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It's early in the day and we're heading east a 100Km to Taroudant, a destination a little out of the mainstream, but still quite popular with with many tourists.. The town was first established in 1056. It has the warmest temperatures in the country due to it's location nestled between the High Atlas and Anti Atlas ranges. We entered through one of many gates. Parked the car and went walking about checking out the Medina and town center. This town has a much more relaxed feel to it. Not the hustle and bustle that we experienced in Marrakesh or Casablanca; this was certainly more to my liking. The prices in this Medina are lower then what we found in other cities. We looked at lots of brass, silver, clothing, leather goods, and jewelry items. I'm sure it was here we bought some things for Chris, Dave, and Ron: leather pouches, djellabas and strings of Goulimine beads. There were so many beautiful items to buy that it was hard to restrain ourselves. We took a break and had lunch at an outdoor cafe'. We hung out for awhile taking in some of the town scenery. But now it was time to get back on the road. We still had a long way to go before we get to Marrakesh. We took a short walk through the town center then went back to the car and left through the east gate. We turned off the main road and onto the north road. We're looking straight up into the High Atlas Mountains. These are big ass mountains man, {14,000 ft. / 4200 M} the highest in the country, the second highest in all of Africa {the highest is Mt. Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania - 19,340 ft. / 5895 M} The highest peak in this range is Mount Toubkal, 14,000 ft; but we won't be driving over that one. But we won't be very far from it. The road we're on is going to take us through a pass not too far from the top in order to get through to Marrakesh. This little car is going to work it's ass off. The condition of the road so far isn't too bad, but the climb is quite steep and winding in spots, but not as dangerously winding as the Anti Atlas road. As we moved onward and upward the road was getting a little rougher. As we got higher up the mountain rocks had fallen off the mountain face onto the road, some were large enough that we had to start steering around them. Driving the higher elevations enabled us to see several valleys that had many tiny settlements scattered about the lower levels, I think most were probably family communes as there were only three or four small dwellings in each group. It was all quite beautiful and picturesque. I'm pretty sure that the whole time we were seeing all of these beautiful valleys, that I was wearing a huge smiley happy face; I just loved all these mountain valleys man. We were all totally impressed by the beauty of the overall view. It's been estimated that between a hundred thousand and six million people live in the various ranges throughout the country, of which there are four. Not having a better handle on how many people live in the country seemed a bit unrealistic. However, in 1975 there was no accurate census for mountain dwellers. Simply because there are so many people that make the trek through the deserts and across territorial borders into the mountains from everywhere, then back again thousands of times a year that it's impossible to keep track of the number of people that come and go. The number is so widely random that whatever number they say it is, that's what it is. The temperature began to drop rapidly as we got to higher elevations. One of the peaks the road was leading us toward was hidden by a huge ominous dark grey cloud. We drove nervously straight into it. When we emerged from the other side, it was winter. The sky was so blue and the sun so yellow and the snow everywhere was the purist white ever. This was just too cool, we were again completely blown away. In a matter of just a few minutes we went from summer temperatures to snow and winter weather; unbelievable. We got out of the car to play in the snow for a bit, throwing snowballs at each other and laughing our asses off. The air at this elevation was also a bit thin, but unlike the locals, we're not conditioned for it. All the mountain peaks were completely covered with snow; there were even a few mountain goats scurrying about on the slopes; this was all so cool, we absolutely loved it. Our ears kept popping from the elevation which was really annoying, as was the bit of a headache we were all experiencing. But we were having so much fun we just wanted to hang out for a bit longer, but alas......'we have miles to go before we sleep'...... Well we made it over the top and we're now heading downward. Along the way we came across a young Moroccan guy hitch-hiking. Silly us, we decided to pick him up. There was already five of us in the car, and it's a small car, a very tight squeeze at best. Luckily the hitch-hiker was just a skinny little guy and we managed to squeeze him in. hmmm, maybe we could fit him in the door pouch, you know, in where you put maps and newspapers, he was almost that skinny. He was going to Marrakesh, lucky him, so were we,... a free ride for him, plus he gets the pleasure of our company, all jammed into a sardine can we're now coming into the Tizi-n-Test Pass, where in spots can be a very scary and dangerous drive; it's reputed to be one of the most treacherous roads in the country. We all knew what a "pass" was, but we didn't know what the "Tizi-n-Test" part of the name meant. Our best guess was that it meant, -hang onto your ass man, because if you go over the edge, which was likely to happen if you weren't real careful, you were going to be fucking dead. There are no safety barriers along the edge of the road anywhere in the area. So there's no fucking around with the driving on this road, it's far too dangerous; and my life is too precious to me to allow someone to be fucking with it; and I made the driver aware of how I felt. I could have driven myself, but that would have been such a white knuckle drive for me, I sure wasn't up for that. So the drive through this part of our route was executed with the upmost care. thanks Mel We came across a little tiny inn, run by an equally little tiny French woman who didn't speak any English; but that was never a problem. She fed us omelettes, fried potatoes, tomato salad, bread and the cleanest water you could imagine. The food was great and the price was just 25 Dhm [six dollars] for the whole lot. Al said the lady was very pleased and happy that we were giving this kid a ride a ride through the mountains. We needed to get going now. Dusk was beginning to roll in and had also started to rain, but only lightly, but we really needed to make up some time. As we're driving along the kids' not saying too much. Al was squeezed in beside him and tried to chat him up a few times. He told us he thought the kid was kinda nervous and it may have had something to do with Mel's driving. Mel is a good driver, the best driver out of the five of us. The kid had nothing too worry about, but there was no way to make him understand that. He could have got out of the car if he was that nervous, but he didn't; so it's onward to Marrakesh we go. As we came past the lower peaks, the annoying ear popping has almost stopped and the headache has gone; what a relief. We could see the lights of Marrakesh way off in the distance to the north. But it's still going to take almost an hour to get there... We finally made it to Marrakesh, it's late and we're tired. Somewhere along the way the kid got out, but I don't remember the details about that part. We went straight to the Hotel du Sud and got a room for the night. Al didn't want to pay for a room, he was becoming a bit concerned about how much money he had left, so he decided to sleep in the car. The rest of us got a room with two beds. I really wish we had got separate rooms, Mel and Aileen were quite active, and noisy about it. Eve and I had a difficult time falling asleep. It had been another long tiring day, but we're young, we can handle it. Woke up after a much needed sleep. The others got up and went out to the marketplace just to have a last look around. Eve and I stayed in bed, we just didn't want to get up yet. When the others returned we gathered up our gear, packed everything in the car and headed north east to the Middle Atlas mountains. Next stop, Fez, the Imperial city. Page #13 Page links 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 |
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approaching
Taroudant 
the main gate, north side
busy town centre
the walls of Taroudant
one of the many High Atlas valleys
mountain peak covered by cloud
the other side of
the cloud 
main gate to the
Marrakesh Medina |