Sahara to Fes, October 26

Leaving the Sahara, we drive through varied landscapes today. This is a palmerie, with date palms.

The landscape becomes very dry, but there is a river...

We stop for lunch at a lovely hotel in the middle of nowhere.

We drive to the cedar forest, which is a national preservation and is inhabited by monkeys called Barbary apes, the same ones found on Gibraltar. A man, a Berber, named Mohammed, and his daughter meet us. He is a retired teacher. He tells us about the importance of the forest and the area. His daughter is on a full scholarship to the only private university in Morocco, a very prestigious and VERY expensive school. Her older brother also attended that university.

If it were not raining, we would go for a walk in the forest.

We did not see any monkeys although we heard them.

On to Fes where we stay at the wonderful Palais Jamai in the medina, our most luxurious hotel.

 

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The Sahara, October 25

A sandstorm seriously affects the visibility as we approach Erfoud. We have lunch here after visiting a fossil shop, very interesting. We bought a plate with a shell imbedded to serve seafood hors d'oeuvres. There were beautiful fountains, coffee tables, lavatories, etc. On to Rizzani where we buy scarves to wear on the camel ride. This was an especially busy market as tomorrow is Feast Day, also a very primitive market. It used to be a caravan stop.

 

The fossil shop

 

Rizzani market, buying scarves for the camel ride

We transfer from our coach to 4 x 4's. We had planned to sleep in a luxury Berber tent, but the sandstorm

was too bad, and we stayed at the Kasbah Tomboucktou.

Kasbah Tomboucktou

Our room at the Kasbah

Fossil lavatories in our bathroom...we had a beautiful jacuzzi tub, but it did not work. The shower was very good, though.

We had a few minutes in our room as we waited for our luggage. Lo and behold, wifi was available and then we got the email from Caroline that our very close friend for 51 years had passed away. We get our scarves from our luggage and in tears go to the lobby to join the rest. Even though his death was not unexpected, we are extremely sad and do not know if we can continue with the ride.......but we do. The Berber who put my scarf on may have thought my tears were for my fear of the camel ride, but he did not ask as I cannot speak Berber. Our leader hugged me and told me that I did not have to ride a camel, and I said that I did, my children were counting on me....and I wanted to also. I am glad I did. We had not gotten to ride camels in Egypt, even though we thought we would, so we were counting on doing it in Morocco. It was actually easier than riding a horse, although no stirrups. Easier mounting as the camel kneels for you to get on. Then you lean back and hold on tight as the camel gets up. You ride on a saddle on carpets or cloths. I clutched the horn a little too tight. Mohammed kept saying to relax my hold!

 

The camels are waiting and one camel driver called to us. It was Mohammed and he was terrific, so caring and protective of us.

We are ready to go with Mohammed.

Mohammed takes my camera and photographs the group.

Here we are en route to the sand dunes!

We get off and climb up a tall sand dune to view the sunset. We are 35 miles from the Algerian border (which is closed to Morocco). Later we remount the camels and ride back to the Kasbah. Then we take the 4 x 4s to the tent for our dinner, which was delicious, one of the best we had. The 4x4 ride was almost as exciting as the camel ride. We were in car número uno ( with a Spanish speaking driver who loved being número uno)! Mr. Personality!

Musicians greeted us!

 

They played inside the tent for us and some on our group danced!

Our table

The food was one of the best meals we had. Always a first course they called salad, usually cold cooked vegetables, often green and red Bell peppers, marinated, always olives, very tasty!

Tagine, they lift the lid and then the meat course, excellent! Fruit for dessert.

Back to the Kasbah on the 4x4s, and a good night's sleep before heading to Fez the next day...our last stop on the tour.

 

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Mint Tea and Bread with the Berbers, October 23rd, but first a traffic jam!

On our way to the Berber villages in the High Atlas Mountains, we encounter a traffic jam in a village where sheep are being sold in preparation for the Feast coming up on Friday. It is the celebration of Abraham and Isaac, when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Heartbroken, Abraham obeyed God, and at the last minute, an angel from God sent a lamb to be sacrificed instead of Isaac.

This market was a real mob scene. Sheep are being carried away in every type of vehicle.

Here they are loading the sheep into the trunk of their car.

 

This man is walking his sheep to his vehicle.

 

All types of carts including those pulled by donkeys are used.

 

This man is carrying his sheep on his shoulders. Others had them in their arms.

On Friday, the family will have a ten minute prayer time at 8:30, then they will slaughter the sheep. They give one third of the sheep to the poor, one third they will share later with their family, and one third is for themselves. In the afternoon they visit other family members and friends and about 10:30 that night, they will have a dinner.

We continue into the High Atlas Mountains.

The terrain changes from lush green to a more desolate brown landscape.

Note the many TV satellite dishes when you do a close up.

These sheep have escaped being slaughtered for the Feast Day

and are happily grazing on a hillside of the Atlas Mountains.

We have arrived at the village and are now walking UP the hill to our host's home. We pass a school just as the children are leaving for their lunch break. They are walking to their homes and will return later for the afternoon session. You see the houses in the background. Our hosts live at the top of those homes.

We walk through a level glen where the shade is quite welcome.

Further up we climb.

Three Peace Corps volunteers meet us there and serve as our interpreters. Two of the volunteers are from the U.S. and one is from Rabat, Morocco. One is pouring mint tea for us. Our leader, Andrew, is watching. This is a long living room with benches along the walls, room for all of us.

 

They serve us several types of breads, honey, nuts and butter, all local products, and all very tasty.

Our hosts are standing next to Andrew in the doorway.

 

Andrew and our hosts outside their homeOur host is showing Andrew a turnip from his garden. This is a long turnip, but we know it is a turnip because it smells like a turnip.

This is the oven where our hostess baked the breads she served to us.

After we leave our family, we drive to Ait Benhaddou, a UNESCO World Heritage Berber village, high up on a hill. This area has been used for movies and we will spend the night in Ourzazate, movie capital of Morocco. After lunch in the new part of this village, we will climb up into this village. Some will climb up to the top and some of us will climb up halfway.

 

views from halfway up

 

 

We drive on to Ouarzazate (pronounced Where za zat), where we stay in the Berber Palace. It is a beautiful hotel but we must move on in the morning.

The swimming pools are not heated, but we do enjoy a drink by the pool with our Aussie friends. It is a delightful evening.

Before we leave, we take pictures of the movie artefacts in the lobbies.

 

Caesar's throne from Cleopatra, 1998

 

Pharoah's Rameses II throne from The Ten Commandments

 

Tea service in the lobby

 

Our sitting room in which we do not have time to sit!

Parts of Lawrence of Arabia and The Gladiator were filmed here. It is a very interesting hotel and city.

 

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