El Ati Erfoud

... you know what I mean. The labarinth of alley ways; smells, sights were a bit over the top but the quiet here in the desert is wonderful. Tomorrow night we camp in a tent in the desert so we can experience the sunset/sunrise in the sahara. The Moroccan countryside is more beautiful than I'd expected - we had to take a detour yesterday around the middle atlas mountains due to ...

... was a wind up one - you turn the crank and the petrol would come out... Along the way we also past a huge mountain that had Arabic writing along the side of it - same as Turkey - very patriotic here. At one of our photo stops these 4 or 5 kids came running over - one holding a dead bird - the way she was flinging it we were surprised its head didn't fall off. The kids had found it today and it was their ...

... odds of which must be astronomical. Getting back to camp, our hosts were serving tea on the rug lined interior of a rug walled Berber nomad tent. The first cup was heavenly, and I politely requested if I might be allowed a second. Cups three through eight were a blur, and at my ninth our host suggested I may have trouble sleeping. Well, of course I was going to have trouble sleeping, we were in a tent in the desert with camels bleating their hearts' out. Now ...

... still amazed at how well he navigated the ever changing sand dunes. I also felt bad for this young man walking through the huge sand dunes, while sweat away lazily sitting on the back of my camel. After four hours trekking on our camels, we arrived at a small Berber settlement (Berbers are the native nomad tribe of Morocco). We relaxed under the shade of a tent, drank mint tea, and ate an amazing lunch prepared by our guide. As we lay ...

... division. The first T juntion after that was posted only in Arabic. Go with your instinct.... turn right. Next T junction, not even an Arabic Squiggle to help us! SO we just laughed, ploughed on for another 30 minutes on Hampshire like farm tracks, through olive plantations and herds of goats until we hit some beloved tarmac. Point the bikes West and after our 2 hour detour we find a sign to Fes and stick to it like varnish. The scenery throughout this ...

... the middle) there was a cave, group had entered as we arrived, we tried to catch up but it was too narrow for Justin, and we didn't have a good torch. Turns out it wasn't too impressive anyway. Trek back out again on the other side of the valley, following another irrigation path - low this time, so not so bad - but off the local mtn goat guide went, with the rest of the group scurrying to keep up - we kept our own pace, joined by a few of the other ...

... studios in the town. There are alot of Hollywood movies filmed in the area because of the natural backdrop and because it's so cost efficient, like Gladiator and Alexander. Lee (brit) got the great idea to rent some bikes and peddle to Ait Benadou, which is an ancient Kasbah used in several other movies as well; it just so happened to be 22km away across arid desert badlands. It was a great ride, but the bikes had no padding on the seats so it was a painful one. The ...

... to turning to speak to people face to face "Mohammed!" "Yes!?" "Argh! (as we swerve) No, don't worry, Mohammed. Pierre, as front seat person you have to do ask all the questions" I soon realise it's not a good idea for me to call out from the backseat! I wanted to ask him about the desert marathon. The Marathon Des Sables a 6 day marathon where competitors run 243km (151 miles). It's the equivalent of running 5.5 marathons back-to-back. Competitors carry all their ...

... the adventure. But we are all exhausted. The night sky is stunning, you can see all the stars, the milky way and everything. It's incredible. At one point we all get out of the car to take it all in. It's so quiet and calm and beautiful. When we get back in we start to see the other people heading back into town in their land rovers, we can just see the headlights in the distance of about 6 cars. It's kind of eerie but nice. Today was a really good day.

... perched above in the bus, I noticed the young man turned and walked the other way and the old man lifted his dress and squatted in the alleyway right next to the bus. As he pulled up his pyjamas, his elephant like trunk fell out literally dropping to the ground. He proceeded to goto the washroom (yup, #2) in the street,followed by a nice left hand wipe and then they both continued on there way as if it were your normal place to goto the washroom.