Berrem to Aremd, Morocco

27 November
The water in the shower was the warmest it has been in many days now, ah bliss! Left Fes, heading for the Middle Atlas Mountains, passing thru some newish looking suburbs, with rather large villas and new rows of apartments, very fancy some of them, and the landscape changed a number of times as we rose. Saw plenty of farmland, olive groves, orchards, men herding sheep … thru a pass 2178m, thru a town that had a European feel, with brown terracotta tiled, high pitched rooves, where pears, apples and nectarines are plentiful.
   We reached a town called Ifane, which was built by the French as a ski resort, and it certainly had that feel, the first hotel we saw was called Hotel de Chamonix, and we stopped here for half an hour, so we had a quick wander round and found a smart cafe for hot drinks. If we were dropped here from space and had no idea where we were and had to guess, then we would have said eastern european perhaps … there were trees with golden autumnal leaves, the air was cool and crisp. Back on the bus, on roads winding further up, another pass higher up, saw vestiges of snow, and in the distance snowcapped mountains, the High Atlas range.
   We stopped at a place where Barbary Apes were in the trees and on the ground, men providing horse and donkey rides as well - there was a rather large group of students having fun making music, which was great.
   Drove further on down winding roads, more snow on the hills. On our way down to the plain - Midelt - visited a house of a nomadic sheepherding family, where we sat on rugs covering compressed earth floor of the one-room house, had tea. All the family's possessions in this one room, including a small tv hooked up to a car battery, which lasts maybe a fortnight, before required recharging. On a small shelf was a collection of kids toys, small, simple things like a plastic dinosaur, doll, car, etc. Very sobering. Sheryl asked Miloud to ask the lady what was the hardest part of her daily life there, and she replied "washing" - getting the water from 3 km away, to do washing when the weather was warm enough to dry the clothes. As we left we each paid a small amount for the hospitality, which was gratefully accepted, and waved goodbye to the children … as we left we noticed dogs sitting by the side of the road, spaced every couple of hundred of metres or so, and were told they were waiting for the trucks and cars to pass as they know people toss food and scraps out of their windows for them … ha, a thing to see, it's almost as if they were hitching and needed a lift - or a pat - to go somewhere …
   Once we reached the plain, we had great views of the snowcapped peaks of the High Atlas mountains, with low cloud it was difficult to tell where the mountains ended and the clouds began. We stopped at a very swanky hotel for lunch, we were told it was quite new, and it was beautifully decorated inside, with sections of carved cedar ceilings, as well as exuberant white stucco, with coloured glass windows set in near the pitched ceiling parts. All the waiters in suits and uniform, we heard that the Kings retainers were there as he is about to visit the area tomorrow. We felt a little out of place in our adventure gear. ordered our meals, and when they arrived it was beautifully presented, and delicious.
  Once we finished and paid, we asked if we could upstairs to the terrace to get a better view of the mountains, and noticed the lovely light fittings, beautiful tiles, etc. It was getting colder, and we noticed a wall of dark grey from clouds near the mountains - rain? We drove onwards to the mudbrick village of Berrem, surrounded by orchards, with a stream nearby. We parked at a hotel, which was to be our base for the night. Miloud led us to the village thru the groves, and as we walked further and further, more and more kids joined us, and we started having heaps of fun with them, taking pix and showing them, making funny noises, etc. There was an "entertainment arcade" for the kids, one smallish room in a mudbrick building which had a pool table, fussball table and an old video game machine which wasn't hooked up to power as far as I could see. Lots of great "local interraction". Great kids, had fun, saw the interior of a local house for a couple of minutes, and we started heading back as it was getting dark, and cold, and so we said our farewells, lots of high fives, hugs and kisses, which was lovely. Back to the hotel, placed our order for dinner, and just relaxed in a room withe a fireplace and sedans around the edge of the room, just chatting. The 'locals' were in a bigger room with the tv. Dinner was simple but delicious.
   We were told there was no hot water here, so probably no shower tomorrow, and we only had a small towel and 2 "tea towels" supplied between, so what would be the point of a cold shower and have difficulty drying up? We head off to camp under the stars in the Sahara tomorrow night, so no shower another night there. A cold night.


