Today we took a day excursion to Ouzoud Falls, which is about a 2:30 drive north of Marrakech.
The falls themselves were likely the least impressive part of the trip. If you have seen one falls, well, you find them remarkably similar. I think what was most interesting about it was our guide, Abdullah. He chatted to us during both parts of the drive and his English was remarkably good, compared to what we had experienced on our previous excursion. He also did a great job of giving us a good understanding of Morocco and life in and outside the cities. He was honest about what he felt was working well in Morocco and what could be improved upon (like, he would gladly pay taxes to not have a “cash and carry” health care system). It was great to have a guide who was clearly passionate about his country.
Another interesting thing about the falls, is that non-Moroccans are in the minority to visit the falls, at it seems to attract lots of Moroccan families. It also helped that there was a term break in the schools at the moment. So a lot of the vendors and stalls seemed not too bothered to try to flog us their wares and focused more on trying to get trade from other Moroccans.
Like a lot of Morocco, it would seem that there is just a general sense of practicality and pragmatism. I would say along the roads to the falls, 75% of the houses were unfinished. Abdullah informed us, contrary to what the other couple we were with were told, is that it isn’t for tax reasons (as there is no income or property tax in Morocco) but slow term family investment. A family will slowly build homes as they can afford to, maybe here and there, over many many years. Therefore they may live on the ground floor and first floor and maybe eventually finish the third. Health and safety and building regulations are clearly absent.
The most entertaining part of the falls was several troops of monkeys that were a bit over socialised with humans. Even though there were signs which discussed the downsides to feeding and interacting with the monkeys, there were peanut vendors making a good trade in selling peanuts to be fed to the monkeys. Of course this did allow us to get up close and personal. There were several young ones who were playing and goofing around with each other, which of course entertained a lot of the young humans, which did make the whole experience quite entertaining. Abdullah told us later though that sometimes you can visit and you won’t encounter any monkeys, so while not totally lucky, it wasn’t a guarantee.
I think what has started to become clear to me is that there is a lot of hidden beauty in Morocco, both in the people and in the environment. A combination of stark practicality and realism couple with a general goodwill and joie de vivre. A few more days to go, but certainly relaxing so far.