Today was a long bus ride but an interesting one. We left
Marrakesh at 9 AM and headed southwest along the highway, which are quite good
in Morocco by the way. The terrain began to get hilly and then we started to
climb. The driver drove pretty darned fast and there were lots of curves, and
even hairpin turns.
The landscape was quite beautiful and the towns we passed
were interesting. Some parts of Morocco haven’t changed in many years, except
for the satellite dishes on a lot of homes, plus the use of cell phones
everywhere. In Moroccan culture women, especially older ones, are respected and
have a lot of say in the family. They also have a lot of work. Men everywhere
seem to be drinking tea or sitting and visiting.
We went through the High Atlas mountains and stopped several
times for the toilet or to take photos. At one of our stops we bought freshly squeezed orange juice. The oranges
were squeezed through a metal press and I was amazed at how many oranges it
took to fill a glass full.
The highest point of the pass was Col
du Tichka with an altitude of 2260 meters. I thought it might be cold but it
was quite warm and there was always a nice breeze blowing. Some of the
Americans thought it was cool, but not us – with 2 C and snow back home!
The place we were supposed to eat lunch at wasn’t ready for
us so we continued on to Ait Ben Haddou. The restaurant we went to catered to
tourists I think. It was fancy and the washrooms were passable (i.e. sit-down
toilets with toilet paper.)
Our hotel was just down the road from the restaurant and the
rooms are quite interesting. It is called la Kasbah and the rooms are quite old
with intricately carved wooden doors. The curtains are Berber carpets and there
are 3 twin beds for the 2 of us. The ceiling is also ornate. I wonder what this
hotel was used for.
After dropping off our bags we headed over to the Ait Benhaddou Kasbah. It is an ancient Berber village with a ‘granary’ building at the very top that can be seen for miles. A few people still live in the Kasbah, but most live in more modern facilities across the small stream.
Along the way, there are Berbers selling crafts such as rugs,
jewellry and paintings.
I stopped to admire an artist at work and asked about
his materials. He was painting on watercolor paper using tea and saffron. After
the picture was painted, he held it over a propane flame, picture side up, and
the ink darkened nicely. Of course I had to buy a small painting to show my artist friends back home.
As we got out of the Kasbah village, the sun came out and was
setting. Beautiful! Supper is at the hotel restaurant down the street a little
bit. We had traditional soup, and beef tagine. I ate too much – again!
