Auberge La Terrasse des Delices Ouarzazate

... we were just about the only people there and the place was almost deserted. I think in the Bible there was something about building houses out of stone, they don't seem to have heard about that round here. There's ruined mud houses all over the place, still if you a builder you've got a job for life! <br><br>By 9.00 am we were breakfasted and en-route to the big dunes of Erg Chebbi and the Sahara !! <br><br><br>

... whizzed south across the interiorior of Morocco - in a nice new Toyota 4x4. We sped though Todra Gorge, the Dades, Valley of the Roses et al, and landed for the night at a lovely little riad overlooking the city. Had a beer (along w/ my Muslim guide!) on the rooftop terrace, dinner, and then set off for Marrakech the next morning.

... passes &amp; ledges; I also lose count of the times we criss-cross the stream on the way up.<br>Ahmed continues to star with casseroles &amp; soup (&amp; pancakes/omelettes in the morning) but on Day 3 a goat finds its way to the pot &amp; we are 'honoured' with barbequed offal in stomach/intestine lining. Day 4 inevitably brings goat casserole.<br>So we finally make the villages at Zawyat Oulmzi where there is a hostel we share with a Belgian school group.

Ait Ben Haddou is one of the oldest Kasbahs in Morocco. Onthe way to the hotel we saw goats on the side of a maountain. And from the roof of the hotel I took pictures of the kasbah and the neighbors garden. We met 2 German girls the next morning and gave them a ride to Casablanca. They were lots of fun.

... at the Hotel Palmerie" We had been spotted by friends of the owner of the dessert agency, the guy we had spoken to on the phone. Being that we were stuck at this road block we didn't have any thing better to do so we decided to head to the Hotel Palmerie. Although we didn't know exactly where it was or what we were going to do there we hoped it would get us where we wanted. In'sh'Allah. We got more than we bargained for.

... hills, it is like being on a live roller coaster. Hang on! We also stopped at a huge gorge where I met some boys who showed me how to throw rocks across the river. They were very nice. And we met a lady named Aisha that Khalid said lives in a cave up in the gorge. She was loading her donkey with water and a bag of rice and things to take back up to her family. I could not imagine living in a cave. We had to change cars to a 4x4 and cross ...

... and water....! We were all hanging for a huge skull of the stuff... Vegging out under the shade we ate the rest of our snacks and waited for some taxi's to come and pick us up - our guide Sayed sent the Berber bus instead - something from the 1960's - it had all these flowers and plants and cd's and tinsel hanging from the roof near the driver. We made it to Boulmane (we picked up one local on the way - he wasn't ...

... comes quickly and we have some tasteful soup in the village. In the evening, nearly all Moroccans are busy watching Africa Footbal Cup and are looking forward to a game agains Ghana two days later (spoiler: Morocco lost it;)). In the absolute darkness there are so many stars on the sky it's hard to believe. In 30 minutes we reach Ouarzazate, one of the greater cities in the south. There's one kasbah and that's nearly it. The main reason for us to stop there is ...

... because the group of children pull my door, with angry faces. It does eventually close and I start driving as fast as I can away, seeing in my rear window that the children start throwing stones towards my car, with hatred in their eyes. That was scary! Luckily none of the rocks hit the car, otherwise I would have had a large bill on my hands once back in Marrakech!<br><br>Because of my late departure that day, I only just managed to get to Aït Benhaddou that night ...

... probably one of the most intense situations we had encountered. Nat started talking to the one guy and the other guys starting talking to some other guys, we had them in a sort of bidding war, I realized that the guy the others were talking too, was the guy that tried to rip us off at the hotel so they left him and came to the guy nat was talking too. The locals flagged down a passing cab and we all packed our bags in the trunk. The cabbie was an innocent ...