Mountains and Valleys and Gorges, oh my!

I have been so remiss in my postings and then I wrote this long one yesterday, snatching minutes between events.  I was finishing up in bed and I managed to delete the entire thing!  So I gave up.  Now I have a few minutes to try again.  

After we left Mergouza, we did a lot of driving days.  We were heading to the High Atlas mountains. But lots of stops and road pictures before we get there.  

A camel in a snow globe.  This amused me.  

Mohammed likes to take us to shops he knows, where he trusts the sellers to give us good products.  Of course this means the prices are higher than anywhere else.  But we get a little tour and explanation of whatever thing it is we can buy.  

We were also traveling through every 'fill in the blank' capital in Morocco.  first stop, the date capital of Morocco.  I bought fig jam, some nuts, some figs and fig coffee.  Why fig coffee, it can't possibly be any good.  I lose my head in these places. 

See how happy this guy is.  He finally
off-loaded that terrible fig coffee.  

Next tour/shopping opportunity was in the fossil capital of Morocco. This was actually kind of cool.  I thought I would be safe, but alas, I bought a fossil plate.  Did I mention I did not buy the camel snow globe.

Polishing the fossil so it is 
shiny and extra visible

Next up, historical wells dug by Sudanese slaves, hundreds of years ago (or last week, what do I know).  There a so many wells, dug by hand.  They are dry now but we stopped to look into a dirt hole anyway. 

Each mound is a well.  There were probably 
thousands of them.

Sand traps to keep the sand off the road.  

A hole.

The very intricate and unsteady looking business 
surrounding the hole.  You can see the bucket at the top

We finally made it to the Todra Gorge.  This is a beautiful green ribbon of an oasis in the rocky desert.  We hiked down into it and had a lovely walk along the agricultural fields and primitive irrigation systems.  It must take a true communal mindset for all of the farmers to get along and share the limited water resources without war breaking out among them.  

After an hour or more, we climbed back up to the town overlooking the river and fields.  

I gave this guy my orange peel

And then we piled back in the van to head over the next hill.  But not without stopping for a panoramic view of the valley.  

This happy kid was the recipient
of some of Kim's terrible apples.  

What goes down, must come up.  We climbed into the mountains to the rock climbing capital of Morocco.  No climbers at this time of year but one can see how the rock faces would be exciting for climbers.  

That's John over there

Moroccan vendors know no limitations to location.  They had strung up wires to hang their wares.  

At one point, we kind of lost Kim.  We had to drive back down the mountain for a wee bit where we found her trying to trade her hat for a carpet. She was out of money but her hat was popular.  She just can't seem to say no to the sellers which is why she doesn't have any money.  When we arrived, it appeared she was trading her hat for a $1 scarf.  We had to go save her and her hat from this guy.

John had stayed with her so only her hat was in peril

We arrived at our hotel which I barely remember but I have photographic evidence so I know we eventually stopped driving.

Off again early the next morning.  Road pictures!

See that snow covered mountain over there,
consider that foreshadowing of horrors to come

Green is a symbol of peace or god or something.  
So there are lots of green doors.  I think they are pretty
(I may have just disqualified myself from the 
cultural awareness award competition)

I had mentioned to Mohammed that I was interested in some Berber jewelry.  We stopped at a road side pull out to see what was available.   I bought two necklaces.  Not the one this guy is holding.  Sadly no brooches.  

A quick pop and shop in the Rose capital of Morocco.  I bought nothing.  It wasn't hard with this level of shop to contend with.

Next up, a herbal pharmacist.  Do you want to cure cold, baldness, low/high blood pressure/sugar!  He has something.  It was actually quite fun and we got to smell lots of different scents and rub all sort of lotions, tinctures and elixirs all over ourselves.  I bought nothing.

Road pictures!

We finally caught sight of our destination for the day. Ait Ben Haddou Kasbah, a UNESCO world heritage site.  And also the location where they filmed Gladiator.  A movie I've never seen but it seems like a big deal.  Other things were also filmed here including Game of Thrones.

That is the Kasbah at the top of that hill.

We dumped our stuff in our rooms and headed over to visit the kasbah.  It was on the other side of a trickle of a river but the river bed indicates that is gets to be much more than a tickle occasionally.

A long bridge across the river

View from the top

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Bit of a break there.  My birthday dinner and a drink afterwards so I'm a bit beery.  But must get this out before I sleep!  

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We were coming down the hill when a man waved some of us into his house.  Come look at the goats in my living room he said.  Um, that's normal but sure, let's.  

Goats in the salon, just like everyone's goats in their salon

Poor Mohammed had to come and find us and get us out of the goat house.  I often wonder what he is thinking.  He is a most patient man.  Except for our shopping problems.  There were lots of little shops in the kasbah but he kept a steady pace to keep us moving past them.  But there was no stopping us from taking at least 10 pictures of EVERY cat we came across.

Not an actual cat, but evidence that a 
cat was once here!

Oh wait, sanctioned shopping is fine.  Mohammed dropped some of us off at the women's cooperative carpet store.  It was me, Eric, John and Elspeth.  John and Elspeth, let's be honest, just Elspeth brought actual measurements for the area of their house they wanted a carpet for.  I was carpet leery.  I have no idea why Eric was there but he is a trooper and watched them unfurl a million carpets onto the showroom floor. I bought nothing but they really tried to remedy that situation.  Unsuccessfully.

  No bridge for our return trip to the other side of the river.

And that was it for me.  Half the group went to tagine cooking class but I just went to bed early.  The next morning we were up and in the van at the crack of dawn.  But not before taking too many pictures of this pile of puppies. 

Ok, that's it for now.  You will have to wait even longer for me to tell you about the worst day of the tour.  I have to get up in four hours!