Essaouira

It's my last night in Morocco.  I am staying in a fancy Riad but I am just staying in my room.  Only issue is I can't sign onto wifi with my computer. It works fine on my phone.  Anyway, I am writing this on the app so I can't upload many pictures. 

Ok, back to a few days ago. 

We left Aroumd and drove for a while.  I have surprisingly few road pictures and none of particular beauty or intertest so I'll spare you.  We stopped at a grocery store to pick up some lunch and then we stopped at a cafe and ate our lunch in their garden. Only stipulation, we had to buy drinks there.  Good deal for a garden and a bathroom.  I am quite used to my late morning cafe au lait so it worked out well.

This is in the grocery store bulk section

Apparently, this is the only picture I took of the garden

Some authorized shopping.  An Argan women's cooperative.  First the requisite demo of how they make argan oil.  And then the hard sell.  I found it quite expensive so even though I really wanted some, I knew I could buy it cheaper elsewhere.  

Argan berries?, fruit? 

Coming down the mountain was like the dance of the seven base layers.  Not as sexy as the dance of the seven veils but probably more satisfying (well. at least for me). Over the course of the day,  Off comes the second hand toque.  The Mountain Warehouse scarf and gloves, the Eddie Bauer coat, the Value Village fleece, and eventually even my ever present LL Bean green sweater.  I did manage to keep on my Costco t-shirt.

We arrived in Essaouira.  A beach town.  Abdul dropped us off outside of the medina walls and we had to hike our stuff through the walls and a bit into the medina.  I was still able to leave my extra bag of purchases in the van so I could carry my own backpack.  Essaouira has a lot of charms but for me the main one was the amazing shopping!  So, my own-bag-carrying days were short lived. 

These pictures were just from the walk to the hotel.

The hotel was nice, down a little alley.  But terrible plumbing.  Pretty much all of our hotels have had really awful showers.  This one was either boiling hot or freezing cold.  I asked the desk for a bucket for my next shower.  I just made my own warm water.  Living in Mexico has taught me a thing or two.  Buckets are usually the answer to all problematic bathroom issues.

The lobby.  

We had an hour to wash up and rest and then Mohammed took us to a nice seafood restaurant in time to watch the sunset from the rooftop dining room.

From left:  Elspeth, Catherine, Kevin, Verity, Eric, 
Denis (not shown), Mohammed, Trevor, me, 
Kim, Tom, John and Rachel

I haven't really talked about how well we all got along as a group.  There were 12 of us from three countries, 6 men, 6 women, marrieds, singles, ages from 25 to 72.  And we all got on like a house on fire.  Plus Mohammed was super and put up with our shenanigans and endless questions.  Kim would ask the best questions.  Things I didn't know I wanted to know and if I had probably would have been reluctant to ask. I can honestly say, I could not have been luckier than to get stuck with this bunch. Every one had the driest, greatest sense of humour!

I mention this here because this night with this group of friends was so much fun, I don't even know how to describe it.  Let's start with the fact that Kevin and Catherine bought wine for the table to thank us for being patient with Catherine's fall on the trail that morning.  Absolutely not necessary since we were happy to do whatever she needed but still, the wine got the evening going.  There was a live band and a couple of other tables of very happy people so the mood in the restaurant was already very festive. 

Lots of talking and drinking and eating.

Verity and Trevor bought the next couple of bottles of wine.  One of the other tables was another tour group.  they were dancing and at some point stole Denis because they had a plethora of single women and needed a dance partner. Well, that just encouraged some more dancing at our table and general quasi-drunken merriment.  I may have some pictures on my phone but I can't add them without wifi. Here's the one I have one my camera.  

I hate to leave that evening, even the retelling of it, but we must move on. The next day was a free day.  I really needed a free day, our last few days of driving and freezing had been exhausting.  Plus, there were so many shops to explore! 

First, Mohammed took some of us to a silver shop.  Essaouira is the silver capital of Morocco.  Trevor and Verity bought me a pendant for my upcoming birthday and then I got jealous of the ring Rachel chose so I bought one too ( I promise I am not single white female-ing her but she is worthy of it).

After that, some of us wandered over to the beach.  Where we had a beverage, cafe au lait for me!

We split up at that point,.  I headed into the medina.  It is the calmest medina we have encountered with shops with non-pushy vendors. I had to pick up my laundry at 4pm and that was my only schedule until dinner at 7.  

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next day, I managed to tether my tablet to my phone's connection to the internet!  Who am I?! Desperate times call for extraordinary efforts!  I would like Sandra Bullock to play me in the movie version of this  tale. (actually, thank Eric who happened to mention this is a thing just yesterday).