28 November
Off we went, heading for Mesoura. While we were driving we noticed heaps of military personnel, men stationed every 200-300m on the road, either on the left or right side, or on a hill, etc, facing the road, which had the Moroccan flag dotted along the roads as well. We passed thru villages and towns where people were painting and cleaning up and erecting flags, etc, so we guessed we were travelling along the route the King would take. Miloud said that the King often took a different route to that advertised, or took off to look at the back streets or other places to see for himself how progress was truly going on … We eventually reached a very rocky gorge, the countryside very much looking like that from the film "Babel", climbed up to the top of a small hill, and after a while noticed a convoy with c4 motorcycles with lights on, a few big black cars … was it the King?
   Later, we stopped at a large petrol station stop, and noticed lots of shiny black Range Rovers, Mercs and BMWs, as well as what looked like an unmarked white ambulance vehicle, with lots of military there, as well as grey uniformed men with hats and important looking epaulets … I was very curious to know what was going on … there was a parallel with what I saw when we were on the Drukair flight with the King and Queen of Bhutan, you could smell the rank and seriousness and security surrounding VIPs. We stopped at another town further on - Errachidia - where we went into a small covered market to buy food for a "picnic", barricades were up and schoolkids arriving and lining up, as well as other folk. Everywhere we drove today there were so many Moroccan flags on flagpoles or draped off balconies …
   Apparently we drove thru Erfoud and Rissani as well today.
   At one point we were in landscape that was very dry, with cliffs in the distance, and we came upon one of the many reservoirs that King Hassan commissioned, and eventually reached what looked like a hole in the landscape, opening up into a lush, fertile valley filled with date palms and mudbrick houses and buildings, such a contrast and wonderful surprise. We stopped at the edge of the "canyon" to check out the views, with people down below going about their daily business, including drying dates on their terraces. We drove down into this valley, which Miloud said went on for over 100 km, Miloud pointing out flat terraces away from the home where dates are dried, as well as spaces where we saw very simple cemeteries, the plots had simple small vertical slabs of stone at the head and foot, that was it … the landscape was so different, loved the fertility, the lush looking palms, people tilling the soil, villages and small towns with shops underneath 2–3 storey buildings, simple places … We stopped at the side of the road c2pm and walked into a date palm farm, found a spot in the dry cracked soil, with some shade and enjoyed the bounty of our picnic foods.
   After lunch we drove on a further hour or so and started seeing dunes in the distance – yes, we were in La Sahara, kibble desert on either side, cliffs in the distance. We arrived at a junction in the road with signs for auberges - hotel - which I didn't expect, a further 15 km away, a slow drive on an unmade road, scrub dotted here and there, and every now and then small mudbrick buildings, a camel herder with camels and as we drew closer to the dunes saw larger mudbrick buildings, some falling apart and deserted, others obviously in use, and we drove up a small rise to our staging point, Auberge Salama, which looked newish, you could see the straw in the outer walls, only a few small windows with wrought iron screens in front. This was where we were to store our bags … and to climb aboard our "ships of the desert" … but first we had a toilet stop and a glass of tea, as well as to make a fuss over the house's beautiful grey and white cat who was most friendly and enjoyed a warm lap and attention.
   Went up the terrace and saw a collection of camels out back, being readied for us, then led to the front of the hotel. We were told to pick up a thick folded blanket each, our personal camel was pointed out to us, we had to place the blanket on the thick saddle, which wraps around the dromedary's hump, like a foot deep padded doughnut. We had the 2nd and third last camels, once we swung our leg over and climbed on, had to lean back and hold onto the metal handlebar as the camel rose to it's feet. A young man led the 5 camels down the rise, towards the dunes, a slow ambling gait. And slowly we rose into the dunes, mainly heading north, and the hotels and other buildings gradually disappeared from view as the sun gradually sank and the dunes turned various shades of gold and rose-orange, beautiful, our shadows lengthened, and the peace was deafening, aside from Miloud taking a call on his mobile, kind of spoilt the moment somewhat … but the silence, when we had it, was deafening, as if the sands sucked any noise away, and all you heard were the footpads of the camels, the occasional bird, there was no wind, and it was warm but gradually cooling. As we continued, various camel's dropped their date-sized pellets, which rolled down to the bottom of the dunes. There were tufts of dune grass here and there, being so close to the actual edge of the dunes we weren't going to be in pristine dunes, we could see tracks made by other camel trains, as well as 4x4 and motorcylces, as well as human detritus, pieces of plastic, empty drink bottles, etc.
