Marrakesh Day 2 Part 2 | One Day at a Time

Continued from Marrakesh Day 2 Part 1.

So arid up here. We were both very surprised by the road conditions here in Morocco. I was expecting pothole filled road, but instead they are perfectly paved and nicer than most rural roads in US.

I believe these are mostly Berber communities out here. It’s so strange to live here up in the mountains where it’s so dry. How do they sustain themselves out here?

Indeed great driving/riding roads. Motorcycle travelers from Europe.

We’ve turned off the road for a short stop to see Telouet Kasbah.

There’s actually a part of this kasbah ruin that’s been restored and open to the public but it’s closed right now. I think it’s closed because it was damaged in the 2023 earthquake near here. It took us about 2 hours of driving to get here. We are just going to do a quick walk around to the portions that are still open and accessible.

Alright, very quick visit. Time to call it a day and get back in the car and keep on driving.

Since our riad had prepared so much food for breakfast, we brought some of it with us on this car trip. Good thing we did, because it’s basically our lunch and we are hungry.

Cycling trips. We would later drive by their support vehicle. I am guessing they are here on an organized riding trip. Would be a lot of fun if you are into this sort of stuff.

Then, at some point the road turn into a 1.5 lane wide road with no lane markings. This is supposed to be the scenic route to Ait Benhaddou, so I had actually expected the road to be small like this much earlier on during the drive.

Fun road to drive on. I didn’t push the car at all really though. 1. RL was getting a little carsick. 2. Blind corners with crazy drivers trying to pass.

More Berber communities out here. There’s no vegetation on the mountains, and then it’s just dense green at the bottom where the river flows. Really cool dichotomy look. Love the contrast.

I mean look at it. Nothingness, and then green lushness filled with life. This is the Ounila Valley.

I know the river is not an oasis, but it kind of is. We saw spring water sprout out from the sides of the hills over here feeding into the river. I guess that makes it sort of like an oasis.

Water brings life to this otherwise desolate valley.

Switchbacks. There were very few cars on this stretch of the road.

The switchbacks brought us closer to the bottom of the valley closer to the river.

We would see random water pipes around the hills once in a while. We’d even see some random water spigot in the middle of no where on the side of the road. I wonder what’s the source. Spring water? Water tank? Tap? Can’t be tap, right? These are such isolated settlements.

Getting close to Ait Benhaddou now.

We found a parking spot, and the moment we parked, RL’s motion sickness hit her hard. Hopefully now that we are stopped, she’ll be better. Speaking of stomach issues, I’ve been having to take Imodium daily on this trip. Something in the Moroccan diet doesn’t not agree with me. On a brighter note, my back that was bother me earlier in the trip has stopped hurting. But now my left knee kind of hurts a little bit going up and down stairs…getting old.

Hopefully some icy cold frozen pop will restore RL back to life. It’s probably a combination of motion sickness, lack of lunch, and lack of fluids.

Ait Benhaddou right across the mostly dry riverbed.

It’s really sunny and warm today. Well, I guess not super warm, only in the 80s.

Rammed earth mixed with straws. Again, reminds me of the buildings in Tibet.

There were these shops selling Berber invisible ink paintings. The dark brown portions would show up after heating the paper up with fire.

RL decided to buy one for souvenir. While we were at it, we also asked the seller for some information on how to get to the top of the kasbah. There are no directions, just a bunch of stairs and random alleyways.