From the Mountains to the Desert

Tuesday, October 05, 2010
Erfoud, Morocco
We got an early start this morning because it will be a long day's drive as we cross the Middle Atlas Mountains and reach the Sahara Desert. Our first stop was in the village of Ifrane which looked like it had been transplanted from the Swiss Alps. We had time for coffee and wonderful pastries and a much needed visit to the ATM. I'm still having problem with keeping the currency conversion straight. It seems like I either add or drop a zero, so things either seem to expensive or really cheap. I finally made a cheat sheet and the rule of thumb is that 8 Dirham equal $1. So 100 Dirham is $12.50, and a 1000 Dirham is $25; or 40 Dr is $5, 80 Dr is $10, 800 is $100.  If I keep repeating it maybe I'll remember.

The King has a summer palace set in a dense cedar forest south of Ifrane . We took a short hike the the forest in the National Park surrounding the palace. This area is cool in summer but it can be very cold and snowy in the winter since to highest peaks are over 10,000 feet. The crops of the north have been replaced forests and plains occupied by shepherds and their flocks of sheep and goats. When we spotted some sheep near the road, we stopped for pictures only to discover that there was a newborn lamb and its mother very near the road. We watched as the lamb tried to stand and all cheered when it finally made it on the 3rd or 4th try. Ab talked with the shepherd who said that the flock was moving and the lamb would be transported by donkey to the next pasture.

Our third stop of the morning was in the village of Zedia, where we joined a group of locals at a sidewalk cafe to sample goat chops. The sidewalk was lined with several small shops each with its own charcoal grills and butchers case with various meats to be purchased and cooked . The goat chops were small and leaner than lamb but very similar in taste and along with the wonderful Berber bread and olives, and great mid-morning snack.    Just beyond Zaida we passed through Midelt, which is on the border between the Middle Atlas and High Atlas Mountains and the gateway to Southern Morocco. Then it was back on the bus until we we reached the Legionnaires' Tunnel near the Ziz River and Gorge.  Built by the French Foreign Legion in 1927, it opened a route to the south. After walking through the tunnel we enter the Ziz Gorge, nd had some beautiful views of the gorge and the oasis located in the river valley.

Finally, it was time for a lunch stop in Er-Rachidia. After our pastry snack and then the goat chops it seemed unlikely that we would be hungry, but every managed to eat more Moroccan food. As the highway continued to follow the route of the Ziz River we made a final stop overlooking the Oasis of Aoufous. The Oasis is home to 20,000 people, and a major producer of dates . The date harvest was still in progress during our trip and we were able to see many dates spread to dry on roofs and platforms. As though we hadn't already consumed many time our needed calories, we had one more treat, since Ab bought some Majool dates for us to try. Maybe it was the location and the fact that we could see where they were grown and harvested, but I think that they may have been the best dates I've ever tasted. It was almost 5:00 and sunset comes earlier in the high mountains, so we made one final stop to watch the sun set over the High Atlas mountains. Then finally we arrived in Erfoud, three days too late for the annual date festival to mark the end of the harvest. It was nice to relax in our hotel and prepare for our journey into the Sahara that begins tomorrow.
  
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