March 2006 takes me to Mannheim, Germany to hook up with Carmen and prepare to go to Morocco. While waiting we make a quick trip up to Antwerpen, Belgium to celebrate the birthday of Joris (turning 25) on my birthday (turning 44).
Carmen and I flew on Royal Air Maroc to Casablanca for a layover prior to continuing onto Fes. We rushed on local transport of train and taxi to see the largest Mosque in the country (the Hassan II) and the fifth largest in the world.
We spent the next three days in Fes exploring the labyrinth of the souk (market).
One of our favorite stops was in an antique shop where the owner played a lotar (guitar like instrument) while we sipped the delicious sweet mint tea. The highlight of the souk was the Tannery. Here there are hundreds of clay pits filled with dyes for coloring leather and wool.
The backpack finally arrived after much yelling and threatening. But we were grateful to finally be able to move on and we caught a local bus to Timnay to try to hire a guide to the Atlas mountains.
We did finally arrive to a tiny mud walled village, Assaki, where we were to stay the night.
The Berbers are an ancient nomadic people who have settled down to an agricultural life for the most part.
The next leg of our journey was a long bus ride to Merzouga.
We rented a couple of camels to go out and camp. Now that is the way to see the desert!
The next destination was the Todra Gorge in the middle of the country. From there we hired a driver to take us on a roundabout way to Marakesh in a tiny beat up Renault.
We met many wonderful characters along the way.
We had a brief stop at the Cascades de Ouzoud (Olive Waterfalls) that was a welcome cool wet respite from the dust and dirt that was deeply packed in our pores. This is a day trip from Marakesh which was our final destination.
