WEATHER: Hot and 37C
HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Getting to sleep in till 9.30am
BUMMER OF THE DAY: The sun didn’t come out as planned on our free day – damn it
BUYS OF THE DAY: My Berber rug purchased from a local family
WORD OF THE DAY: Maiika – again!!! Berber for Queen
So today was a free day. You could do as little or as much as you wanted. My knee is still a little sore, but I believe it is now finally starting to heal. But most of the optionals today involved walking, so I decided to stay in till lunch time and just chillax.
A group left at 8am for a 3.5 hour hike through the gorge and up some mountain to meet some nomads. Yeah I think I’ll pass. There was a 10am departure for a 2 hour walk through the gorge and surrounds, yeah I think I’ll pass that also and the last for the morning was rock climbing, apparently Todra Gorge is well known worldwide for its climbing, and I can see why as the cliff faces are amazing, and this is also where Mission Impossible was filmed, where Tom Cruise ( I love him) was filmed doing the crazy one arm swing from a rock face, that was here, yeah well none of that for me either.
So what did I do? Well I slept till 9.30am, had breakfast at 9.45am, chatted with Georgie till 10am and then hit the pool and some sun till. Till 11.15am, where I met some of the other ‘non active’ people and we got a drive to see the gorge briefly before our lunch. The gorge is massive; it has been carved out cliff-sided canyons on their final 40 kilometers through the mountains. The last 600 meters, the Todra gorge are the most spectacular as the canyon narrows to a flat stony track as little as 10 meters wide in places with sheer and smooth rock walls up to 160 meters high on each side. The tiny glacier stream is something of a misfit and the river which once filled the gorge can only be imagined. As it is summer holidays, there were heaps of children playing in the gorge of all ages, I guess like our kids back home playing in lakes, dams or the beach. There were some local sellers and a drink shop that showed us his Berber ‘fridge’ which was all his drinks were sitting in the gorge water in the shade keeping them cool – what a great idea!!
I was tempted to skip lunch and just stay at the hotel, but I figured I had to eat anyway, and I should leave the hotel at least once. Lunch was at a local house / Kasbah where a local woman cooked us Broad bean soup, mixed salad and a Berber Pizza. The pizza was like a pastry top and bottom and had a meat filling with olives, onion and herbs, it was quite delicious. Not sure about the bean soup though…… We then went downstairs where they had some carpets that have been woven by the local woman of the area. Made primarily from sheep and lamb’s wool (which was softer) they had more traditional patterns on them than the ones we saw in Fez. There were some beautiful carpets and rugs, as I wasn’t in the market for a rug, I was only window shopping. BUT then I saw a beautiful red one that was approx. 600AUD, it was beautiful, but without having a house to visualize where it would go, I made a decision with my head for once and didn’t buy it, but it was beautiful. They proceeded to bring out more and more rugs, and Tony of the group wanted to see some ‘manly’ carpets, so out came a black one with red squares on it, and I knew that one was the rug for me, so much for window shopping! So I let Tony ohhh and ahhhh over it, till he decided he didn’t want it, and then I swooped in and snapped it up! So much for not buying a rug, but it was only 130AUD and will be a great memory of my trip to Morocco. Just another thing I will have to ship home, but certainly worth it!
Just before leaving the Henna lady turned up. These ladies use natural ingredients from a leaf to make the paste for the henna, so there are no chemicals involved. So I was first off the rank and got a pattern on my right hand, which went up just past my wrist, down my pointer finger and flowers on each finger. You then have to wait for the henna to dry and then you pick off all the dry stuff and it leaves an orange-brown stain on your hand that is supposed to last around a week. I was a little disappointed when I picked mine off, I thought it would be a little darker, but I think my tan has made it not look so dark, but I like it all the same.
Back to the hotel late afternoon, with storm clouds brewing and no sun, it knocked my ‘sun time’ plans out the window. So instead I was able to use the hotels computer for a few minutes to touch base with the world again after 5 days off-line. I was also hoping to update my blog, I had found my USB stick and everything, but the computer was as old as the hills and they only had the earlier version of Word on it, so I was unable to open my documents anyway – oh well it was a good idea – so I now have 6 entries to upload and with another few days offline, it will probably be just over a week’s worth when I get some Wi-Fi. I also did some office time and completed yesterday’s blog and also down loaded pictures from my camera. Looking back on yesterday’s photos on the laptop, there are some really great shots in there and I can’t wait to get them loaded onto Facebook to show you all.
The guys left at 5.30pm for a Hammamm. It is like a Turkish bath experience but Moroccan style and from the sounds of it; it was a great but different experience. I didn’t go. I’m not a massagy, get nude in front of strangers, or friends for that manner, type of gal. They had to all strip down to their undies only and then this lady with massive knockers flipped them like fish on the floor and exfoliated and massaged the hell out of their skin. If that sounds like fun, I think I will pass thanks. It is another one of those things I am glad I did miss and don’t feel any regrets on.
Dinner was at 8pm and the Hammamm crew found a liquor store open and came back bearing alcoholic gifts. I really haven’t had much to drink since Greece and I have to say it has made a nice break. Monetary and health wise. But a few beers tonight, kindly sponsored by Jeff (thanks buddy – my shout tomorrow night) I have to say they did hit the spot. I was talking to Annette and Jeff yesterday, and they are also from Brisbane. Oh really what part of Brisbane? Middle Park / Jamboree Heights. Oh really, so are we. What street did you live in - Port Street, oh really we live 5 houses away from you! Now if that isn’t a small world, I don’t know what is. Well we aren’t neighbors anymore, but it’s still pretty cool all the same. It’s a small world after all…..
Everyone was pretty tired to night, so we just chilled after dinner. A group who was continuing a card game from yesterday broke off to some other tables and we found out tonight that Issam is a bit of a card shark. He has all these card tricks, which he is awesome at, and we all can’t figure out how he does them. He really is good. He has shown us how he did one of them and he showed us a ‘simple’ trick that I think I could handle, but he simply will not show us how he does the others. There is one that is VERY impressive and I cannot for the life of me work out how it’s done. By the end of the trip I will find out – it’s driving me nuts.
So we leave the beautiful Todra Gorge tomorrow and head to the movie capital of Morocco, Ouarzazate, also known as Mollywood (of course) where movies such as Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven were filmed. So it looks like we are shaping up for another great day tomorrow. I love Morocco, I love the people, I love the food and I am getting used to the heat, I won’t say at this stage I love the weather, but sunny days are good and I guess we can’t have it all
No comments:
Post a Comment