Marrakech Express, Thurs, 11/4/21

 

Ándale, as they say in Spanish, or, more appropriately while in Morocco, it's Yalla in Arabic: Let's go, hurry!  Finish your breakfast, you two, it's time to hop on the bus ... we have places to go, things to do, people to meet.  We're going to Marrakech.  We're riding on the Marrakech Express!  All aboard the busssss!

 

Bernice and Jimmy, finishing up what was left.  This after a group of 40 bikers tore thru the breakfast buffet like a pack of hungry animals, leaving nothing behind.  Sleep in?  In our case it was snooze and we lost.  I couldn't even find a clean coffee cup.  The staff was totally blindsided.  I finally got a cuppa and a kind of pastry.  Oh well, we won't starve.

We were supposed to take a guided tour of Kasbah Glaoui, but it was closed for renovation.  We could only admire it from the outside.  Maybe next time we can go in.  (who sez next time??)

Pigeons. Are. Everywhere.

Can you see them?

Aha, Fluffy the Cat can see them.  Up close and hopeful.  Those pigeons weren't worried ... they were merely entertaining themselves and the cat, with the cat and bird game.  Fluffy inched forward once more and the pigeons flew.

Typically in a Moroccan town,

a minaret is the tallest structure.

The gray structures are under construction.

Most of these homes are made of adobe, mud bricks.  Without constant attention, they deteriorate.  This one looks like it needs some TLC.

Between Ouarzazate and Marrakech are the High Atlas Mountains.  They rise in the west at the Atlantic Ocean and stretch in an easterly direction to the Moroccan-Algerian border.  And we'd have to cross them.  This morning Jimmy and I were sitting in the front seat (of the bus) which made for a REALLY, uh, gripping drive.  OSHA-compliant these roads are NOT!  At least it wasn't snowing!

That's sheep at right, center, scrambling off the road.

At 7,000 feet!?!  Good grief!

Our big blue bus trudged up and up, winding around curve after curve.  I believe everyone on the bus gave the driver a sitting-down ovation when we finally crawled out of the mountains.  (I say sitting-down ovation, cause we're all belted in.)  We exited the bus here at Col du Tichka, the summit at 7,414 ft.  When I stepped off the bus, I was almost knocked to the ground by the gale-force wind.  Cold?  Yowza!  With the wind chill, it was freezing.  We didn't tarry.

A few miles below the pass was where we ate lunch.  Cute little place, with a couple of greeter dogs out front.  Assanfou Cafe-Restaurant served up a pretty good tajine.  A huge Cottonwood tree dominated the front, giving blessed shade in summer.  The scenery around the place was breathtaking, as you see below.

Another "free water" fountain, straight out of the mountains.  Betcha the water was clear and cold.  We've already seen a dusting of snow on the High Atlas Mountains.

Our guide, Nabil, told us that Morocco is planting thousands of trees each year to combat climate change.  Or maybe he said a million trees per year.  Whichever, we saw the evidence.

While I stood looking down into this tiny town, I heard a cow mooing and a chicken crowing near the woman in red, above.  And then I began counting satellite dishes on roofs.  I believe being connected via satellite is a good thing, as it can educate and people can stay abreast of what's going on in the world.

Gitcher ass up the hill! 😊

The banana "boat," er, cart.  Morocco grows tiny bananas, especially in the fertile area by Rabat and the Mediterranean Sea.  They're delicious and we grabbed one or two whenever we saw them on the breakfast buffet.  Sweet like candy.

We made it to Marrakech.  The city we were supposed to tour in spring of 2020.  The pandemic put the kibosh on that trip.  I love this year's trip probably better than the one we missed out on, because we've SEEN Morocco, we've DONE Morocco and we've EXPERIENCED Morocco, not just the City of Marrakech.  But now it's time for us to see what's going on in Marrakech.  It begins tomorrow.