so it begins to feel silly. It’s a topic Helena and I have discussed a lot lately, and we are often trying to find the local transportation instead of reckoning what is a fair price. So, it was a small win of ours when we figured out how to get on the local bus. Hot and crowded, we stood crammed in this bus. It’s funny to think how this arrangement made us happy - at least we saved a couple dollars right? At the end of the day, seeing a city through local transport is always a fun challenge and something that became exciting to me while in Hong Kong with mom and Derrick. The bus driver was really friendly to us, stopping with us at a bus changeover point and personally bringing us to the minivan that would bring us to our final destination. Both on the bus and minivan, it was heartwarming to see a few examples of people prioritizing women and children. On the minivan, sitting next to us was a mom and a small child who began to cry. An older gentlemen took cookies from his pocket and shared them with the kid, instantly halting the crying. As a thank you, the kid turned to the man and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Although every country has its problems and it’s important not to romanticize them, it’s still beautiful to see small moments like these that don’t align with some media portrayals of a country.
On the beautiful drive along the river, we noticed so many ceramic stalls alongside the road. We’ve noticed the beautiful pottery within Morocco, but this part of the country had by far the most we’ve seen. We began to wonder if this is where most of it is produced. We chattered excitedly, already making plans to come back and visit them all. The river is lined with cafes and restaurants that all look very similar. With colorful chairs, rugs, and pillows on the floor, they create the perfect cheerful environment to sit alongside the loudly flowing river. We sat contently in the perfect 70 degree sunny weather for hours, getting lost in our reading and writing time.
As we walked along the quiet street to look at the pottery, I was amazed again by the versatility in landscapes. We were surrounded by expansive red rocks similar to being in Sedona, yet in the distance on all sides were the snow covered Atlas Mountains. Just 15-20 minutes away, lush green farmland and a bustling town. A highlight of our evening was stopping for orange juice here, looking out at Imlil in the distance while we were surrounded by this red rock landscape. We looked on in amazement at these layers that created such depth - the contrast in the bright green hills, red rock mountains, and snow covered Atlas range with a golden hour haze, like a filter on an already perfect picture.
We hitchhiked on the bus back home, and found ourselves in another beautiful moment on our walk home. We passed by two woodworkers outside working on a project. I was immediately fell in love with a mirror they created, and had to ask them how much it was. Them knowing no English, and me no Arabic, I was grateful for Google Translate. I typed how I was sorry to bother them but couldn’t help but notice the beautiful mirror, and was wondering how much it is. When they went to type back, we couldn’t get the Arabic keyboard on our phones to work for them to type on. Instead, we pressed the microphone button and had him speak into it. After a minute of talking into the phone, Google Translate gave us the English translation. All it could make out was “La La La La La”. We all laughed and laughed. Eventually we got it to work, and I was shocked to find they sold the mirror for $40 USD. We gave them many compliments on how beautiful their work was. They beamed with pride and showed us more of their work process, explaining that they use no machines and it’s all hand crafted cedar wood. It was a very sweet moment we all shared despite our barriers.
My favorite part of our accommodation was enjoying homemade dinners and breakfast in the garden.
We continued on our Ourika exploring by traveling 50 minutes into the most popular spot of Ourika valley - Sti Fadma. Known for its 7 waterfall hike and picturesque Ourika river cafes, it attracts bus loads of tourists each day that are looking for a quick detour from Marrakesh, only 1.5 hours away. We found the hike to be very crowded, although beautiful within the brown desert landscape of the Atlas Mountains. We worked up an appetite, and were curious to see how it being the first day of Ramadan would impact our food options. With 99% of Morocco being Muslim, most people are fasting during the sunlight hours now. We found many restaurants closed, as we walked along the side of the road for a while until we eventually found a cafe that was open along the river. Because of Ramadan, the only dish they were serving was French fries. We enjoyed some more reading and writing time, and then hitchhiked our way back to the town of Ourika. We stopped into a food shop along the way for some orange juice, and watched the tv coverage of the beginning of Ramadan in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Nervous about our perhaps dwindling food options, we stocked up on a lot of cakes and pastries at a local bakery on the way home. Laughing to ourselves during dinner about our spread of sweets, we realized we might have overdone it.
Gallery
