Morocco Day 6

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.

I don’t normally get carsick, but I had to move to the front of the bus for a while. The zigzag motion while looking through my camera lens made me feel quite woozy. I wasn’t the only one who felt the motion of our bus.

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.

The place has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site and it is quite amazing. I took a lot of photos, from above and below. There is quite a climb to the top and my legs felt the strain later on.

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!