Morocco Day 8

Don’t Go To The Mountains On…

Our night’s sleep was actually good, minus the incessant barking dogs but at least there were no mosquitoes buzzing in our ears!

We had a nice breakfast up on the terrace and enjoyed chatting with a young couple from Colorado who had been there for a week horseback riding. We felt lucky because yesterday the weather was perfect but by 9:00 this morning, a heavy fog bank rolled in and wiped out any view of the ocean.

I actually really enjoyed our stay here; It had a great vibe and the people were terrific. I could easily hang there for a week watching the breakers roll in.

We didn’t waste time this morning as we had our longest drive yet. Today we were going from the coast to the mountains (and I know that’s not saying much since Morocco has A LOT of mountains), an expected five-hour drive.

Within minutes of leaving we passed miles and miles and miles of greenhouses. We were not able to figure out what was in the them but it was beyond extensive.

We planned to drive the fastest route – an actual toll highway that had two lanes in both directions and came complete with full tarmac coverage and sound shoulders. The highway turned out to be a good place to spy more Moroccan things that baffled us – like how they transport items, especially livestock, including cows – on the tops of trucks with nothing holding them in should they hit a big bump.

We crossed from the land of red rock, to the land of yellow rock, to a flat arid plain that was almost white, the whole time we could zero mountains – not even the faintest outline, before we hit the green and started climbing.

It wasn’t long before obvious signs from the earthquake that devastated this area in October were evident. We passed the open fields where so many people are still living in tents and crumbled and cracked buildings. The road was littered with rockslides, some still blocking lanes, and in many parts burying the guardrails. We were basically headed to the epicenter of the 6.9 earthquake high in the Atlas Mountains to Imlil – a town known for trekking, and had we had more time, we would be doing a few.

One thing we quickly learned was not to go to the mountains on market day, not to go on a Saturday, not to go when the temperatures are running 10-20 degrees above normal, and not to go the first weekend after Ramadan – we now know this for next time because had you told me that what I was going to be driving into was the utter chaos we found ourselves in, I wouldn’t be staring at the majestic Mount Toubkal right now. This was by far the most wild driving experience I have ever had.

Mount Toubkal is the tallest mountain in North Africa. It stands at an elevation of 13,671 feet and is glacial year round.It can be summitted via a two day trek leaving from Imlil.

Finding the small alleyway that we had to take to the riad was a bit tricky, but with Billy’s sharp eye, we located it. We parked the car and made the rest of the way on the trail.

The views from the riad were stunning, it is one of the reasons why I chose it. We were warmly welcomed with an offer of tea and enjoyed a conversation with the two brothers who are the owners, Rashid and Ibrahim. They said this whole village is just their extended family. It began a few generations back with just two houses – their great great grandfather’s and his brother. They said they own land across the river in Imlil but they didn’t want to build there because there are too many tourists always coming up from other parts of Morocco.

The riad is really cool, built into the side of the mountain and overlooking the verdant river valley below.

The call to prayer here was incredible, reverberating through the valley…

We had a delicious dinner of salad (a funky salad mixed with banana, apple, grapefruit, cucumber, olives, tomato, and spices but it was really good), the best bread we’ve had on the trip, and we each got our own chicken, lemon and saffron tagine – I told them when they brought it, it was way too much but they insisted and you know what? We ate every last morsel!

After dinner, Jenny wanted to take a walk into town since we didn’t get one earlier as she went down hard with a migraine. We asked one of the ladies if it was OK and she asked us, “Aren’t you scared from the dark?” We showed her our flashlights and she then said,” OK, no problem. No o w will harm you here. In this village you are safe.” So we set off. for a walk into the village. This may be a quarter mile, but it was dark. The village was still fairly lively, but your shop was open. People were still coming and going. We found it interesting that we didn’t get very many stairs. None of the men seem to take much notice of us, and we felt very comfortable.