2 September, 2014
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| Oh yes, the mountains |
Sewerage, running water and
electricity are not the norm for everybody outside of big cities.
Huge works are underway to bring electricity to more people. New and
improved roads and bridges are also under construction all over the
place.
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Electricity sub-station under construction |
En route, as we passed
through the changing countryside, there were the language lessons. I
brushed up my French quite a bit, and learned a few words of Berber,
but my accent was awful – there are quite a few Germanic style
guttural sounds that are beyond me (as are the rolling Rs in French –
woman or farm, femme or farrrm??!!). In return, I passed on some
English words – ‘tail-back’ cropped up a bit!
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| Leading the tailback up a slow hill |
…… as we mixed it with
the traffic.
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| Hay-laden truck |
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| Hay-laden donkey … We swapped vehicles at Ouarzazate, from Toyota to Mitsubishi, from cracked windscreen (the blob in the photo) to impeccable windscreen. |
I also had to distinguish
between my chapeau and my tete – hat and head sounded the same to
Hami. As did ship and sheep. What does that say about my
pronunciation?!
We drove and drove. I never ceased to be amazed
at where ground would be levelled for a football pitch, or where you would see sheep and goats grazing, in the charge of nomads .... and beehives, of all things. Not to mention prickly pear - the fruit is on sale everywhere.
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| Football pitch |
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| Sheep and goats grazing |
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| Beehives |
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| Prickly pear |
We twisted and turned.
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| Careful! |
We climbed the High Atlas
and crossed the Tizi n’Tichka Pass, the range's highest pass.
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| Highest pass in the High Atlas mountains |
The sights kept changing.
Mostly it was overcast but
occasionally the sky, as well as the scenery, was spectacular.
The photo doesn't do justice
to the colours in the mountains.
There were trees and no trees and it was (still!) hard to believe that crops do grow where preparations were being made.
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| Stunning sky |
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| Colourful mountains |
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| Preparing for planting |
Mid afternoon we stopped for lunch at Ait Ben Haddou …… then visited its old kasbah.
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| Time for a late lunch |
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| Ksar Ait Ben Haddou - made completely of mud bricks |
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| Intricate decoration |
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| On display: the forerunner of today's door locks |
The best way I can describe
a kasbah (probably not too accurately) is as something that looks
like a castle or fortress and which contains ‘apartments’ for
various members of a family (e.g. parents, their children and their
children’s families) plus various workers/tradesmen who would keep
the family comfortable. A large home for both nobility and servants,
you might say (perhaps quite wrongly!).
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| Ait Ben Haddou - Bowls for sale, an old kasbah and an old look-out post |
