I love this city. By "this" I mean Delhi. I love Marrakech too, but if I were meaning Marrakech I would say "that" city, in a sentence that already referenced it. Being in Delhi makes it my official "this" city as it is my current "this".
I went for a bit of a walk around the neighbourhood, which is, incidently, Malviya Nagar. It's kinda what Bloor West Village would be if you quintupled the population and threw in a gazillion three-wheel, green and yellow autorickshaws. I draw that comparison only because of where it's metro station sits on the map in relation to the core of the city. Looks to be about the same number of stops. That and they've got a lot of bakeries. There's only one that counts though, and that is Moti Sweets. And why is it the only one that counts? Simple really. It's five minutes from my door and it's the one my friend Parvez used to come to when he lived around here.
See, small world.
Thank you Parvez for the tip.
As Toubkal is the second highest mountain in Africa, so to is Cascades d'Ouzoud the second highest waterfall on the continent. In the High Atlas, and at a height of 110 metres, the trip here was my second one-day excursion I did for the tour agency. And I'm glad it was my second. A) My knee had been bugging me a little still from the Imlil trip, so the extra time was good before hiking up a waterfall, and B) it had given more time for the land to dryout a little from all the rain that had been pouring down. Pretty sure I've mentioned the rain. Even then the walk down through the olive groves and through the various hostel/campgrounds and along the river was still a tad slippier at times. Wouldn't have been doable a few days earlier I expect.
I'm sipping a chai right now and eating the spiciest cookies I've ever tasted. Amazingly good.
Just wanted to mention that.
The falls are close to four hours away from Marrakech, but the bulk of that time is spent in the mountains, so there is plenty to be seeing along the way. It starts though with a bit of a plain.
And of course there are a couple of stops along the way, where you can find abandoned kids rides.
Poor Dumbo. Abandoned and unloved, but still wearing a goofy smile, with hope of a 5 dirham coin being slipped into his cashbox.
We arrived, were introduced to our local guide, and immediately set off. The route we took was along the river, through the woods, and down the hill. And no, this was not the route to grandmother's house. My grandmother lived in Don Mills, so that was to Pape Station and then the bus up to a couple of stops north of Eglinton. Something that seemed to take forever as a kid, but no time at all as long as a parent when taking my kids to the Science Centre to bang on stuff.
I could show you pictures of a trip to my grandmother's, but I'll skip those and show you the trip to the falls instead. If you'd like though, when we reach the end, you can picture for yourself an elderly woman, about 5' 2" or so, with near-white hair that had developed it's own slight bluish tinge in places. Add to that a very sharp glint in her eye, a tongue to match, and a keen mind connecting them both, a cane to poke you with from her chair, and some occasional words of, let's call it "tough love", unless of course you were her favourite grandchild (I'm betting it's Andrew - and yes that probably just got him and me into trouble with everyone else, but call me Abe and let's move along, no dwelling now people), and you're beginning to get the picture.
My paternal grandmother lived in BC. That's a longer trip and I will spare you the directions and description. For now.
You know, this may actually me a good life strategy that I'm formulating here. When all else fails, digress.
Probably not.
Definitely not.
I'm sure it's a good strategy for something though.
So, we walked through along the river and through the groves.
Like the walnut trees in Imlil, the olive trees here are marked for specific families who tend them.
And then we headed down the hill.
And occasionally we stopped to take pictures of what was spreadout before us as if waiting to have it's picture taken.
Apparently I stoppped too many times, and was lingering a bit long, as the guide at one point said "Hey! Japan! We need to keep going."
Now, a few of things on this one.
1. I was at the back of the group and was in no one's way, and even if I was, the path was wide enough for anyone to pass me without even an "Excuse me" as they meandered past. Heck, as long as it honked first so I scooched a little an autorickshaw could have gotten past. But those guys are nuts. Almost as nuts as scooters in Marrakech, which could have made it past without me scooching or them honking, which is good, because alot of them didn't seem to have horns. Not ones that suffered from over-use anyway.
2. There was only the one path, and we were definitely headed in the down direction, so it's not like I was going to get lost if I was more than 30 seconds behind the group.
