Morocco Day 3: The Atlas Mountains!!!!!!!!!!!! (and Taroudant)

The start of those crazy Atlas mountains

A man on a donkey

Charmaine had enough of our family and decide to jump off the mountain

A local let me check out his snake

I held onto Charmaine for dear life

It was all fun and games and laughs

My dad fell of the edge and we had to save him

The forbidden lake which no one was allowed to swim in

Wow! Check out those 2 show girls in Morocco

I saw this face for about 3 hours along the mountain. Mom was terrified

and so was Charmaine

This was me at a calm and peaceful time in the mountains

A citadel in the mountains

Here is one of the views of below from where we were driving. It was a very long way down...

Our guest house place we stayed

Beds for Charmaine and I

One of our pools

One of the lounge areas

Pathways

Girl posing in the pathways

Another pool in our guest house

Taking pictures of taking pictures

There is that girl again!

The sweet mountain view (I might like them better from here, lol)

Yet another lounge area

So, day 3. Time to leave Marakkesh and head to the Atlas mountains. We had a nice early breakfast, and then were picked up by our driver, Abdel. So, the highlight of this day was the mountain journey. It started off really mellow and relaxed as we drove through small villages at the base of the mountains. We saw the forbidden lake, which no people are allowed to swim in or go fishing in. It was a beautiful lake and was stunning against the mountains. We met a man who let us see his snake, and I got to hold on to it for a bit.

As we started going further up the mountains, things started to get a little less relaxed. This I think started with Charmaine, and within 1 or 2 minutes, spread to my mom. The mountains have very narrow and windy roads, with no guard rails or anything of that sort to give you any feelings of protection or safety. So, were just zipping along quickly and would come to times where we had to move over if a car was coming, and would literally be centimeters from the edge, and plunging 3 or 4 thousand kilometers to our death. Charmaine and my mom were freaking out and screaming and grabbing onto my hands, arms, or legs in fear. This was so amusing and funny to me that I was just laughing hysterically.

As time went on, and we continued to have these near death experiences about 3-4 times per minute, my nerves started to wear on me and I was losing my courage quickly. Soon enough, the fear became contagious and I was freaking out and panicking too, and holding onto my mom's hand for dear life. I was actually sweating and my voice was at least an octave higher, and my breathing was heavy. There was even a moment where we almost crashed, which caused all of us to start screaming in fear. It was a hysterical sight to see. 

Well, before you know it, that contagious fear began to get my dad. He was ok until he saw me starting to freak out, then he was getting nervous as well.I think this was the most adrenaline and fear I have experienced in a long long time. You would not be able to understand this unless you were in these mountains with us. I will not forget it.

When we got to flat, normal, non-mountainous ground, I felt extreme relief. We were driving through a pretty rural and poor town, which was where we were staying, so we were a bit worried about the conditions of the place we would be stay.When we arrived, we had such a surprise. The place was beautiful. It was full of color, had 2-4 pools, walkways, cute dining areas, and more. Everything about this place is just amazing, and we absolutely love it. The workers here cooked us a chicken tagine dinner, which was awesome. We are so impressed by this place, and can't wait to see what else our tour has to offer.