   It was about 4 km or so till we reached the camp, set under a tall dune, a simple cane/reed screen surrounding the camp on 3 sides, about a dozen tents in 3 groupings. The camp was some 20 kms from the Algerian border. As soon was we chose our shelter - c10 foot square, 2 x double 'beds' at either end, some blankets on the sand floor, it even had a light, powered by a nearby solar panel - we decided to try climb the dune, but it looked easier than it atually was - Simone managed to reach the top and almost the highest point, Grant got 3/4 of the way, Sheryl got to the top by not as high as Simone, and I gave up. Still, it was good view, the sun had disappeared behind the dunes opposite, we could see another camp, or nomadic herders shelters, as well as a deserted camp. Returning, the others had a tea while I took some long exposure shots, the moon a crescent, and the stars appeared in their multitude, probably the most stars I've ever seen, the Milky Way clearly visible, it was beautiful! Joined the others for a tea, then after c15 mins dinner was served, a chicken tagine with bread, which was yum.
   After dinner a small fire was built and we sat round it, listened to Miloud talk in Arabic to the camel driver, and then a man appeared from the night, in a white turban and long robe, was introduced to us and we greeted him and he joined in the Arabic conversation. The camel driver had a set of drums which he played too, which was great. We stayed up till c9:30, it was very cold and the fire was almost spent, so off to our shelter, brushed teeth, got into out thermals and then into our sleeping bags, ahhhhhhhhhh …


29 November
Took all my will to get up off my hard as a plank bed! I also remember lying flat on my back a few times, and switched being on one side, then the other as well, so can't say I slept well. The sleeping bag did its job really well, kept me nice and toasty warm … the air hitting my face was quite cold, but not freezing. Dressed, and we headed for the big dune next to our camp, Simone was already up and could see her about a third of the way up along the ridge, By the time we reached about the same spot, she was at the apex, waiting for the sun to rise, Grant was nowhere to be seen, nor was Miloud.
   We stood there, admiring the view, the golden glow ever so slowly spreading in front of us in the horizon to the east, watching the colour of the sand change from grey-blue to pearls and gold as the sun touched various parts of the dunes to our north, west and south … it was still, quiet except for birds, and a damn rooster that Sheryl tells me woke her up c4am! It was crowing between long periods of silence, damned article! It was special to be there, with views to herders camps, a small flock of black sheep not far away, dawdling, standing still … no sign of any humans moving anywhere … no cars, motorcycles, music, tvs, radios, just silence, and some cool breezes.
   After around perhaps 45 minutes the sun finally peeked over the edge of the tall dunes in front of us, and it was bright and warm and lovely, and special, nice to feel the warmth thru our jackets. We waited perhaps 15 minutes and followed the glow of the sun down the dune, and headed back to our camp to pack and have a quick munch on our apples. Picked up a blanket each, and knowing the drill, each in turn mounted our camels, except for Miloud, who took turns just walking ahead with the camel driver, or leading the camels himself. It seemed a quicker trip returning to the hotel this morning than departing yesterday afternoon, and we found ourselves quietly padding home, to where breakfast was waiting for us, as well as our very friendly cat friend.
