Oct 21, 2010 - Ouarzazate

Yesterday we finished our exploration of life in the Berber area known as the Ourika Valley. Like everything else in life, we didn’t see everything but we did learn a lot from what we saw. Generally, the people in this area live in mud brick 1 story huts with very little of the comforts that we consider to be normal. Many homes have no electricity or bathing facilities. The children have to walk miles to get to school and many of them do not have the opportunity to attend school so they grow up illiterate. Their fathers often have no steady...

Apr 4, 2010 - On our way south to the desert.....

Hi all, Transport down here is something special....in this case a man, but we've seen chickens, sheep, and even calves high up on a small car...... very old women carrying heavy or big loads of wood, hay, or undefined big sacks on their bended backs...... younger women and even little girls with babies in a sling on their back and other things on their heads...... and they're all covered with multiple layers of clothes...althoug it's 40'C now ! Washing will be done in the river and all the laundry will dry on a bush or the stones. And...

May 16, 2008 - Marrakesh to Ouarzazate

Hello all, We left Marrakesh this morning and travelled to Ouarzazate via bus through the Tizi n Tichka pass, 2260 m altitude. The scenery was amazing, but the hairpin turns on the narrow road presented a challenge for our stomaches. We are relaxing now and preparing for a trip tomorrow to Ait Benhaddou, kasbahs that served as movie sets for Lawrence of Arabia and other movies. We will also travel south to Zagora to see the sights before we return to Ouarzazate for the night. To backtrack to our last entry, we returned from Essaouira to...

Jan 29, 2008 - Its a long hard road

It’s a long hard road, but we’re gunna get there. Yeh the road is hard but we’re gunna get there……. Marrakesh is a very exciting and lively place but the touts, beggars and stall holders hussle/hassle/haggle hard and it begins to grind you down. After five days we were ready to leave. I spent the entire morning haggling with mini bus drivers and finally got one to agree to drive us to Ouarzazate for 950drm ($140). We packed our bags and waited in the hot sun but the driver didn’t show. We caught a taxi out to the bus station to find him...

Jan 8, 2008 - Ouarzazate

I was suffering from the apathy of familiarity in Marrakech and had to get out, having failed to find a bus into the mountains I took one over them. Unfortunately the two options to Ouarzazate (which I can't pronounce and can be typed entirely on the top row of keys on a French keyboard) were 7am and 3:45pm neither of which were ideal. I don't like Marrakech bus station at the best of times so didn't want to have to go there before the sun rose. Therefore I went for the 15:45 figuring that it would most of the way over the Atlas before...

Oct 21, 2007 - Ouarzazate

Well last night my belly wasn't feeling too flash - sharp griping pains low down. This AM same pains up v high. Have taken the medication…nothing else has happened as yet. I consider myself lucky. Others are not on the bus…they are staying close to the loo. We have spent the morning discussing symptoms...and who ate what. We think it was the dodgy lunch we had at the joint we called Berber king. But I didn't have the salmon mousse! LOL - remember the grim reaper in Monty Python? LOL! God I feel unwell… I think the people who stayed home...

Oct 21, 2007 - Leaky bottoms

We are glad to see the arse end of Ouarzazate...lol lol! (I’ve cracked myself up)… Many people were much sicker than me so I can't complain...I just wish I did have the trots so I could get rid of the bug instead of the nasty cramping and nausea. Anyway we are now traveling through the Atlas Mountains again much higher than previous. It’s really cold. One of the ladies on the bus put her water bottle on her seat…over the course of the morning it tipped over..must have been at body temperature because she didn't feel it..I saw the water...

Oct 18, 2007 - Ouarzazate

Woops! Didnt make it to Marrakesh...tried to get bus early in am by heading to ticket office but in well traveled routes the buses fill up quick! After a bit of discussion we ended up taking bus to this lovely town...the movie capital of Morocco, Mari was destined to get here even tho we hardly saw a thing. Walked to Hotel Royal in the rain, yes! Very nice place, got roasted fava beans on the street...a great addition to our diet which has been heavy on meat(Mari & Bon even eating chicken!)... Left at 830 am for Marrakesh. See the winding...

May 17, 2007 - Quazazate

Thursday started with a wonderful 2 hour walk in another and quite different oasis near Quarzazate. People (mostly women) were harvesting barley while donkeys waited patiently outfitted with a pair of baskets to carry the barley. Women were also dyeing wool for weaving rugs along the path. The greenery was very lush and many shades of green. They practice crop rotation with the cover crop of alfalfa which can be used as feed for their animals. We then met up with the van and drove to a restored kasbah used for many movie sets in the past....

Jun 12, 2006 - Visite de sites autour de Marrakesh et de Ouerzazate

Nous avons passé les derniers jours à visiter d'autres sites à l'intérieur de la medina (vieille ville emmurée) et aussi dans les environs de Marrakesh. Pour échapper un peu à la chaleur, nous avons même pris un bus pour Essaouira, en bord de mer. La différence de température est surprenante. Cette ville en bord de mer profite d'un vent continuel et frais. Nous avons tellement aimé que nous partons pour quelques jours y faire un tour. Hier, nous avons aussi pris un chauffeur avec 4x4 climatisé (un vrai luxe), et on a fait une randonnee de...

May 25, 2006 - Dades gorge

This place is pretty rad. Red sand stone rock with some slot canyons similar to that of Zion, the rock formations reminded me of the gorge near Ourtroum in South Africa. Cool place to go exploring. Also there are these cool old houses there that resemble sand castles.

May 9, 2006 - Ouarzazate

Hi Everyone, Well today was amazing! We left early to go to the Sahara Desert and saw some sites on the way; We crossed the Atlas Mountains and that was quite hair rising! We then went onto some Berber Villages and markets. The Draa Valley was incredible, we drove for one hour alongside palmtrees they told us that the Draa Valley consists of 2 Million Palm trees. We then proceeded to the Sahara and what a site that was. We are crazy about Morocco! Tomorrow we head back to Marrakech then some more great pics to follow.