Take me to the Kasbah

Today we drove from the Todra Gorge to Ait Benhaddou. It was a long drive, with several photo stops and a couple of talks and demonstrations. We drove along the longest street in Africa - the Street of a Thousand Kasbahs. Huge dry dusty hills with houses built on them, keeping the fertile land by the river bed for the crops - roses, almonds, pomegranates, dates, olives and figs.

We stopped in a Berber Pharmacy and had a demonstration/talk about natural herbs and oils. He was showing an oil which was good for aches and pains, so I asked if it was good for knees. Yes! I was taken off to another room for a knee massage. Actually, it was quite painful, so it was really nice when it stopped. Others had shoulder massages, and several things were bought by the group.

Then we stopped at a centre for helping 'handicapped' (their word, not mine) people. Intrepid Tour Company supports this charity by matching any donations given by the group. Small pottery items were bought.

We drove past the film studios- Gladiator, Indiana Jones, Lawrence of Arabia to name but a few- and arrived at our guest house for the night. Another of Intrepid's 'friends'. Actually, it's the best one yet - really authentic, clean, (very dodgy) wifi in rooms. It has a fantastic terrace overlooking the ancient UNESCO (renovated) village of Ait Benhaddou. This is our host, Muhammed, serving mint teas and biscuits when we arrived.

Then Abdou led us across the river to explore the village. It was full of steps. Very high steps, as usual. Hundreds of 'em. I was puggled. In fact, I did not go right up to the granary at the top (where women and children went during times of war with another tribe/village. All the others did. He also took us to an ancient Kasbah (more steps). I crawled up the last few, which gave Abdou a fright as I appeared at the top. He explained about life in the village in those times.

I stayed and watched a painter. He did camel/ desert scenes in about two minutes, using tea and saffron 'paints', then heated the back of the painting to bring the colours out. While I was waiting (not even ten minutes) he painted (and sold) three. Good wee business!

Back to the hotel, half an hour to shower, then a cous cous cooking demonstration. This took rather a long time, as they weren't quite organised and our friend Muhammed ad-libbed and talked about his movie career (been in 16 movies) till his sister eventually arrived.

Then it was a late meal, and now it's 10:30. Tomorrow we're up early to see the sunrise from the balcony, then on the road early. Tomorrow night we hike up a mountain with a day pack, and stay for the night. I think the accommodation might be charmingly called 'roughing it'.

Tomorrow I ride a mule up the mountain.

My nether regions have not yet recovered from my camel ride!

Whose idea was this???