   A leisurely paced brekky, simple, coffee and orange juice, bread with packaged cheese, as well as a flat semolina cake drizzled with honey and sugar, yum, something different. Collected our stored bags, patted the cat who didn't want us to go, thanked and tipped the camel driver, loaded up the van and headed off. It was nice to be finally on the tarred road, heading back thru Rissani, back to familiar territory. We had a toilet and hot drink stop after about 90 min or so. Then a lunch stop at a cafe called Belle Vue, which looked across the plain towards the snowcapped High Atlas mountains in the distance in front of us, the Mid Atlas Mountains behind us. Further on this plain were many mounds, which I thought had something to do with the fossils which are found in this region, or mining, but they were for tunnels for water wells.
   At c3pm or so we arrived at Todra Gorge, and had a stop en route to check out the lush fields and date palms below, and the houses, including abandoned mud brick houses, and many new or newer buildings, clinging to the sides of the lower slopes of the gorge, some of them were huge. Miloud told us that many workers from here go to Europe to work, make "lots of money" and return to build their retirement houses, many that we saw you would classify as "McMansions", the older mudbrick houses abandoned and left to crumble away. It felt as if we drove to the very end of the Gorge to reach our home for 2 nights, Kasbah [Hotel] Taborihte - had to cross the road, go down steps, over a bridge, then up more steps. It looks great, and has a pool area. We were greeted and room keys handed out, we got #16, and pretty much as soon as we entered I tossed off my smelly clothes, had a shave and shower to feel human once again, aaaaaaahhhhhhh … but the water was tepid at best.
   To the restaurant space, Morrocan tea was brought. Relaxed and chatted, wrote down our orders for dinner. As I left Reception from checking emails, a man passed me and asked if I'd had a shower - yes - and how the water was, and I said more cold than anything else, and he said he had fixed it, so hope - nay, dream - for a hot shower tomorrow morning! There was a leak from the tubing underneath the sink in our room as I was shaving. There was no "privacy" really if you need a #2 as the door to the bathroom was divided by a shower curtain; the shower was open to all else so you needed to be careful not to get the whole room wet! It seems odd that even in this developing country, who are trying to attract tourism, they can't seem to get basic things working or right, like strange positioning of powerpoints, not having warm water, let alone hot, tiles and bits of wall falling off or broken, etc. It's a first world concern, in a part of the world - Africa - where the infrastructure, the money, the skills, just aren't there … what you see in a hotel seems ok or nice, but just scratch the surface the tiniest bit and you see it's more for show than go. But, we're in a low-cost 2-star or less tour, so expectations cannot be high. Just be prepared to bring a towel, a sink plug and spare toilet paper!
   To our room c9:30 or so, and within minutes we discovered the sheets of the double bed were damp, almost soaked at the foot of the bed especially, and so the blanket on top was also damp, as were the pillow cases; she went down to see about that, and Ibrahim, who welcomed us and delivered our dinners, said "how did this happen?" "what did you do?" - I hoped he was only joking, but he didn't seem to look embarrassed or concerned for us in any way, but we moved to the room next door …


30 November
If you want a gripe, then it would probably centre on the garbage and litter that I've seen … it may well be no worse than any other place than Africa, because the amount we saw in Zanzibar in 2008 was disgusting, but in the cities we've been to to date, on the footpaths, in the gutter, in any open space [public area, unused land, etc], we saw litter, so many plastic bottles, bits of plastic, cigarette buts, just stuff … also on the sides of roads wherever we travel, some of it ending up in fields and orchards, and then the rivers or drains, no matter how congested or pristine the area we were in, we saw it.
   It's depressing. I know there isn't the infrastructure there, or if there are frames with hoops for bins to sit in the bins are gone, it's the attitude as well … it's just dropped or tossed … when we were in the cedar groves seeing the Barbary Apes a few days back, there were bins provided, but litter was everywhere … perhaps it was the monkeys, but … I think it shows a complete lack of respect for nature and the nation and themselves, and it really puts me off as a tourist. Thankfully the contagion that is graffiti and tagging seems to have eluded Morocco, haven't seen much of it, mercifully. And I won't say what I think about smokers who just toss their butts wherever they feel like it, grrrrr! It's the last thing I want to see when I'm standing next to a mountain stream or in a park or beautiful garden, let alone some beautiful, historical, religious, cultural site, grrrrr … I'm not saying it's just Morocco, the litter and the butts were everywhere we've visited to date, but seems to be worse here.
