A different perspective

For a different perspective on my trip, have a look at my co-travellers' blogs. And don't believe a word they say about me ;)

Josh:
http://joshinafrica.wordpress.com/author/joshinafrica/
Staci & Zach:
http://trackingsunrise.wordpress.com/
Shaun & Karen:
http://blog.travelpod.com/members/shaunandkaren
Guber & Katie:
http://overlandtocapetown.wordpress.com/
Amy:
http://www.amazingadventuresofamy.blogspot.com/

Ouarzazate & Aït Benhaddou

The next two days were full drive days past snow-capped mountains.

On the first day we stopped at Ouarzazate for two hours where the next two cook groups (mine included) had to shop. It was a small village, it was their holy day (Friday), and it was lunchtime so we struggled to find groceries. There were only a couple of fruit and veg stalls open at the covered market, and we went with the cheapest one. He also had good quality produce. We have sheets we have to fill out for Kristy with the details of everything we’ve bought. We found out the price per kilo of each fruit and veggie we wanted, and then the shopkeeper weighed them and told us the price for each. We then added the total up ourselves and he had complete faith in our sums.

There was only one shop selling meat and it was whole chicken which we decided not to get. After lunch - a freshly squeezed OJ and vegetarian tagine - but before the sweet mint tea, I ran up the road to try to find the nearby butcher our waiter told us about. Time was running out (as it turns out we got the time wrong anyway and ended up being ½ hour late – oops!) I managed to find the butcher thankfully, and bought over 2.6kg of turkey mince (cheaper than beef mince or turkey and beef mince mixed together). This meant we could stick to our original plan of spaghetti and meatballs. Elated, I ran back through the main square with my bag of mince. Not surprisingly, some of the locals were laughing at me. It must’ve been a strange sight. No-one really runs through their village in the first place, and particularly not with a mad grin, proudly carrying a bag of mince, on their holy day.

We drove on past the film studios to Aït Benhaddou, a fortified city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has been used in many movie sets such as Lawrence of Arabia and more recently, Gladiator.

A local showed us around and told us he’d appeared in a few films. I think his toothy smile would’ve most definitely given him the edge over other extras!

Silly pics

Here are all of us crazy kids who are currently ‘Livin’ the dream!’

(3 people preferred not to have silly pics taken. Maybe they will come around over time…?)

Todra Gorge

Last night, I had the best night’s sleep I’ve had since this overland trip started. And it was on restaurant benches. I could stretch out (the tents are 6 foot only so it’s hard to stretch out fully, particularly with the condensation), I was warm, and I was completely out of it from 9pm to 3am, when I woke up to the sound of someone snoring. I haven’t slept fully through the night since the trip started but I’m hoping that’ll change as soon as I sleep in a proper bed. Sleeping is one thing I’m normally particularly good at – anywhere, anytime!

After such an amazing sleep, I was excited about going on a 4 hour hike around Todra Gorge.

It was drizzling on and off and when we neared the top, it started sleeting. Luckily at that point we stopped in at a nomad’s place

on the side of the mountain and sheltered under some hessian, as did an inquisitive cock.

Hot berber tea warmed us up.

As well as cuddling a new born goat.

Photo courtesy of Andrea

The views from the top were incredible despite the weather and I found the view of the mud brick village at the bottom particularly scenic.

Snow!

From Casablanca we headed towards Todra Gorge in the High Atlas mountains and it snowed!

Two full drive days were needed to get us there. To break the journey, we had another bush camp, although this time the ground was hard; we had to clear an area of all the sharp rocks so they wouldn’t pierce our Thermarests.

It was also absolutely freezing and there were no upgrading options! For the record, I have not yet upgraded, although am considering doing so in Marrakech so we can see the night market.

Some dressed appropriately for the weather,

while others didn’t, opting for board shorts

(often with leggings underneath). We all huddled around the very sad fire due to the lack of available firewood though the boys did find a skull adding to the desolate atmosphere.

Needless to say I didn’t sleep all night as I froze. I need a new sleeping bag that goes down to zero degrees at least (minus five ideally) and is portable (preferably in down). I almost bought one in Spain but it was 99 euro and we won’t need it in a month or so as it’s about to get scorching hot. I can’t wait for that right now (or ‘right meow’ as the group would say…)!

We all felt sorry for the designated cook group as the rest of us huddled on the truck together and stayed there all night until Kristy kicked us out, only coming out to get dinner, dry our dishes or go for a pee. Funnily enough, our group has already bonded pretty tightly after only 2 weeks. We’ve seen each other nearly naked, not taken showers for 5 days, cooked together, peed together, cuddled together, etc!

The second drive day, we went past snow-capped mountains as well as many oases, including the town of Oued Ziz.

I was ready to upgrade in Todra Gorge if it was going to be as cold as last night so I could at least get some sleep, but we’re allowed to sleep in the hotel’s restaurant on their benches and it feels pretty warm here.

Casablanca

We almost didn’t get to see much of Casablanca as us Aussies were prepared to spend the better part of the day trying to get a visa for Senegal. Unbeknownst to us, the process here had also changed and we can no longer get visas to Senegal from Morocco – we have to get them in Mauritania.

This then meant we had a few hours to explore. Harry and I did a tour of Hassan II mosque, the third biggest in the world. The two biggest are in Saudi Arabia and I doubt I would be allowed to see either of them any time soon. This mosque was built in 6 years with workers doing shift work 24/7. It holds 25,000 people inside and 80,000 outside and the roof opens electrically when it gets crowded e.g. during Ramadan.

Interestingly, it was built on reclaimed land.

From the inside, you can see the ablution area below through glass which you can later visit.

There are also two hammams downstairs – one either side for men and women. They are not yet open to the public though apparently every year they keep saying they’ll open them next year.

After a bit of truck guarding, a few of us went to Rick’s Café for lunch and cocktails. My pina colada cost more than my stuffed pepper with barley, cream and parmesan risotto (80 dh vs 70 dh).

We caught the end of the Casablanca movie that plays on loop upstairs.

And then spent another night in the rain, before packing up our dirty, wet tents and leaving for another bush camp.