With another long journey in store, I again girded myself for feeling green on the road. Normally I would take Bonine or Dramamine, but I haven't been taking any medications for anything because no one is 100% certain how much is safe for a developing baby. (Of course, some medications are just outright not okay to take.) But again, everyone the tour was super nice and left me the front seat. With ginger candies in hand, I was ready for our next adventure!
We made our first stop to see ancient water wells that are west of Erfoud. These wells were actually a network of wells that were all connected underground to minimize evaporation, and relied on clever design and gravity to transport the water. Ingenious!
The guide and his brother had a little shop nearby, and I spotted a beautiful scarf that matched the exact shade of my pink top. It turned out to be the largest scarf ever -- I think there's enough fabric to make me a dress. They quickly twisted the scarf around the crown of my head, and voila! I was ready for anything, even that mini-sandstorm.
We then stopped at Tinehir, a dramatic mountain oasis with palm trees and clay villages.
I remember seeing this hotel, situated rather excitingly in precarious position under the cliffs, but it was in good shape five years ago. I asked our guide when this rock slide had happened, and he said last November -- so it was definitely a new development. Needless to say, I'm not making a reservation at this hotel anytime soon!
We made our first stop to see ancient water wells that are west of Erfoud. These wells were actually a network of wells that were all connected underground to minimize evaporation, and relied on clever design and gravity to transport the water. Ingenious!
The next stop was quite familiar to me: the Todra Gorges. There were a lot more tourists (including rock climbers) this time -- clearly, April is more popular than August due to the more temperate weather -- but I enjoyed the hustle and bustle, and managed to take some pictures without too much trouble.
Lunch was the next item on our itinerary. We went to a cute place opened by a French woman who had relocated, and the food was quite good. I particularly liked the pumpkin soup and the vegetable purees, to which she had added the perfect amount of spices. Mohamed toasted our tour director and bus driver with a post-lunch espresso.
We continued on our journey towards Ouarzazate, and I was thrilled when we arrived at Le Berbere Palace, our hotel for the night. Ouarzazate is where major Hollywood (and other) movies are filmed, so this hotel had lots of recognizable items from the movie sets. I was impressed with the size of our hotel room, which is more accurately described as a suite because it had a separate sitting area with its on TV...not that we had much time to sit and watch TV, but there it is.
But I was to be further impressed: the dinner was a huge spread of food in a spectacular buffet with various hot and cold stations with just about anything you could think of eating. The folks at my table commented on how much I was eating, and they were right: I was hungry, the food was good, and I was not shy. I've always said that I've a great person to take to a buffet, and I think I just proved it.