   Another observation: men seem to be the only ones we meet in hotels, cafes, any shop … rarely see women, except as we drive and they are walking to and from shops, with children, etc. What's the deal with that?
   Anyway, at least the shower water was the warmest I've had so far in Morocco, which was nice.
   At a little after 10 we met up with Morad, a young man, who's family is related to the hotel owner's family. We followed him, and his wonderful dog Bobby, down into palms and farming plots, where we saw what was being grown: alfalfa for animals, as well as for salads [2 different kinds], fava beans, grapes, avocado, corn, olives, walnuts, broccoli, pomegranates, other fruits … the plots look quite small, and some were semi- or fully destroyed by flooding. Every now and then we saw women washing clothes in the river by hand, with big tubs for the washing powder.
   Every now and then we said hello and waved to people working in the plots. We had a bit of fun with some ladies, who were picking up olives that had been beaten down by a man in the tree, and as we paused one of them joked to us, with Morad translating, "why don't you come help us?", so I joked back, "OK, how much for our work?", and then we joined them for a while, which surprised them, with much laughter as well … they even offered us tea, and a form of pancake which had bits of olives and spices in the middle, which was delicious. Stayed for c15 mins, then said our goodbyes and headed off. We also walked thru a part of the village there, about 2000 people live in the part of the Gorge we were in. Morad pointed out that some of the crumbling buildings have been there 200-300 years, that lots of nomads end up living there so that their children can gain an education. It's a Berber part of Morocco. If a house is vacant, rent appears to be free, for as long as they want, just have to pay for electricity, etc. A very giving culture here. We also saw goats in the rocks above, part of nomad herds.
   After an hour or so we reached the road that led into the Gorge, which was very impressive, some 700m up, with a stream running in the middle of it. As we walked further in we saw some hotels and cafes, as well as a few touts trying to sell jewellery, scarves and other souvenirs. Morad is the youngest son of 6 children, 2 other brothers and 3 sisters. He's studying to be a mechanical engineer. Education is free till the end of high school, but university costs, so many students study a year, take a year off to work and save, etc.
   We walked back to a village where we were to have lunch, and met up with Simone and Grant, who went on a trek, while we did the gentle walk thru the palms - I think we got the better end of the deal, with lots of "local interraction". Lunch was yum: fava bean soup with bread, followed by mIxed salad and Berber "pizza" - delicious. After lunch we were shown into a carpet showroom, and were shown many Berber carpets of different sizes and colours: yellow from saffron root, orange from mandarin peel, green from alfalfa, blues from indigo, red from henna. Didn't buy any, except for Grant, who succumbed. Back to our van, returned to the hotel, for free time.
   Relaxed, went to the lounge where we've been having brekky, dinner and relaxing, Ibrahim came round and he switched on the heating - we asked if we could have a cup of coffee and tea … Our washing arrived, nice and dry, which was great. It was nice just to sit back and veg. Dinner was served, and afterwards we paid for our meals, washing, etc. Miloud came in to tell us of tomorrow's itinerary.


1 December
We said our goodbyes, and took ourselves and our luggage to the van, and off we drove, heading away from Todra Gorge. We made a stop for drinks and toilet at a town where it's famous for rose oil extracts, the only valley in Morocco that has the kind of rose that gives good oils. Then onto a town where there is a special facility for handicapped people, to train them in crafts and skills, as well as education and physiotherapy. A young lady with a club foot gave us all a handout - in English - opened doors for us as we wandered thru, meeting some of the people there, and admiring the facility, which has links to Intrepid, as well as the Peace Corps. A very impressive place. Ended up in the shop, displaying items for sale, produced by the people there, we bought a small dark red tagine pot. Off again …
   We reached an amazing place, Ouarzazte, that seemed to have money, and really good hotels, the Atlas Film Studios were nearby. Had lunch on the terrace of this place, which was wonderful: good food, great location, nice and relaxing.