3. As many of you may know, I'm not from Japan, and I really am not a fan of wide-sweeping generalizations. Perhaps as Canadians and living in an incredibly diverse country we've become super-sensitive to these sorts of things. Perhaps that itself was a wide-sweeping generalization. So let's just say that I know I have become, perhaps overly, sensitive. I still say remarkably inappropriate things sometimes, usually at the dinner table, and I'm hoping Noah and Jake have not kept a list to nail me with in the future. Anyway, I've noted that such comments appear to be really common everywhere else I've been on the planet. It's amazing what people from one European country will say about another European country for example. And they all seem to be pretty consistent in their opinions and observations of each others cultural trends.
I have no idea where I'm going with this so I'll just stop with: for the record, I was taking more pictures then the guy from Japan who was with the group.
But come on, look at it. Can you blame me?
There were actually a few things that kinda sucked about this trip.
1. The water was not white. I really wanted it to be that wonderful white of clean mountain water crashing down into the basin below. I mean, I'm taking pictures for the brochure. The pictures should be picturesque. But, lots of rain kinda does that sometimes, so no white water for me or the brochure. For now.
2. There are mills at the top of the falls that the guide promised we would see and then reneged on when he bustled us back into the van to send us on our merry way back to Marrakech. See #1 about shots for brochure.
3. The guide did not get us up to the top of the falls where we could look out and over them. See #2 part about being bustled into the van. Also see #2 reference to #1 about shots for the brochure.
4. The walk/hike around the falls is basically a loop that you can start from either direction. From our perspective, the end of this loop was up the mountainside to the right of the falls in the pictures above. On this side you've got a set of wide, poured concrete steps, and along the way you've got one shop after another, selling you the same touristy crap you'd find at Niagara Falls. Okay, Moroccan touristy crap, but still. They're also building a big hotel at the top, overlooking the whole area. So let's just say that after a few hours of natural wonder, it was unpleasant to be squeezed through an inclined gift shop.
This is not #5.
This took the driver 15 minutes to fix. He was awesome.
Ecclesiastes 1:9 comes to mind. Well, more accurately a paraphrase of it came to mind just now as a way to close off this entry, so I googled it and found out I was referencing that verse.
All I mean to say is: time for dinner.
Oh, and for the record, I think three-wheeled autorickshaws would be an excellent addition to BWV. Something to talk to the BIA about.
I went for a bit of a walk around the neighbourhood, which is, incidently, Malviya Nagar. It's kinda what Bloor West Village would be if you quintupled the population and threw in a gazillion three-wheel, green and yellow autorickshaws. I draw that comparison only because of where it's metro station sits on the map in relation to the core of the city. Looks to be about the same number of stops. That and they've got a lot of bakeries. There's only one that counts though, and that is Moti Sweets. And why is it the only one that counts? Simple really. It's five minutes from my door and it's the one my friend Parvez used to come to when he lived around here.
See, small world.
Thank you Parvez for the tip.
As Toubkal is the second highest mountain in Africa, so to is Cascades d'Ouzoud the second highest waterfall on the continent. In the High Atlas, and at a height of 110 metres, the trip here was my second one-day excursion I did for the tour agency. And I'm glad it was my second. A) My knee had been bugging me a little still from the Imlil trip, so the extra time was good before hiking up a waterfall, and B) it had given more time for the land to dryout a little from all the rain that had been pouring down. Pretty sure I've mentioned the rain. Even then the walk down through the olive groves and through the various hostel/campgrounds and along the river was still a tad slippier at times. Wouldn't have been doable a few days earlier I expect.
I'm sipping a chai right now and eating the spiciest cookies I've ever tasted. Amazingly good.
Just wanted to mention that.
The falls are close to four hours away from Marrakech, but the bulk of that time is spent in the mountains, so there is plenty to be seeing along the way. It starts though with a bit of a plain.
And of course there are a couple of stops along the way, where you can find abandoned kids rides.
Poor Dumbo. Abandoned and unloved, but still wearing a goofy smile, with hope of a 5 dirham coin being slipped into his cashbox.
We arrived, were introduced to our local guide, and immediately set off. The route we took was along the river, through the woods, and down the hill. And no, this was not the route to grandmother's house. My grandmother lived in Don Mills, so that was to Pape Station and then the bus up to a couple of stops north of Eglinton. Something that seemed to take forever as a kid, but no time at all as long as a parent when taking my kids to the Science Centre to bang on stuff.
