Kasbah Hotel Said Erfoud

... ice but saw the eastern edge of the country that we wouldnt have seen otherwise. The food is okay - though the tajine overcooks the vegetables for my taste. Our group is fun and the guide is terrific. I probably wont have computer again until Marrakech so I'll wish everyone a MerryChristmas and hope all is well at home with the cold weather and snow you are getting. Love, Kayti

... and joy - new toy. Our lunch stop was made at a town called Er-Rachidia where we picked up some fresh bread, tomatoes, and cheese and fruit for our picnic lunch. We stopped about 1/2 hr out of town at a fantastic view point overlooking a village surrounded by palmeries and all ate our goodies. More driving we turned off the road at Merzouga and drove along the ungraded road to the Erg Chebbi dunes - an ...

... get that tea flowing. After a great stewy dinner and what I considered a murderous amount of traditional drum playing, it came time for sleepy bobos. Most of us left the tent empty and slept on carpets laid out under the stars. Being so far from any town that itself is a long way from civilisation, the night sky was amazing. I have been a city boy for so long I actually had no idea that you could see so many bright white pinpoint stars at any one time. The ...

... I noticed a stack of skis and snowboards. So I prompted Jeremy, who speaks French, to ask our guide what they were for. He said that we could rent them to go sand skiing and sand boarding. Being the crazy people that we are, Jeremy, Lindsay and I decide that that sounded like a fun idea! Matt also decided to come along to document our adventure and carry water for us. Around one o'clock, the hottest time of day, in our Moroccan ...

... all of the trip down to Fes has again been amazing. When God was taking orders for landscapes, I think Morocco opted for the buffet and got a little bit of everything on its plate. So far we have had mountains, forests, canyons, ocean cliffs and fertile farmlands all in less than 800 km. Fes appears on the horizon and it looks mad even from a distance. Going in there and its a barrage of people and horns and hustling. The great thing about being on a bike ...

... Our guide lost the local guide as he was having trouble keeping up - and started going the right way - Justin spotted a path that was the right one, and a little later the guide came near running past us to catch up to the rest of the group. Bit of a problem when we reached another village as they kept turning down different roads, finally found them outside a local store. The owner was beside himself with joy when we all went in and bought a drink - don ...

... was worth it, it's a big mud-brick fortress town on the side of a hill surrounded by lush palmtrees and greenery because a river runs through the area. After Ouarzazate, it was on to Erg Chebbi, which is the small town at the edge of giant sand dunes that are the start of the sahara desert. The local bus driver gave us the run-around, so we ended up walking for an hour with backpacks on across a dirt road in the middle of nowhere to the town itself. We tracked down a ...

... and water is only provided at check points. Amazingly, nobody has ever not survived though according to Lonely Planet guidebook rumour one bloke got lost and later turned up in Algeria, slightly off course! Thankfully, there's no running in store for us on this little adventure. We're content to harass Mohammed to drive over bumps so we can bang our heads on the jeep-roof. That's our perverse idea of fun. After endless rocky outcrops and hints of sand dunes we arrive at ...

... actually with Hassan, a camel-handler (it's not what you think), since Omar, now back in jeans and an ill-fitting cap, turned out to be just one of the crew, no more than a nice guy with very unfortunate teeth. Moving on, we spent the next 2 1/2 hours swaying and bouncing through the dunes on the back of our camels (Laynni, predictably, named her Cammie; I left mine nameless, preferring to avoid labels). Unbelievable dunes as far as the eye could see, and ...

After three lovely days of chilling on the beach and enjoying the great shopping and hassle-free environment of Essouiara, we took a bus to Marrakesh. We spent the day and night there, and checked out the main square. It was just as I remembered it from five years ago; Berber acrobats, snake charmers, trained monkeys, storytellers, old ladies trying to convince you to have your hands decorated with henna, and tons of people. It is crowded to the ...