On The Road in SNOWrocco!
Our driver picked us up from the riad and brought us to the new part of the city to the car rental place (50DH). But before getting the car we wanted to go to a bank and break our large 200Dh bills into smaller bills, since we were starting to run low. It took three different banks before we found one that had change, or at least was willing to give us change. We found it odd that the country seems to run on small bills, but they are very hard to get.
Then we got our car, a small diesel Dacia. if you’re going to drive here it is much better to be able to drive a manual transmission- as far as rentals go there seems like there are very few automatics and the ones they have are very expensive to rent. No matter to me, but something to be aware of. Our car had very little fuel so we quickly filled up, not knowing how many fuel stations were around outside of the cities. They are actually fairly common in the south, but less so in the north. Either way they are common enough that you don’t have to worry too much about running out of fuel (unlike Patagonia). Our fill up was 420DH- I’m not sure the size of the tank but only filled up twice for the whole trip. We liked the bigger gas stations, the attendant took car of pumping the fuel and we paid him directly, no tip required.
Driving in Marrakech was, umm, crazy but controlled chaos. We heard it referred to as “sliding” where cars, mopeds and people just slide around each other…and that’s pretty much how it is. Sooooo many mopeds, coming from all directions, cars randomly stopped on the side and the pedestrians just walk out in front of you. Really though they have to, and so will you, just to cross a street. I will say they it isn’t that bad because people seem to be paying attention while driving, rather than looking down at their phones. And I think it works whenever people- be they cars, pedestrians, mopeds (or burros later on), keep moving on their path. It seems when someone stops or shifts direction it throws everyone else off because they are anticipating you will keep going in your current direction. It’s best to just try to drive like a local, right from the start.
Once we got out of Marrakech and fueled up it was wide open road up to the beautiful snow covered High Atlas mountains and Tichka Pass. We crossed the peak at 7400′, dodged many, many rockslides, slow trucks and enjoyed some stunning views. this is the pass that connects the Moroccan plains with the Sahara desert region.
We actually went past the kasbah where we would be staying tonight and went down to the UNESCO site of Ait BenHaddou which has been a fortified site since 1100. We paid 20DH for parking and had multiple offers for guided tours, which we declined.
Our place for the night was the Kasbah Ellouze, which we absolutely loved. Not as ornate as the riads we’d been in, but very comfortable, beautiful location amongst a much older kasbah and the food was probably the best on our trip. The harira soup and tangine were outstanding, and the dinner was served in the “jazz room” playing cool music and decorated with vintage jazz records. The next morning we planned on getting a fairly early start, but after a delicious breakfast we went outside and met one of the locals, Abdou, who gave us a tour of the old kasbah and mosque (where his father had been the caller or mommum), as well as all the olive, fig, wheat and pomegranate gardens down by the river. He even brought us to his home to show that off. It was not an expected tour and we weren’t sure if he was trying to make money or just proud of his village but either way we gave him 50Dh as a tip. I’m pretty lenient with tips, five bucks can be a good day for many of these people and is fairly insignificant to us. Not that we like to waste money but I have no interest in haggling too much with people who have far less than me.
On our way out there was a vendor (of course) and we did end up buying a few geodes and jewelry gift items from him. As Melinda said, you know we overpaid when he started throwing in extras after the transaction- a scarf he wrapped as a turban for her and a small ring for me. Oh well, see previous statement, and we found some neat things.
Finally we hit the road to Dades Gorge and our next overnight in Toudrah Gorge. There were many police stops on the way (you’ll get used to them) but they just waved us through. We had wanted to go pretty far up Dades to see a view of the gorge from above but as we got to the point where the road would begin to climb we were turned back due a snow closure on the road ahead. Disappointed, but we did get to see the Monkey Fingers rock formation, albeit in swirling snow the entire time. This is the point where we dubbed the area “Snowrocco”- there was way more snow here than we had ever thought we’d see!
But the real showstopper was Todra Gorge, even in the snow! It was like driving through Zion, or the Grand Canyon with sheer cliffs everywhere around us. At one point the road dwindled down to what looked like a parking lot, and signs with “X” on them- but keep pushing ahead, it turns back into a road again. The road becomes very twisty and narrow, and we had a lot of snow coming down. Our destination is Auberge Le Festival where we will spend the night in a cave room. By the time we get there it is getting dark, more snowy and the hotel appears to be on the other side of the river, with no bridge. There was a steep road going down to the river so we got out and actually walked down to verify we could cross- the river was dry, but I don’t know what they do when it isn’t because we saw no other way in or out. But the room was very cool (no cave crickets) and the food was excellent here as well. We ate dinner by candlelight since they only have solar and generator for electricity and after several cloudy days their batteries were running low. They asked guest to let them know if they needed to run any high power electronics so they could start the generator as needed.
The cave room was nice, the showers were hot, the breakfast was good, and the weather had cleared up beautifully. Bright sunshine, the wind overnight had dried the roads and there was no ice. The gorge was stunning this morning and we stopped for a lot of pictures! But we are on our way to the Sahara….
