Kasbah de la Vallee Boumalne Dadès

... and in a good mood in anticipation of a traditionally cooked Berber meal of Lamb Tajine, Chicken Tajine and Vegetable Tajine with a large serving of Cuscus. By 10pm the majority of the group are quite intoxicated and still in anticipation of the meal. At 11pm the meal arrives and some people are too drunk to enjoy the meal. A majority of the tired members of the group retire to bed following their last mouthful of the wholesome meal. While I was contemplating being one ...

... family - soup and Berber pizza. Met up with AJ who had done a short walk in the morning. Mike led us through some stretching exercises. After sitting and eating my legs were really sore and tired and it took some effort to get up and walk downstairs again. Got our bus back to the hotel again, then rested up till 3pm, when we headed out to the hammam. About a 20 mins drive to the hammam (communal bath house) at the nearby town. We paid at the entrance and the boys ...

... it did and the colour started to change on the dunes. We made our way back down to camp about 6:45 as we were leaving early. We packed up our stuff, climbed on our camels (Mike walked the whole way this time) and headed back to the auberge to collect our luggage, freshen up a bit (no shower) and have breakfast. Left in the bus at 9am again, driving through more desert type terrain (glimpses of snow covered mountains in the distance ...

... walked along with me for at least an hour. Looking back down the valley, I saw a patch of blue sky that became wider and wider, and finally the sun was there and melted all that white beauty away in no time. I kept walking for another hour, hitching a lft once in a while and getting off when it was yet another pretty spot for a picture. There are only a few small villages in the valley and the locals were friendly even though the ...

... and when they do it's for a dime or so. More later when I get back to the States. . From Mike Scott - April 5 2007 Marrakech Morocco Please note, "a" and "q" are switched on the keyboard, so are many other letters; Please excuse the typos. Below is a diary of my last 48 hours in Morocco. Arrived in Casablanca at 12:30pm. Met Davo and jumped a train to the city main station. There we transferred to an 'express' train to Marrakech. The train was ...

... squeeze us in. I set out to hunt other hotels while Mike waited there to see if the owner could convince a family to share one room instead of two. I checked 4 hotels in the area and they were all full. Drag. I headed back thinking we had a long night ahead of us but Mike smiled when I walked back into the Toulousan Hotel. Score. It was a nice place with 2 lovely courtyards, breakfast included, friendly staff, etc. We called this home for the next days.

... The first three were excellent, we spent most of each day eating and talking and the rest walking through the wilderness, often following a river (and sometimes having to cross it with the icy cold water up to our knees - once we even followed it through a short tunnel). A very welcome break from the cities, and this time we got much closer to what we expected of the country - rather barren landscapes with the occasional cultivated areas and villages.

... the gorge, we met a local Berber family living in the rocky cliffs. Their home consisted of a burlap tent, a rock-walled enclosure to house their sheep, and a small hand-dug cave to which the family retreated during periods of rain and flood. Amazingly, the cave was dug out of the side of the rocky cliff by the father with the aid of a sharp rock. He had a long way to go since Paul barely fit in the small enclosure that had been dug so far. The burlap tent was a simple open ...

... agricultural land of Fez (including many cacti and succulents), the sand of the desert, the dry and rocky (and sometimes lush) Atlas mountains and the very rich farmland of the oases. Morocco is also a major producer of roses (first brought to Morocco from Saudi Arabia), hence the rose soap, face cream, etc. The roses must be spectacular in the spring. (We also learned that Morocco is the second largest producer of phosphate in the world.) En route to Ait Benhaddou we stopped ...

What I didn't write in my last update was that I am travelling with a wee special Moroccan boy now. Hassan, Berber nomad and owner of 4 camels! It was a bit of a relief to leave Merzouka. I wanted to spend more time with Hassan but was ready to leave the Sahara - so convinced Hassan to travel with me. We all set ...