Maison d'hote Rose du Sable Ouarzazate

Just quick entry to set the map pin. Suffice I lucked out and nabbed a guide in Merzouga who just happened to be headed to Marrakech to pick up 3 Spanish clients to guide them on a 10 day tour of Morocco.

Thus, instead of struggling w/ mind-boggling taxi negotiations to navigate to Quarzazate (about 8 hrs. from Merzouga), I verily whizzed south across ...

... Jewel of the Nile) and Ali Benhaddou with its famous Kasbah. We also drove through the rose growing area which was quite a surprise.
Ahmed shopped for some initial provisions - so that will be the meat from the hanging sheep carcasses then, plus fruit and vegetables. The snow looms on the mountain tops and a local shop is delighted that we want 36 bottles of water between the 4 of us.
A jolly first evening as we manage some sort of interaction ...

... been built by the owners but been done in an authentic way. The walls are mud and the ceiling lined with palm canes in lovely patterns. The area is a very desolate stony landscape but there are sudden patches of green wherever water is available. We get taken on a wild goose chase through extremely narrow bumpy lanes of a palmerie (lot of palm trees) and have an ...

... finished her packing. Thursday the 26th of March 2009. Train from Woking to Gatwick.We finally came up with a name for the tent. OCD short for Operation Certain Death. A fella that Helen just starting to see calls the MDS that so we thought it was appropriate.We met Myles, Amy, Jaco, Johnathan along the way at Clapham. Farewell to the others as I had a different flight to catch. Helen had joked it was to meet my film crew, amazing ...

... rental agency, we met a woman whose husband ran an agency in the desert where we were heading and we spoke to him on her cell phone. Although the rain had stopped, we drove though a lot of big puddles and mini lakes on our way. We had heard that there were some blocked roads but didn't think they'd be big obstacles until we saw what everyone was talking about. About 3 hours into the trip, we came to a huge river of ...

... dance). Wandered back down the Kasbah again past little market stalls back down t the creek for another crossing and back to Action's place. We then sat downstairs next to the kitchen and had a cooking demo by Action and his sister who showed us how they make tagines and couscous (a slow, tedious labour intensive process I don't think I'd have patience for). Mike kept eating all the carrots and capsicums. Dinner was delicious - soup and tagines.

... also drink their milk, eat their meat, and use their skin and hair for tents and leather things. 8. Camels have three layers of eyelids and one of them is see-through, our transparent. 9. There are 150,000 camels in Morocco and the population is growing. 10. No camels are wild in Morocco because they are too valuable. Every camel is owned and watched by camel herders. 11. Riding a camel is so much fun! When they stand up or sit down, or go ...

... achingly slow up the winding Anti Atlas mountain pass, made slower for all the drops for locals in tiny village towns along the way until eventually descending into the Ameln Valley where Tafraoute is nestled. Despite standing for alot of the way, we loved every minute for the outstanding scenery. Arrived to be met by the mandatory local 'guide' who directed us to a hotel, his bike shop, jewellery & carpet shop- off to check out a hotel written up in the lonely ...

... for some time, we arrive in the village together with a bus of Japanese people (package travel agencies are behind the schedule as well;)). So, nearly at sunset, we run down to the valley, cross a stream without boots and then through the kasbah (10dh) up to the peak of the hill on which it is built, just right to see the very sunset - rewarding;). The kasbah itself (or a kasbah village) is quite large and even now people actually live there. Quite nice as well ...

... since I was third inline, I watched the other 2 squirm as he poured it on them. We then soaped ourselves up with this soap made out of crushed olives. He then laid us on the floor and exfoilated us with a coarse mitt. He then doused us with more water and then we went back into the 2nd room. We then had a local guy who worked in the hamman perform some crazy massage on us. This guy contorted us and twisted our limbs to the breaking point. He even had one of ...