REAL town w/ REAL folks- not a staged tourist trap
Trip Start
Sep 16, 2006
1
24
69
Trip End
Sep 16, 2007
Taroudant, Morocco
Saturday, December 9, 2006
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Our ride out of Iezgane's taxi land took us back East inland and off the coast. The ride was pretty flat and uneventful, except for the really diesel fume laden, smoggy air-- so thick that you couldn't see the mountains nearby. The road cuts between the incredible High Atlas Mountain range to the North and its' sister range the Anti Atlas to the South, but unfortunately the smog was so thick and the dust levels so high that neither range was visible. The level of dust was so intense and phlegm inducing that we couldn' wait to get to Taroudant.
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Features of today were many screamed 'bonjour madame'.
Also, many many enthusiastic and persistant 'bonjour monsieur'.
MANY!!
Also, many a snake hiss, a new thing for us.
Also, today though the road was barren and not-so-pretty, included an unusual amount of amusing exotic bird whistlers, who fooled Anna and I several times but we soon became experts at assessing 'exotic bird' vs. 'sheep herder' or 'dude on the side of the road'. The things we learn. We wondred if Kurt was experiencing similar adventures as a solo man on the road.
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We arrived in Taroudant and first noticed its' massive, impressive walls... the whole town is walled in by a beautiful, old, rock wall. Once inside, the relief set in. This Taroudant is a REAL city, with REAL people, living their lives.
The town doesn't seem to depend on tourism, which peels away the sometimes tiring, embarrasingly staged, overly eager layer that is pervasive in many tourist cities all over the world. For the first time we didn't feel like the place was set up as a theatrical performance for our viewing pleasures. What a terrific place to be!! The souq-market area in town was bustling and full of activity, even really late into the night. Nobody paid any attention to us, nobody tried to sell us anything, and nobody really stared at us- for the first time. Really cool.
The city has two large hospitals and seemingly many many schools. School kids were milling about everywhere! We did some top notch people watching and noticed, for the first time, awesome 'alternatives'- young people who broke the expected mold, which is very different and almost shocking in an Arabic country such as Morocco. Across the street from Hotel Atlas, where we stayed the night, was a really neat bike-moped shop, single-handedly run by a dreadlocked 'alternative' mechanic. People with all sorts of derailleur troubles, moped failures, and even those hideous mini-motorcycles came to him from sun-up to sun-down. We watched him from our window up above.
Since we were so close to the foothills of the high High Atlas mtns now, the weathe got noticeably colder. It's hard to wake up at 6 or 7am these days, with the frost on the windows and the breath crystalizing in the air. Taroudant is so great!!
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We were prepared for the epic climb of a lifetime... our highest mountain pass yet! Ever!! We waited til the snow and rainfall had passed the day before, and we were ready...
Our pass was 2200 meters high, which is around 7000 feet in altitude! The High Atlas Mountains are the highest mtn range in Morocco, with Tizi-n-Test being the second highest mtn pass in all of Morocco. Snow, freezing temperatures, and intensely switch-backed road climbs were ahead and we were reeeeeeally excited!