   When we'd finished lunch and boarded the van, Miloud asked if we wanted to visit the film studios and we said yes, so c10 mins out of town we arrived to a walled establishment, with large faux Egyptian sculptures - why? - out front. We entered the hotel and paid for tix, MAD50 each - there was information on a board that showed which movies had been partially made there, including Gladiatior, Ben Hur [remake], Jewel of the Nile, Kundun, Asterix and Obelix, Cleopatra [remake], Babel, Kingdom of heaven, etc … impressive. Waited a little while and a young man turned up to take us on our tour, of the sets used for many of the above films, and wile there we saw a scene being shot for a short film, starring a young boy who apparently has been in many movies … we looked in from a big portal, had to be quiet … a man shouted "Silence"  then "Moteur", then "Action", and this boy, and another young boy, both in semi-roman soldier outfits, staged a short fight scene and then it was over, applause, and off we went. Somehow Miloud was in amongst the crew and later showed us his iPhone photo taken with that actor, and he'd also taken some footage of what we'd just seen! It was amazing to see how impermanent the sets were, all smoke and mirrors really, plaster covered wood frames, painted, etc became the interior of a temple or the exterior of an Egyptian building, or a Tunisian marketplace, etc. A lot of it was crumbling and falling apart … but on screen, and after all the effects have been added, you would be fooled!
   Onwards, to our final destination of the day at the UNESCO World Heritage Site Ouarzazte, to the hotel where we'll be staying, run by a man who's been an extra in plenty of films, La Fibule D'Or, which looks like a nice place. Up to our room - #5 - then to the terrace, where we were made to feel at home, with Moroccan tea and small sweet biscuits, yum, The view across the river to the told town was incredible! It really does look like a film set, and a magnificent sandcastle like structure, it didn't look real, something that could only be imagined, dark brown mudbrick houses with towers - kasbah, a fortifued house, has to have 4 towers at each corner, each tower with the family's signature decoration - stacked up a hill. Another boot shot!
   Miloud told us of the ways to get over the river to the village, and off we went, running the gauntlet of more souvenir sellers before we hit the river and stepped over sandbags and stones. Apparently only 10 families live there, c50 people, and we need to pay MAD10 entry, and a couple of young men showed us the way, and one of them suddenly became our guide, and we realised "uh-oh we'll need to pay him for this … " oh well, that's the way they make a living, and so this fellow showed us thru the village, showing us the implements used in a kitchen or a wooden lock for doors, etc, taking us into a kasbah, winding our way up the 300+ metres to the top, with magnificent views over the river, valley, fields, mountains, the town itself, etc.
   From a terrace overlooking the old town, places where the sets for "Gladiator" colloseum fight scene, "Jewel of the Nile", as well as gates used for "Lawrence of Arabia" were shot … wow! Over the river, where we're staying, is the new village/town, where most of the residents moved to after much flooding, etc. It takes a hell of a lot of maintenance to keep those buildings standing and habitable. The sun was going down, so we started to make our way down, and of course we were taken to a showroom of carpets made by the women's cooperative here, but we quickly made our exit telling him we'd already bought carpets yesterday … down to the new bridge, and over to the new village, and were led to the entry to our hotel.
   After some haggling, paid him a tip and off we headed to our room. It's also getting quite annoying to have to run the gauntlet of people trying to sell you something a lot of the time, and also during our walk around the old village on the hill, we were "conveniently" led past shops, an artist, etc, grrrrrr … thank goodness we are terrible shoppers and only have limited space in our backpacks!
