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Sunday - rain, bugger!		We spent today doing an all-day excursion some 50kms south of Marrakech in the Ourika Valley - more on that later. Our first stop was for tea (yup, more tea) in a traditional Berber house. Berbers are the indigenous people of North Africa west of the Nile. Here they are completely self-sustaining, producing much of what they eat, and what they can't produce they trade for at the local market.

On a nice day the view from here would be incredible with the snow-capped Atlas Mountains in the background, but alas not today.
Self-sustaining or not, the Berbers also like their satellite ;)		The backyard, where much of what they eat is grown.
Berber bitches hard at work in the kitchen.		We were given some locally-produced bread to dip into locally-produced butter, honey, and olive oil - yummy!

We were then tutored on the myriad of steps that go into the 'correct' making of a pot of tea. Spot the massive amount of mint going into that pot hehe, all grown out the back.				Step 547: pour the tea!

This was really good stuff - mint and sage tea!				After leaving the village we continued up the valley, into more mist.

Next on the day's agenda: ride some camels! Unfortunately this wasn't much to write home about. The camels are all tied to each other, and we were led about ten minutes along a muddy track before being turned around and heading back again, hmm.

The weather started to clear a little and mist lifted. This is looking up the Ourika River in Ourika Valley. The Ourika valley spreads between the first foothills of the Atlas Mountains, and despite it being so close to Marrakech, this beautiful lush green valley is one of the best preserved valleys in Morocco.

After leaving the camels we drove further up the valley and got kitted up for a bit of white water rafting along the Ourika River - awesome!				Much like the locals who came out to watch us hoon past on the quad bikes yesterday, they also came out to see us jump in the river. The poor dudes really are quite bored I think hehe.

We spent just over an hour rafting a 15km stretch of the river. As it had been pissing with rain overnight the river was pretty high and moving fast, which made for some good scary moments which included becoming within a whisker of completely tipping over hahaha!
You can probably spot which one I am in these photos ;) Our tour group was split into two for this, and while our group hit a few rocks, the others managed to strand themselves on a boulder hehe. It was a little cold but really wasn't noticeable when you're trying to negotiate boulders and bushes and bridges along a swollen river. In short it was just incredible!

One of the random buildings along the river.		And one of the random locals gawking at us as we went by.		At the end of it all we were taken to a restaurant up in the hills overlooking the river for a huge feast - nice!

Monday was another hot and sunny one, but unfortunately we couldn't hang around to enjoy it. This is looking south from the airport towards the Atlas Mountains. This should give you some idea of the views we would have got yesterday had it not been rainy!		Marrakech airport - cool design!

Hubala hubala hubala, durka durka mohammed al fyad, alla alla alla.		Once again our goddamn fucking flight was delayed. I'm not sure why I bother with EasyJet anymore. Oh yeah, because they're cheap. Well you get what you pay for. Anyway some of us spent the delay like normal people and did Sudoku and read books etc, and some of us just took photos of ourselves ;)

Overlooking Marrakech...		Overlooking North Africa...		And overlooking Casablanca on the North African coast.

So that was our weekend in Marrakech - bloody brilliant! Like I said I really had no idea what to expect, other than the tourist-traps I'd read to be aware of particularly around Djemma el Fna. Having said that, I found Marrakech to be a very safe place, and if you know how to hold your own when it comes to pesky bastards hounding you for money then you'll be perfectly fine. Oh, and if you're good at crossing the road, you should be fine too ;) The only disappointment for me was missing out on Ourika Valley in all its supposed glory due to the weather, and the rather short-lived camel ride which was borderline a waste of time. Katie and I are planning on spending next New Year's in Egypt, so there should be ample opportunity to ride a few camels in the desert. So yeah if you happen to be contemplating a trip to Marrakech I'd say most definitely do it, and if possible make a week out of it and head to the coast as I've heard there are some really nice cities along there.

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