Cedar Forest, Azrou & Khenifra

Forêt de cèdre 

 We sadly said goodbye to Fez and started our journey inland and south. Our first stop was Azrou, where we picked up some guides and took a hike through the Cedar Forest. They was hilarious and astoundingly knowledgeable about every inch of the forest. I think all of us walked away with a few pieces of cedar in our bags and some new jeux de mot.

Khenifra

After a morning in Azrou, we continued on to Khenifra. No one understood why we were going to this small town where there's nothing to see. What we were doing there was meeting with some Peace Corps workers that had a project going in town. While none of us were the biggest fans of the woman we met, we liked her program and meeting the Moroccan women working to become independent business women.

Our second day in Khenifra we drove out to Oum-er-Rbia, the flowing river that hosts an interesting lunch destination. I hiked with Victor and my friend Sarah up towards the source of one of the rivers. That's where we got great pictures of the whole area.

Oum-er-Rbia

Oum-er-Rbia was fascinating: little covered porch-like rooms along the edge of the river that can be rented for lunch. The noise of the river was loud, but it facilitated a lazy, warm afternoon where we sat and ate and didn't feel the pressure to talk too much. My favorite part of the whole day was the little boy that I think belonged to the woman cooking our lunch. He kept watching us, so Greg and I went over, gave him some watermelon and used the very very little Berber we were taught to ask him his name. Mulad was a quick friend. He even walked us all the way back to our bus when we left. Blushing and running ahead of us the whole time. We tried out all of our Berber phrases and would get a little nod from him every time it was right.

Riverside lunch

 We spent one more night in Khenifra before packing up in the morning. Before we left we went to the souk (market) where the energy was astounding and animals were everywhere. Then back into the bus, this time to the Sahara.

Morning light