   Settled into our room and it wasn't long before it was time to go down for the cooking demonstration - checked out our location on the Michelin map, we're c10 km or so from Ouarzazte town itself. Our host, Houcine - Action being his nickname as he's been an extra in so many movies - told us all about making cous-cous, which takes c2.5 hours, as it looks more like semolina than the packaged stuff we buy in Coles and Woolies, which takes 10 minutes! You have a special pot, that has a steamer up top. In the bottom of the pot you place onion and other vegies plus spices - paprika, tumeric, pepper, salt, cumin and ginger, about a 1/4 teaspoon of each [all ground] … anyway, I lost the gist of it as Houcine confused the heck out of all of us, his sister joined him in the demo but he pretty much told her wht to do and when and it was as clear as mud, haha! Suffice to say at about 40 mins you rub the cous-cous in your hands with olive oil and water, and place that mix in the steamer for 40 mins, and repeat that 3-4 times, and at some point you put more sliced up vegies in the bottom bit and once the cous-cous is ready the vegies should be done and you serve it up …
   With the tagine I forget pretty much everything he showed us, but the most important thing to remember is NOT to place the tagine directly on heat as it is clay and will crack, needs to go on a rack above the heat. On the bottom part you add whatever meat you want – beef, chicken, lamb, fish, turkey – along with spices [same as cous-cous] and as the meat cooks you arrange sliced up vegies - carrot, aubergine, capsicum, potato, etc - like a tee-pee on top of the meat to follow the shape of the tagine lid … the Moroccans have their vegies cooked to within an inch of its life whereas we would prefer them to be crunchier. Anyway, it was sort-of informative, and we had fun as houcine was a real card, a bit of a ham, and some pix were taken at the end as well.
   It was then time to head off to the dining room, we were the only ones there, so nice and quiet, with music playing in the background, lovely furnishings, a heater nearby as it was quite cool. We had a vegetable soup to begin with, followed by a chicken tagine, which was enjoyable. At one point the conversation turned to the marriage proposal process, which goes something like when a guy likes a woman, he tells his parents so, then the parents arrange with the parents of the woman to pay a visit; gifts are brought, like opts of sugar, cake, etc. When tea is served to the guests, if the tea is sweet, then that is the signal that the woman accepts the proposal … if the tea is unsweetened, then the proposal is declined, which is a nice way of doing it as the actual words "I decline" are never spoken, and the meaning is clear. If accepted, another meeting is organised to set a date, and once the official paperwork is completed it seems that the "wedding" takes place over 3-4 days nowadays, more in the past when things weren't as expensive.


2 December
Up and had a nice warm shower, dressed, packed [ready to leave], off to the terrace for brekky, we were the first ones there, the sun was out, the breeze a little cool, the view to the old kasbah bright and beautiful, even better than in the evening yesterday. Ah, glorious, can life get much better? Only with a coffee and pancake with marmalade! The others joined us. After brekky, said our goodbyes and paid for our drinks last night, Houcine asked for a review on Trip Advisor, noting that he had a certificate with 4.5 out of 5 rating; he also handed out a couple of his businesscards with his autograph, which was fun to receive.
   Hassan was out in the drive, waiting for us, loaded up the van and off we went, heading for the mountain region for where we will be staying tonight, a long day's drive we're told. It was great to see the changing of the landscape, with the Atlas' always in view, love seeing their snowcaps. Plenty of shops selling their wares, ceramics, carpets, fossils, leather, jewellery on the way, the towns filled with noise and shops, brightly coloured houses in salmon, creams, light mandarin, camel, coffee colours, designs a variation on the basic Moroccan theme, some houses with elaborate windows and balconies, others quite plain, shops underneath with metal doors, some with wrought iron decoration welded on, painted bright colours blue, greens, reds, etc. so a riot for the eyes and ears as well.
   We stopped at various points for views, and always someone approaches trying to sell thunder eggs or jewellery or cheap daggers … usually some stalls or shops nearby, trying to entice those parked for the views. At one point we stopped at a view where we overlooked a very, very, very winding road with plenty of hairpin bends, took some pic, and guess what, we drove down on them, lucky noone got carsick, haha.
   Saw plenty of towns and villages clinging to sides of hills and mountains, people working their plots and fields, with donkeys and horses, sheep and goats, women washing clothes in rivers … getting closer to our destination we drove along a mountainside road being made as we drove on it, and Hassan was attacking the drive a little too hard for my liking, there was traffic driving in both directions, as well as earthmovers and workmen, with sheer drops of 50 to several hundred metres, so it was more than a little scary for about 10 kilometers or so … not good with heights!
