We all met up at the large square in Marrakech. We loaded the bags into the black SUV and everyone made their introductions. I was pretty happy with the group and excited to get started. Ali gave some commentary as we headed east from Marrakech. For a big bustling city - it ends pretty quick. There a bit of farmland but you can see that it is much drier and we are headed for the pass through the High Atlas Mountains. The trip is scheduled for two days of driving to reach the desert; the camel ride and an overnight in the desert and then a very long one day ride back.
Most of Morocco is Berber not Arab. They are more agrarian and the Berber villages are very simple adobe style homes built into the mountainsides or around a river oasis in the desert. They do a bit of decoration at the top buildings but as the adobe wears away it begins to look much like an eroding sandcastle - but made of red sand.
Shortly after our first break of the day, Hussein indicated that the car wasn't quite right. Just as we were headed into the worst part of the pass, he pulled into a roadside restaurant and decide we needed a new car. That meant bringing a car from Marrakech. We got even better acquainted and had some soup for an early lunch - Callum, Anna and I played 20 questions. Ali kept telling us an hour or 1 1/2 but it was almost 2 1/2 when all done. (Remember this it is important later)
The new car arrives and we are off again. We make our next stop for lunch and I have kefka which is lamb meatballs in sauce - nothing special but counts toward my goal of lamb everyday! After lunch we walk to the ksar Ait Ben Haddou which is an old fortified village that has actually become famous as a movie set as far back as Lawrence of Arabia and currently as Hierogyph which stars John Rhys Davies and who we saw ducking into the hotel that was acting as a green room.
We are now several hours behind schedule and looking for a break. Ali keeps insisting we are only an hour away from our hotel which we should have arrive at at about 7. By 930 I am about to lose my mind when we finally arrive at our hotel. It is also hosting a bus tour of college kids and after a mint tea and a quick check-in we are right into dinner - a huge feast of tangine and salad and chicken. It is after 12 when I finally put my head down and thankfully it is a good sleep.
The next morning we have a nice breakfast - lots of breads and jams, these little square pancake things coffee and juice. It is the standard Moroccoan breakfast. We make up for arriving in the dark to view the Dades Valley and Gorge which in a few weeks will be filled with roses - commercially for all sorts of products. The gorge is pretty impressive as well. Our next stop is the Todra Gorge which is the amazing canyon cut into the soft red sandstone. There is actually a fair amount if water just below the surface so the little villages are built around green oasis with small plots of garden and farm land and lots of palm trees.
After a late lunch - more tangine. We finally reach the start of the desert and real flat dry land. There are still towns but not as many oasis. And then we finally see the point of the trip - the Erg Chebbi dunes on the western edge of the Sahara just 15km from Algeria.
It was hot all day and it is nice to arrive just after 5pm when it is starting to cool a bit. Our five camels are waiting along with our two "blue men" guides. We quickly organize and strap our backpacks on to the camels and get started. I'm on the lead camel "Bob Markey". They are pretty docile and know the 1 1/2 hour route into the golden red dunes.
(This is a fairly big tourist operation and there are many other groups heading out as we depart)
After our slow plod and some amazing scenery (and my camera jamming up with sand) we arrive at our camp. Three relatively stable sleeping tents, a cook tent and an outhouse. We take advantage of the hour and hike to the top of the largest dine to watch the sunset.
I have stashed away an extra bottle of red wine from the cooking class in Fes - so dinner under the stars will be a good one. Soup, salad, tangine, cous cous and fruit for dessert. It is surprisingly very good. After some good conversation about the problems of the world. We move to a small fire and soon after small drums appear. Callum and I try our best but our guide Ibrahim has much more practice. In fact he resorts to telling jokes:
How do you put a camel in the refrigerator in three motions?
Open the door
Put the camel in the fridge
Close the door
(And they go on...)
Finally off to bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment