Les Jardins De Ouarzazate

... trees here for the wood for the kilns ? Anyhow it would appear that when it rains the mud bricks - well get muddy, so I think it's helped that the film sets help keep the place uptogether. We stayed at an OK but slightly dodgy mud brick hotel. First thing in the morning, 7.00 am we did the trek up through the Kasbar (read fortified town or village) to the Keep at the very top. It was a great time for this ...

... 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.

... the Ouarzazate River and has some beautiful examples of kasbahs, which unfortunately get damaged each rainstorm. The city looks like it is either a giant sandcastle or that is has been carved out of a rock, superb. We thought we were visiting a city where Moroccans live but we soon found out last night that most of the town's inhabitants now live in a more modern village at the other side of the river. Last night the town was in darkness and this ...

We were slightly delayed leaving our campsite this morning, because I had a miscommunication with the boy at the campsite about filling my bottles with drinking water. He thought I wanted to throw the bottles away, so took them off me and put them in the bin. I thought he was filling them for me, so was hanging around. He probably thought this was a bit strange; especially considering Mum and Dad had driven out of the campsite at ...

... present on Moroccan deserts. After being promptly shuffled out to our Camels, we got on and started a trek out into the desert with a guide, to stay the night and ride back the following morning. Boy were we pumped to ride those smelly animals. Boy let me tell you, if we had only imagined even HALF of what was to come, we might have thought twice about the ride back part. Riding a camel is an experience. It is exhilarating for about 5 minutes. You are ...

... all to myself. Down the hill on my side of the road comes a cute Moroccan kid running down the slopes. He says Bonjour. I tell him good day back in French and compliment him on his French. He smiles. Two more kids come running down the slope, both say Bonjour and I do the same. More and more kids come, one starts asking for money, but I tell him no. All the other kids depand money, and are now getting really aggressive, placing their hands in my pockets and I try ...

... shuffle-dance, all the while creating a bit of a tune with his finger-cymbals and strategically bobbing his head in a way that made the tassel on his hat spin. Not as impressive as boob-tassel-twirling maybe, but it still provided an added effect. He would spot his prey, jump into their path, perform his dance (seemingly patterned after those toy monkeys that clap the cymbals while shuffling across the room) for upward of 2 to 3 seconds and then - ta da! - off ...