   Drawing even closer to our drop off point, we passed an amazing looking property with a massive house on it, beautifully finished, and were told it used to belong to Richard Branson, and now a very fancy hotel where the rich from Marrakesh are liable to arrive by helicopter. Maybe 20 kilometers further on we reached our village, which was the complete opposite in wealth to that of that mansion … basic roads and shops, people and vehicles all over the place, nothing fancy at all, and cold! We are very close to a few very high snowcapped peaks, it was lateish afternoon, there was little sun, we knew it was going to be a very, very cold night tonight.
   We had to pack small backpacks last night for tonight, with sleeping bags, warm clothes, basic toiletries and water. We stopped at a hotel in the village of Aremd, Miloud told us our big bags were going to be stored there, and to use the toilets if we needed them, as we had a 45 minute walk to our host family's house. Once ready to go, it was up and onwards, over basic stony paths, littered with donkey pooh and rubbish - wrappers, empty yoghurt and water containers, paper, etc - thru almond groves, smoke in the air from small fires here and there, past houses … it was quite tiring as we were at altitude.
   We reached a village on the crest of that hill, that wrapped itself around the hill, walking past children playing, ladies talking, men going about their everyday business, tiny shops, etc, then down the hill, past a "hospital" that was visited by a doctor/nurse every 1-2 weeks, no bigger than a few rooms, then a small school, 2 small buildings with a wall and gate, across a pebble and boulder strewn pass which you could think would be flooded with a river from the mountains above, you could hear water running under your feet … the mountains up ahead, getting more and more cold … and we finally reached the family's house, that of a man we were introduced to as "Tagine" - Houcine - and warmly welcomed. A simple collection of 3 buildings, the main one of 3 floors, below for animals, first floor for the guests, upper floor for Houcine and his family … his parents in the low building in front, to the side his brother and family, 10 people, 3 generations together. We had Moroccan tea with dry biscuits and nuts on the terrace overlooking the pebbly path we'd crossed earlier, the village we walked thru in the distance maybe 500m away, with views to the mountains on either side, and more behind the village. Certainly different than being in Casablanca or Fes …
   Had a little bit of a chat on the terrace, Miloud came out with some simple philosophies: "Man without wife is like a kitchen without a knife" and "Man without wife is like fifty without a five". He "fell for" his wife when she was 14 and he was 19, waited 4 years till she was 18 to get married. Been married 6 years and have 2 children, 2 daughters, one who looks to be c5, the other 11 months, both very cute. We exchanged stories about our families, and Houcine was quite amazed to hear of children born out of wedlock, that that would not happen in his culture … wellllll … each culture so different, Moroccan quite conservative, even though a liberal Muslim country, the other quite "liberal" … but "things" happen in both cultures, both that could be deemed "good" and "bad" …
   It was damn cold, had to take our shoes off inside, there was a western toilet to the side of the house, with a shower that didn't work, and a squat toilet off to the side of the "loungeroom" that had daybeds with cushions all around the edges, 4 rooms for guests, so being 5 of us we all had a room. Sheryl and I picked a room, that had 4 single hard foam mattresses on the floor with cushion for pillows and a few thick blankets on each bed. This room would cater for 4 separate people, and there were 3 other rooms like this off the lounge. Lucky for us we had a small group, no need to share.
   We decided we didn't need to add to our discomfort and stay outside or go for a wander, so we grabbed a sleeping bag and a blanket and wrapped ourselves in them for warmth, as there was no heater going at all. There was nought to do, so grabbed the iPad, later Houcine's wife came in to light the stove, but it went out. Houcine came in later with Miloud and started it up again, but it made little difference to the room's temperature, we needed more bodies in there!
   Dinner was brought in later on, 3 of us in our sleeping bags to keep warm, Grant and Miloud fully rugged up in their jackets! Yummy vegetable soup followed by a tagine with bread for dinner, no drinks. It was time for bed, c9:30 or so, as the fire was going out in the stove. Brushed our teeth, made our beds, then bedtime, it was quite cold but those sleeping bags are a godsend! It was so very quiet here, no cars, people shouting or talking from the street below, etc, just noises from the valley, wind, muffled thumps from above us …