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Back to Essaouira.  And shopping.  I hadn't even made it two shops out of the hotel before I found my painting.  As you all know I like to buy at least one painting from each trip.  The cat one from Chefchaouen does not count.  And then, right next door, an argan shop, with much better prices. 

I don't think I actually bought that much when I come to think of it.  There may have been another bedspread and scarf in here.  But mostly it was just wandering around and loving the shops and the things contained within.  Here are a million pictures, only 79% of which are cats. 

I don't really remember where we had dinner that night.  I didn't take any pictures.  I do remember that some of the group headed out to shop a bit but I went back to the hotel.  I was shopped out, if that was possible!  

The next day was my birthday so I am going to leave this for now because my birthday (which in my two worlds is 33 hours long -two time zones included) is going to be a long post.  Probably from an airport or two.  For now, I have two hours to head into the medina before I leave for the airport.  

The High (and cold) Atlas Mountains

We left Ait Ben Haddou toward our next stop in the High Atlas Mountains.  I was kind of nervous/dreading this part of the tour.  We had a 90 minute climb to a guest house, where we were advised we might need to bring a sleeping bag due to the cold, and we would be sharing a room.  None of that sounded appealing to me.  But we would be staying with a local family and sharing a meal with them so that seemed good.   

But first we had some driving to do through some very colourful hills.  Road pictures!

Yes, those snow covered mountains are where we are going

You might notice a theme to those pictures.  There were a lot of mountains to cross! 

The highest pass we went through was Tichka Pass at 2260 meters.  I can't remember if this is higher or lower than where we stayed.  But there was less snow on the pass so I'm gonna say lower.  

Consider yourself warned!

It really was a beautiful drive but we were getting higher and colder with every mile.  The road was windy and hilly and under construction.  Our driver, Abdul, did a very good job of not careening off a cliff.  

Once we were through the pass, the geography kept changing every time we turned a corner.  

We finally got to our destination, Aroumd.  Actually, now that I think of it, Aroumd may have been the village where Abdul dropped us off to start our hike, or it might be the village we hiked to.  It doesn't matter.  Let's just call everything in the area Aroumd.

I can't remember if I told you about G Adventures recommendation to bring soft-sided luggage because for this part of the trip, mules would be carrying our bags to the gite (guest house).  At the beginning of the trip, Kim had mentioned how much she pared down her luggage, 'think of the mules' she would say to herself as she rejected items.  But as it turns out, we each just packed a small overnight bag which was taken to the gite by car on some mysterious road we never saw.   No we took the 'path'.  I was somewhat disappointed that we did not have a mule to keep us company as we climbed to our gite.  But, we met mules along the way.

Verity, Tom and Rachel, waiting patiently (or not, they were 
too far ahead to be heard)

Those are stairs!

At one point, we had to get past a very pissed off mule who appeared in the path.  Mohammed's guide duties never cease to amaze.  Mule wrangler as well as tourist wrangler.  Eric took this picture.

It was a nice view and the walk wasn't terrible but it was cold.  We arrived in the village of our gite. Crossed a bridge and then traversed lots of very narrow, very rocky little 'streets' full of children and the occasional sheep.

We made it!  Rachel and I shared a room.  We could see our breath in the house.  Even with a heater and the fireplace roaring away.  

Our room. Those extra blankets were not enough

Only Mohammed was brave and hardy 
enough to actually take a shower

Eating with full winter gear on.

We did not get to spend time with the family.  We only saw the women as we arrived, they waved to us from a balcony above.  The only time the children appeared is when the men of the house brought out extra blankets.  I guess some of the group were playing cards around the fire and didn't grab a blanket right away.  The kids appeared and took them back.  Fair enough, they were probably taken off their little beds to make the soft tourists more comfortable. 

I was so cold, I didn't take off my clothes or my coat or toque. Just my shoes.  I just got under covers and tried not to freeze to death.  My efforts were successful, I survived but I did not enjoy this stay.  

The next morning, we all packed up again and headed downhill on a different narrow, rocky path.  But this time add snow and ice.  It was shorter but much worse than the path up.  And then, Catherine fell and whacked her head on a rock.  That was super scary! Bleeding head wound on a very remote location is not to be trifled with.  But she rallied and made it down the hill.  And didn't want to go to the hospital so we just carried on.

Abdul and the van met us on a road somewhere and we all piled on.  I for one, and I know I'm not the only one, was glad to be leaving the High Atlas mountains behind.  

As we waited for the van - kitten!

That's it, a short one this time.  We are getting close to the end of the trip.