Dades Gorge & a few cultural notes

The next day we were off to Skoura for two nights, which was a small town with not much to say for itself. The advantage was that it’s gateway to the Dades gorge where we spent a day hiking, driving and exploring. There was lots of stunning scenery, a cool gorge, many oasis and lots of Kasbahs. The place we stayed in Skoura was a restored 200 year old Kasbah that was amazing. It was adorable and very well decorated. The owner showed us a photo album of when he bought the Kasbah in 2003 in near ruins and of all the new restorations. It was amazing.

As mentioned earlier, alcohol is a bit hard to come by around here, but when we were out in Imlil we heard from other folks that if you went to the new town in Marrakech and asked a taxi driver to take you to a supermarket that had beer and wine you could find it. Driving in Marrakech was absolute chaos so when we drove back into town to pick up my dad we left mom and dad with the car and Matt and I hailed a taxi asking for alcohol. There was a bit of a language barrier and we had to work pretty hard to convince him to take us there, wait five minutes, and bring us back (we had no idea how to tell a new taxi where to bring us back to since we had just pulled over at a random spot on the road) but eventually we were off. He then told us something along the lines of the fact that he was taking us not to a supermarket but to a wine store. This seemed good enough for us, but when he pulled up in front of a little minimart window and told us this was it we looked at him a bit questioningly. He finally agreed that this did not seem to be the right place and cruised a little further down the street. Eventually his face lit up and he pointed us down a dark stairway into a basement and indicated he would wait for us. We headed in, and low and behold a prohibition-style underground liquor store stocked with the works. We pointed here and there (not much English spoken) and walked out well stocked up. A quick taxi ride back and we were on our way!



Moroccan food is good. Really good. Don’t get me wrong. Bu t every night before dinner (either at a restaurant or the hotel we were staying at) we were asked “Tagine or Couscous?”. Tagine is slow cooked vegetables and meat, and cous cous is….slow cooked vegetable and meat with cous cous. We didn’t really experience any deviation from this except for the last couple days when we were on the coast. Pizza? Anyone? Anyone? Matt would have killed for some. Haha.

Monday Morning Giveaway: Seriously

So, Matt & I each have an Alaska Airlines credit card that comes with a $99 (formerly $50, booooo) companion ticket. We have one that is expiring November 8th, and don't have any plans to use it. The way it works is that you buy a full priced ticket to anywhere that Alaska/Horizon flies and you can bring someone along for $99 (plus applicable taxes for that fare, usually $15-25). This doesn't work with their partner airlines, but anywhere at all that Alaska flies so if you are flying to Hawaii or Mexico or somewhere else sort of expensive this can be a really good deal. You don't need to fly by November 8th, you just have to book the ticket by then, it could be something for next summer if you want. We're just not able to think that far ahead in life right now.

So, if you have plans to fly somewhere with someone else, let me know if you would like it. It's just a big, long, discount code, so I can e-mail it to you. We did pay a $75 annual fee for the card, so donations are accepted (haha) but seriously...if you are interested, just let me know. I know I have all of 5 readers, so the chances of more than one of you wanting it are slim but just in case...tell me a funny joke, or why you really want it or something and maybe I will pick you. Cheers. Happy Monday.

Sahara Desert & Camel Riding

The next day was off to M’Hamid to meet up with our guide for our ‘camel trek’ out in the Sahara Desert. Unfortunately a large sandstorm was whipping up right as we got to M’Hamid. We armed ourselves with Berber scarf things to provide a bit of a barrier between our hair, nose, and mouth and all that sand and headed off in the 4x4 for a two hour ride way out into the Sahara. On the way there we could see almost nothing and were constantly amazed at how our driver could decipher which direction to go among the maze of tracks in the sand.

Sandstorm (at one of the better moments)

Matt pouring us mint tea, the national drink of Morocco

We arrived at camp and spent most of the evening hiding out in the big communal tent, chatting with others. Each couple had their own ‘Berber tent’ with a mattress on the sand. We had another delicious dinner and afterwards Matt and I braved the somewhat lesser wind to run around in the dunes a bit, followed by some lively singing and dancing by the Moroccan guys at our camp.
 
 

Individual tents

Big dining tent

Singing

Dancing

 
 After a fairly sleepless night we woke up to calm skies and little wind. We got up just before sunrise and got to see a beautiful sunrise over the sand dunes. We ran around, climbed, jumped off, contemplated and generally enjoyed ourselves as the sun rose over the Sahara.
 
 

Later in the morning we got to go on a camel ride. They were tall and it was a pretty fun experience, though I think I just liked running around on the dunes myself even better.

Here's a little vid  of driving in the sandstorm...

And one of the camels growling, which is hilarious

Imlil & Ait BenHaddou, Morocco

After Marrakech we picked up our rental car and headed to Imlil in the Atlas Mountains. It’s a small town that is a big base for all sorts of hiking activities and we spent three days there. We did two day hikes, one on our own (actually, with a Swiss girl we met) , and one with a local guide to show us the way on a 14 mile hike over two passes, through numerous small Berber villages and different riverbeds and oasis. Both hikes were beautiful and completely different from home. There was a gorgeous rooftop terrace, delicious food and lots of time to relax.

After three days there we headed back to Marrakech to pick up my Dad at the airport (yay!) and headed over the Atlas Mountains to Ait BenHaddou which is a 500 year old Kasbah (mud brick fortress). This is one of hundreds in the area, but certainly the most impressive, and as a result has been used in movies like Mummy, Gladiator, etc. It was beautiful, strange and impressive. As in many not-Western countries we were given free range to wander anywhere and everywhere in the complex that we wanted and had a great time gallivanting around the ancient fortress.