Sunday March 10, 2019
We woke up this morning and headed back out for a hike around Ait Ben Haddou before breakfast. We were a bit surprised to see so many people out and about so early.
Before heading back to Kasbah Tebi, I bought a small leather camel from a vendor to use as a Christmas tree ornament. Vendors were asking 150 Dirham but with a bit of negotiating I was able to buy the camel for 25 Dirham. It was a good lesson in the amount of markup on these items!
Back at Kasbah Tebi, we realized that we were off on our timing, and it was actually an hour later than we thought. Daylight savings time had started overnight back home, and Chad’s watch synchronized via satellite even though we had no wifi. That meant it was almost time to meet Abdul again – and also explained why the site was as busy as it was.
We had a very quick breakfast on the terrace, consisting of cake, pancakes and bread (and some fantastic fresh orange juice), before packing up and having Mohammed’s mule carry our luggage back across the river to the parking area.
Leaving Ait Ben Haddou, we first drove up to see the Atlas movie studio. We didn’t want to take the time or pay to go in, and Abdul told us he didn’t think a full visit was worth it anyway, but he drove us on an off road track that leads up a hill overlooking the studio, so that we could see the movie sets that are inside from a distance.
From this hilltop vantage point, we drove down to the studio gates before returning to the main road.
Next we went into the city of Ouarzazate, and stopped there to run some errands. Chad went to the ATM for more cash, and we found the fixed price market, Rabab Bazaar, that I had read about. Prices were extremely reasonable and the quality of the items was good, and I bought a leather pouffe for 170 DH, a leather purse for 180 DH, a leather tote for 210 DH, a couple of postcards, and a small basket for Mallory. The owner gave us a small discount for the large number of goods sold, maybe 5-7%. We purchased some snacks and drinks at the supermarket next door, as well as stamps for the postcards.
Driving on from Ouarzazate, we drove through lush green valleys with small towns strung out along the road and with a large number of Kasbahs to see along the way. We stopped to see the oasis of Skoura as well.
Finally we pulled into the Todgha Gorge (which is also known as the Todra Gorge) around 4 pm. We had emailed back and forth with a rock climbing guide named Julio from Aventures Verticales, who had told us he’d be there until 3 pm if we were interested in climbing the via ferrata. We knew we were late, but we found Julio’s truck and soon found Julio himself. We were too late to start the route for the day, but inquired about going tomorrow, and Julio was booked but introduced us to and recommended Mohammed who is available. I admit I was a bit skeptical at first, as Mohammed was a vendor selling trinkets from a stand along the main road, and I would not have guessed him to be a climber! But with Julio’s endorsement, we agreed to meet Mohammed at 9 am tomorrow.
Finally we drove through the gorge up to Auberge le Festival.
This is a beautiful and charming property on a bend in the gorge. From the outside the building looks like a castle, but we are booked into two of the cave rooms that are very cool.
There are a number of cats on property, and the setting and amenities are lovely. We had some welcome tea with peanuts and raisins, and then relaxed on the terrace writing our postcards while Chad took a bit of a hike up the gorge wall.
We went for dinner at 7 pm and the food was fantastic. We started with a soup, then had an artfully arranged salad before trying two different tajines, one with beef meatballs and one chicken. Dinner finished with chocolate mousse.
We used hotel wifi a bit to check in on things, and found more chatter online about the current status of desert camps in Merzouga, where we are heading tomorrow. Some of the camps have been shut down this week and there are protests in town. This is going to be interesting.
Cook Family Travels 