I could show you pictures of a trip to my grandmother's, but I'll skip those and show you the trip to the falls instead. If you'd like though, when we reach the end, you can picture for yourself an elderly woman, about 5' 2" or so, with near-white hair that had developed it's own slight bluish tinge in places. Add to that a very sharp glint in her eye, a tongue to match, and a keen mind connecting them both, a cane to poke you with from her chair, and some occasional words of, let's call it "tough love", unless of course you were her favourite grandchild (I'm betting it's Andrew - and yes that probably just got him and me into trouble with everyone else, but call me Abe and let's move along, no dwelling now people), and you're beginning to get the picture.
My paternal grandmother lived in BC. That's a longer trip and I will spare you the directions and description. For now.
You know, this may actually me a good life strategy that I'm formulating here. When all else fails, digress.
Probably not.
Definitely not.
I'm sure it's a good strategy for something though.
So, we walked through along the river and through the groves.
Like the walnut trees in Imlil, the olive trees here are marked for specific families who tend them.
And then we headed down the hill.
And occasionally we stopped to take pictures of what was spreadout before us as if waiting to have it's picture taken.
Apparently I stoppped too many times, and was lingering a bit long, as the guide at one point said "Hey! Japan! We need to keep going."
Now, a few of things on this one.
1. I was at the back of the group and was in no one's way, and even if I was, the path was wide enough for anyone to pass me without even an "Excuse me" as they meandered past. Heck, as long as it honked first so I scooched a little an autorickshaw could have gotten past. But those guys are nuts. Almost as nuts as scooters in Marrakech, which could have made it past without me scooching or them honking, which is good, because alot of them didn't seem to have horns. Not ones that suffered from over-use anyway.
2. There was only the one path, and we were definitely headed in the down direction, so it's not like I was going to get lost if I was more than 30 seconds behind the group.
3. As many of you may know, I'm not from Japan, and I really am not a fan of wide-sweeping generalizations. Perhaps as Canadians and living in an incredibly diverse country we've become super-sensitive to these sorts of things. Perhaps that itself was a wide-sweeping generalization. So let's just say that I know I have become, perhaps overly, sensitive. I still say remarkably inappropriate things sometimes, usually at the dinner table, and I'm hoping Noah and Jake have not kept a list to nail me with in the future. Anyway, I've noted that such comments appear to be really common everywhere else I've been on the planet. It's amazing what people from one European country will say about another European country for example. And they all seem to be pretty consistent in their opinions and observations of each others cultural trends.
I have no idea where I'm going with this so I'll just stop with: for the record, I was taking more pictures then the guy from Japan who was with the group.
But come on, look at it. Can you blame me?
There were actually a few things that kinda sucked about this trip.
1. The water was not white. I really wanted it to be that wonderful white of clean mountain water crashing down into the basin below. I mean, I'm taking pictures for the brochure. The pictures should be picturesque. But, lots of rain kinda does that sometimes, so no white water for me or the brochure. For now.
2. There are mills at the top of the falls that the guide promised we would see and then reneged on when he bustled us back into the van to send us on our merry way back to Marrakech. See #1 about shots for brochure.
3. The guide did not get us up to the top of the falls where we could look out and over them. See #2 part about being bustled into the van. Also see #2 reference to #1 about shots for the brochure.
4. The walk/hike around the falls is basically a loop that you can start from either direction. From our perspective, the end of this loop was up the mountainside to the right of the falls in the pictures above. On this side you've got a set of wide, poured concrete steps, and along the way you've got one shop after another, selling you the same touristy crap you'd find at Niagara Falls. Okay, Moroccan touristy crap, but still. They're also building a big hotel at the top, overlooking the whole area. So let's just say that after a few hours of natural wonder, it was unpleasant to be squeezed through an inclined gift shop.
This is not #5.
This took the driver 15 minutes to fix. He was awesome.
Ecclesiastes 1:9 comes to mind. Well, more accurately a paraphrase of it came to mind just now as a way to close off this entry, so I googled it and found out I was referencing that verse.
All I mean to say is: time for dinner.
Oh, and for the record, I think three-wheeled autorickshaws would be an excellent addition to BWV. Something to talk to the BIA about.
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