After an interesting sleep in an interesting hotel we left at 10:00 AM for a Fossil Factory for lack of a better name. All the creatures and plants that were encased in sediment for millions of years before the continents all bunched together split up, [Gondwana]. Morocco was right about in the middle so this is an excellent source of them, possibly the only. They are worked on and turned into the most beautiful pieces of art.
At 10:05 AM we were turned over to a new driver for 24 hours in the desert. He speaks no English and very soon he said 'English is Forbidden". Now when a Frenchman says that to me, a Canadian, that does not sit well at all. Nevertheless we all tried for a few hours to communicate with him to no avail. So I just shut up and looked at the passing scenery. We had no idea where we were going or what was next. It was interesting.
We did have a fun ride in the dunes in the 4x4 Land Rover. The time dragged on and some frustration was building, Fellette had a wee bit of success with him, bless her.
We had a visit to a Berber home/farm which was quite nice in that we could wander about and see how they lived, 11 in this small group of adobe structures of thatched walls of bamboo and palm fronds. The men appeared to be elsewhere today, two women, a child, a donkey, goat and kid were home. Solar panels make life a bit easer. It is still very primitive, but as clean as it can be.
We wanted some lunch as it was 1:30 by now. We finally ended up at a cafe run by a Berber family. The men were gracious and black a coal, [we saw no women], the meal was interesting. The driver was nowhere to be seen until Jim found out he was praying. Interesting.
Next we went for a 30 second drive across the street where we joined an African Musical group of 7 men, who finished 5 minutes later, and the audience that was in there when we came in left. We sat there and they played one song for us and we left. No words spoken. Interesting.
We then waited for the driver to appear and we went on a Magical Mystery tour for 45 minutes until we arrived a a camel site. Gail opted out and Jim, Fellette got on, not knowing where we were going and how long it would be. 50 minutes later we saw Gail at our Camp for the night. That was how we found out we were on a camel rid to the camp where our suitcase and packs were in the room Gail assisted in that regard. Our driver has by now disappeared fortunately and we are in the hands of Moroccans and Berbers for the night it appears at this point. Interesting.
For your information we did have a detailed itinerary for today but apparently nobody had the information, foresight or communication skills to inform us, the clients. Interesting.
The tent is lovely they even had the heater on it when we went in, [?], it gets chilly at night apparently. The temperature inside when we arrived had to be 80F!
Dinner is at 8:00 so we had lots of time to relax before dinner. There is no Alcohol here. Interesting.
Again I apologize for errors and other gremlin-like things that follow us as we try and do a blog under less than ideal conditions: no table, no proper light, flies etc. The worst of all is that there is no wine to lubricate my brain!
For your information we did have a detailed itinerary for today but apparently nobody had the information, foresight or communication skills to inform us, the clients. Interesting.
The tent is lovely they even had the heater on it when we went in, [?], it gets chilly at night apparently. The temperature inside when we arrived had to be 80F!
Dinner is at 8:00 so we had lots of time to relax before dinner. There is no Alcohol here. Interesting.
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Again I apologize for errors and other gremlin-like things that follow us as we try and do a blog under less than ideal conditions: no table, no proper light, flies etc. The worst of all is that there is no wine to lubricate my brain!
Farewell as we left this morning!
Our French driver and a small goat at a Nomadic home we later visited.
Our Berber host and a dish that he called Pizza. Pastery top and bottom with vegetables in between. Interesting.
He looked Like 'what's his name' from a Tarzan movie. They moved here a long time ago from Sudan. That is the closest we could get without the help of google. [I looked it up and it could be as long as 5000 years ago.]
The building their cafe and home is in. Adobe.
The area surrounding us tonight.
Our African band.
Wee Three!
Our Camel Driver Man.
Our bedroom in the tent.
The entire camp tents.
Locals.
Our Berber server for dinner.
The staff at the camp played some drums for a while after dinner. As I send this blog off at 10:00 PM, Fellette is in bed as I add the last two pictures. In the distance we can hear drums in adjacent camp. Now that is truly an interesting way to be lulled off to sleep!
What an amazing tour, made very interesting by your descriptive comments; and photo's. I can imagine how many you are taking!!
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