Fun fact: being “gently” awoken by Berbers gently clapping at 4:15am is still NOT a nice way to wake up. Just for the record, in case anyone was wondering, this is what happened, and we hated it.
However, it was for a good cause, as we were able to see the sunrise over the dunes on our way back to town. However, we would strongly discourage two rounds of camel riding within a 12 hour window – you can have too much “camel massage”.
After an hour of sore derrières, I mean awesome camel riding, we arrived back at the hotel, grabbed a quick bite to eat and then happily traded up to the plush seats of Said’s 4×4 to restart our journey.
Our first stop was the Tengir Todra Valley and Gorges, also known as “Rose valley” as they grow tons of roses. Unfortunately, rose season had just ended, but we were still treated to great views of the canyons and a series of abandoned Kashbahs. According to Said, they were occupied by Jews who relocated to Israel right after World War II and where never reoccupied. At every stop we were approached by people trying to sell things – scarves, geodes, fossils… you name it – they were selling it. And of course, were there were scarves, there were people teaching us how to tie a true Berber turban (if anyone wants lessons, we’re pros now). Eventually, we caved and bought Grant a scarf, which has the Berber “Z” on it, which stands for the Berber people, is the first letter of their alphabet, and is on their flag.
Next up was the Dades Valley and Gorges – 300 meter tall sheer cliffs with a small river running through it. Said said it was best to experience these on foot, so he dropped us at a foot of the canyon and drove on. We meandered, walking in the river and ended up running into a local gent who identified himself as “Crazy Berber”. At first we were wary, suspecting a ploy to pull money from us, but it turns out he just wanted to practice his English and hang out, and so we passed an interesting 15 minutes on our way to meet up with Said.
Grant and “Crazy Berber”
Once back in the car, we headed back into town and stopped a colorfully named restaurant:
THE restaurant
We sat in the garden to take advantage of the breeze, and as we were sitting, noticed a big tortoise. Our exclamations drew the attention of our waiter, who plucked the tortoise (now christened “Earl”) from his normal habitat and plunked him at our feet.
Earl!
We had little time to consider Earl’s antics however, as our lunch soon arrived. While we’d ordered lightly, the first course was something we didn’t order: a dessert ramen appetizer, where the noodles were covered in sugar, cinnamon and peanuts. It was good, but weird that it came out first.
Crazy sweet noodle appetizer
It was also at this point that Grant reached his breaking point. Flies are a more-than-common occurrence in Morocco – basically if you are still for more than 5 seconds, one is on you. The constant buzzing and creepy-crawliness was getting to both of us, so we used empty glasses to try and capture those buzzing around the table. Jess proved particularly adept at trapping them in glasses, while Grant proved better at killing them with a sonic-boom clap.
Fly CAUGHT
Eventually, we realized that discretion was the better part of valor, and beat a hasty retreat to the car, where Said drove us to the last spot of the day – an overlook from where we got up close and personal with an interesting rock formation that the locals call Monkey Fingers. Normally it’s hard to understand while things are named as they are, but not in this cause. These rocks definitely lived up to their names!
Monkey fingers
Once the sight-seeing was an an end, we were dropped at our Hotel, which overlooked the valley.
Since the sun doesn’t set till almost 9, we decided to turn the terrace into our own private corner office and execute some much needed trip planning for Norway and Cuba.
As darkness fell, we tucked into Grant’s last meal. He’d decided to fast Ramadan-style the next day, which mean no food or water after 3:30am in the morning until ~8pm the next evening, as it was June 21st: the longest day of the year (huzzah summer solstice!).
Then it was off to bed, as Said had promised to meet us bright and early for an 8am start as we had a long drive back to Marrakech!
– J & G