Morocco Day 2: Todra and Dades Gorges
Joliot woke me up at exactly 5 in the morning. The sun was just beginning to rise.
Lester had already clambered up the same dune I did yesterday, but from the side which had an easier incline. Joliot, Allan, Wyatt and I climbed up halfway and sat down to watch the sun rise. The desert air had become nippy during the dark hours, which had us groping for the heavy blankets, but with the coming of the sun, temperatures were heating up fairly quickly.
We threaded our way past the wonderful cobblestones of camel dung back to our tent, after waiting forever for Wyatt to climb up then descend our erg. I had to help her at one point by dragging, I mean gently guiding, her down before our dromedaries leave us behind.
Everyone except Lester took advantage of our five-star outdoor bathroom accommodations. Breakfast included bread and butter, Dutch cheese, black olives and marmalade with orange juice and mint tea, then we started our dromedary caravan trek back to our hotel. En route, our guide dug out a poisson de la sal, a desert lizard, for us to peruse.
We washed our feet at the auberge before heading out again. As there was no road, I asked our guide how he could cross such flat terrain and still hit the mountain road and he said he uses the mountains, the sun, a general sense of where the major cities are located, and very rarely the major sand dunes as these are unreliable. The ergs are treacherous as guides because they are ever-changing not only in size and shape but color as well.
We headed back to Rissani and haggled for Berber carpets with the Blue Men, the Touaregs who get their name from the blue dye of their sheishes that rub off on their skin. When they found out that Joliot and Allan were newly married, they dressed them up in traditional Touareg wedding costumes and had a mint tea ceremony which provided us with many stunning photographs.
Everyone except Lester took advantage of our five-star outdoor bathroom accommodations. Breakfast included bread and butter, Dutch cheese, black olives and marmalade with orange juice and mint tea, then we started our dromedary caravan trek back to our hotel. En route, our guide dug out a poisson de la sal, a desert lizard, for us to peruse.
We washed our feet at the auberge before heading out again. As there was no road, I asked our guide how he could cross such flat terrain and still hit the mountain road and he said he uses the mountains, the sun, a general sense of where the major cities are located, and very rarely the major sand dunes as these are unreliable. The ergs are treacherous as guides because they are ever-changing not only in size and shape but color as well.
We headed back to Rissani and haggled for Berber carpets with the Blue Men, the Touaregs who get their name from the blue dye of their sheishes that rub off on their skin. When they found out that Joliot and Allan were newly married, they dressed them up in traditional Touareg wedding costumes and had a mint tea ceremony which provided us with many stunning photographs.
We did not buy any carpets.
Lunch was at a charming little restaurant called La Belle Vue in Errachidie. We had lamb brochettes, which are kebabs rubbed with salt and spices roasted on a spit and served on skewers with pommes frites. The surprisingly good salad came with sliced red tomatoes, green peppers, onions and olives mixed with olive oil and vinegar. It was the first time I saw Lester eat a salad. Dessert was honeydew melon. This was when Hercules, I mean Allan, broke his first glass just by grasping it.
After we passed Tinerhir came the Todra Gorge, surrounded by lush palmeries and paradoxical dry desert sand and rock. The entrance to the Todra Gorge is 60 feet wide, and its rock walls are a thousand feet high and stretch 325 feet back on either side. A clear stream strewn with rocks and green algae called so incessantly that Wyatt and Allan could not resist a short wade.
The guidebook said colorfully attired Berber shepherdesses would sometimes appear from nowhere singing old melodies that would reverberate around the rock walls, but the only people on the canyon today were rappellers. Joliot's one photo opportunity with a Berber woman and her donkey led to a peso pay-out.
The Dades Gorges were longer, wider and more varied. The afternoon sun also made the rock walls glow a fiery red. We passed several towns with old kasbahs jutting out from the cliffs - actually more kasbahs than people. It was only occasionally that we saw Berbers, and even then they were solitary or in two's, hanging out of doorways, tending tiny stands or walking down the streets.
Past the ksour (city of fortresses) at Ait Arbi in the Tamnalt Valley, called the valley of the Human Bodies where the eroded rock formations seemed organic, like thumbs of hands and soles of feet. After Ait Oudiner, the valley narrowed dramatically and the rock walls of the canyon loomed up over us on either side.
Our charming hotel, the Hotel la Kasbah de la Vallee, overlooks the most dramatic view of the canyon. It was a pleasure writing this journal on our outdoor patio and looking up to see the gorges lit up by the setting sun. Dinner was chicken with couscous, where Hercules broke his second glass. Wong wore a beatific smile for the rest of the evening.
Lunch was at a charming little restaurant called La Belle Vue in Errachidie. We had lamb brochettes, which are kebabs rubbed with salt and spices roasted on a spit and served on skewers with pommes frites. The surprisingly good salad came with sliced red tomatoes, green peppers, onions and olives mixed with olive oil and vinegar. It was the first time I saw Lester eat a salad. Dessert was honeydew melon. This was when Hercules, I mean Allan, broke his first glass just by grasping it.
After we passed Tinerhir came the Todra Gorge, surrounded by lush palmeries and paradoxical dry desert sand and rock. The entrance to the Todra Gorge is 60 feet wide, and its rock walls are a thousand feet high and stretch 325 feet back on either side. A clear stream strewn with rocks and green algae called so incessantly that Wyatt and Allan could not resist a short wade.
The guidebook said colorfully attired Berber shepherdesses would sometimes appear from nowhere singing old melodies that would reverberate around the rock walls, but the only people on the canyon today were rappellers. Joliot's one photo opportunity with a Berber woman and her donkey led to a peso pay-out.
The Dades Gorges were longer, wider and more varied. The afternoon sun also made the rock walls glow a fiery red. We passed several towns with old kasbahs jutting out from the cliffs - actually more kasbahs than people. It was only occasionally that we saw Berbers, and even then they were solitary or in two's, hanging out of doorways, tending tiny stands or walking down the streets.
Past the ksour (city of fortresses) at Ait Arbi in the Tamnalt Valley, called the valley of the Human Bodies where the eroded rock formations seemed organic, like thumbs of hands and soles of feet. After Ait Oudiner, the valley narrowed dramatically and the rock walls of the canyon loomed up over us on either side.
Our charming hotel, the Hotel la Kasbah de la Vallee, overlooks the most dramatic view of the canyon. It was a pleasure writing this journal on our outdoor patio and looking up to see the gorges lit up by the setting sun. Dinner was chicken with couscous, where Hercules broke his second glass. Wong wore a beatific smile for the rest of the evening.
posted by moan @ 2:30 AM
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