Friday, June 11, 2010

Day Five - Marrakesh to the Atlas Mountains

Sunday 6th June

It's helmet day – the first time we've seen helmets on any of the moped riders.
Up and out gain by 8am in the deliciously cool air and got some bread with honey for breakfast.
We walked to Bahia Palace which was stunning. It had beautiful gardens outside and mosaic heaven inside.

From Marrakesh, Morocco

We spent about an hour there and then headed back to the main square for some mint tea and to buy olives and vegetables for our packed lunch, all of which got squeezed into a big juicy mess on the way back to the hostel and then on the way to the Cyber Park (very green and beautiful where there's an internet cafe and free internet spots in the gardens). We had a long hot walk to the bus station ending in a quick dash, packed lunch swinging from my backpack, to make our bus, which then sat in the station for a further ten minutes, fantastic.

The bus trip through the Atlas mountains was awe inspiring, the immensity in terms of size, range, rock pattern and colour was incredible. I never expected to see so many different colours and shades in a mountain range; pale mauve, dusty aubergine, dirty chocolate, deep tan, khaki green, forest green, rich marmalade and an abundance of russet earth all layered together and dusted with pale sage colour plants and dust (D said it was beige, so wrong) and along the river bed golden wheat and such bright green that it made me happy just looking at it from our passing bus. There were lots of small houses built into the mountain side made from mud and brick, all were short and square including the small restaurants with hand made coca cola sign that occasionally lined the road.

From Gorges du Dadès, Morocco

The whole place was majestic, jaw dropping and earthy. Women harvesting wheat in the small pockets of gold and chatting to each other, children were out in the street playing moved to the sides by the horns of passing cars, a group of boys were playing football in a flat patch by the road and the men were siting outside their restaurants and shops waiting for customers they could wave in (and probably over charge). The road follows the edges and curves of the mountains occasionally crossing over patches of flat land. Wow.

We decided to stay on the bus instead of getting off where we had planned to (in Ouarzazate) which meant that we arrived in Boulmaine des Dades at around 10 at night, we were greeted by an 'official government guide' at the bus stop (a big load of twaddle) and ended up on the rooftop of his cafe getting to sleep under the stars for the first time.

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