Mountains, deserts, and oceans (Morocco) 7/18-23

"Keep close to Nature's heart...and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean." John Muir

Olive people: 7/18
We left Fez, heading south, with no fixed destination in mind. We drove to the town of Bahlil, a small village where many of the residents have made their home in caves to escape the heat. We were invited into a cave home and drank mint tea. The living room was carved into the mountainside, and kept everything at a pleasent temperature. We said goodbye and drove on towards Souk Al Had, visiting a tall waterfall and getting caught in a huge rainstorm. We drove till about 7pm, and pulled off on a dirt road. Finding an olive grove, we asked permission from the house on a hill and they seemed to think it was a wonderful idea for us to camp among their trees. Some people arrived in the evening and gave us tea, bread, and honey. The police also somehow found us and checked our papers. We think they were just curious though, as they did not seem too interested in actually seeing our documents. They just said hi and then left us alone in the olive grove.

Morning goats at our campsite

Olive grove camping

Mountain people: 7/19
Leaving the olive trees and goat herds that woke us up behind, we headed into the High Atlas mountains. The villages were simple mud brick affairs, built in the valleys along streams. Women worked the fields, bundling wheat and packing it out on donkeys. Children and adults would wave as we passed. Driving higher up, clouds began to form. Rain fell hard and soon the previously empty river bed paralleling the road became a muddy torrent, shooting over a bridge on an offshoot road to our right. Our road up the mountain pass became a river. Jess got out to check the depth and guide us. We put the cars in four wheel drive and drove through. Water reached just below the doors, but we soon gained solid ground again. We continued up the pass, the narrow road clinging to a cliff edge, the valley far below. Parts of the road were completely washed out, but our little cars easily climbed over the rocks and mud. At the top, huge slabs of rock leaned, overhanging the road. The view over the valley was amazing, and we were relieved to be out of the flood zone and rock slide area.

Flash floods

Road becomes a river

Was dry just a few minutes before

Crossing the pass, we headed down, the air growing warmer. We reached a village. The weekly market was being held. The streets were filled with people, vendors lined the sides of the road. We bought bread and vegetables, then wandered amongst the stalls. That night we camped in a rocky clearing in the mountains. In the morning, a man appeared from the next village over. He just wanted to say hi and watch as we packed up camp.

Market day

Markets

Mountain camping

Oasis and Lake people: 7/20
We crossed another high pass in the morning, but the landscape had changed. Only rock and small shrubs dotted the mountains, and it began to get very hot. We had reached the very far edges of the Sahara. We passed through small villages, and our road ran through a narrow canyon. Soon the walls of the canyon soared above us in a sheer cliff face of redish rock. A fresh water spring sprang from the rock and formed a clear river. Tourist vendors set up shops, and busses of people wandered the highway. We walked back into the oasis of date palms and found a clear pool with locals swimming. We jumped in with them, the water was cool and refreshing. After, we wandered back to the ruins of an old mud brick kasbah. We climbed over walls, through old doorways. Some of the ruins were five stories tall. We found our cars, and pushed on to the shores of a lake, where we made our home for the night.

Leaving the Atlas Mountains

Canyon oasis

Swimming with the locals

Desert oasis, so many date palms!

Castle people: 7/21
Waking up, we made the short drive to Ait Ben Haddou, a small mud brick city perched on a hill, and the site of many Hollywood and international films. Along the way we visited the ATLAS film studio, where Kundun, Gladiator, Alexander, The Hills Have Eyes, and other films were shot. It was surreal walking through the abandoned sets, wandering from Tibet into ancient Egypt, seeing behind the curtain so to speak. That evening, outside of the city of Aoulouz, we came across an old abondoned mud brick building, which we dubbed a castle. We pitched our tents inside it's walls for the night. While cooking dinner, we remarked that each night we were something different: city people, mountain people, olive grove people, and so forth. This night we were castle people.

ATLAS film studios

Ait Ben Haddou

Ait ben Haddou

Castle camping

Beach people: 7/22
We made for the coast in the morning, stopping for lunch in a town close to Agadir on the N10 highway. We resupplied for a few more nights camping. Crossing small mountains full of spikey cactus, from which the locals harvest the fruits to sell, we arrived at the Atlantic ocean in the town of Mirleft, south of Agadir. We drove south about 7 kilometers, turned down a dirt road, and reached a quiet beach with an elevated parking lot and a steep road down to the sand. The man working the parking lot said we could camp on the beach. Our cars got stuck in the sand, but many locals helped to push us out. I went for a run on the sand. We cooked pasta with vegetables and went to sleep with the sound of the waves crashing not far from our tents.

Camping on the beach

Beach

Mierleft beach

Cliff people: 7/23
We had a lazy morning on the beach, slowly drinking coffee, reading, and packing our things. We left the coastal road and returned inland to the N1 highway, passing through small desert towns. The landscape began to open up. Huge expanses of rocky desert loomed in front of us. Making the long drive into Tantan, the desert opened up, wide, and flat as far as you could see. Tents were set up in the desert, berber nomads and shepherds wandering the sand and rocks. Chris was caught in a speeding trap, doing 88 in an 80 km per hour zone. Try as we might, we could not get out of the ticket, and they had to pay 150 Dirham, about $15.00. Our first, and hopefully last, ticket. We passed through the oddly quiet town of Tantan, to the coastal city of El Ouatia. We had a bite to eat and wandered this strange town in the middle of the desert. The beach was packed with locals. Everyone brings their own little tent to the beach, along with a complete tea set and charcoal barbecue. Camels roamed the sand, the owners offering rides. A group of boys were playing drums and hand cymbals, everyone was enjoying their day off. We picked up some water and headed south to find a camping spot. The road south of El Ouatia parallels the sea on a high cliff. We found a quiet area on a steep cliff and set up camp for the night. The views over the coast were dramatic from the cliff edge. We made sure to set our tents far back, as the land was clearly eroding and the cliff face was making its way slowly inland over time. A cool breeze blew, and we fell asleep again listening to the waves crash on completely unspoiled beaches far below. Tomorrow we make for Western Sahara, and soon, on to Mauritania.

Cliff camping

Western Sahara cliff camping

Western Saharan coast

Hole to the sea!