High Atlas and the Road to Marrakesh

Friday, February 21, 2014

High Atlas and the Road to Marrakesh

We left Ouarzazate this morning and began the drive over the High Atlas Mountains on the way to Marrakesh.  The road is very narrow, very winding, and climbs up and up and up to over 7000 feet.  The drive is very scary, with long drop-offs on the side and minimal railings in some of the places; none in others!  Even more scary are the drivers who pass on curves with no idea if someone is coming the other way.  Some are totally crazy and accomplish nothing, because they gain a few hundred yards and then are slowed by the next sane driver.  We made it.

On the other side we came to the “factory” for Argan Oil.  Never heard of it?  Neither had we.  This is the oil of a fruit, which is eaten by goats.  When the nut comes out the other end of the goat, it is washed, and opened one by one:

Then it is ground by hand:

It is made into products which are for eating (the oil) and into cosmetics, the labels of which claim to cure anything from acne to eczema to psoriasis.  Needless to say the things are very expensive.  Needless to say, both Leah and Joyce just had to have some.

Shortly after we stopped for lunch at a lovely small roadside restaurant which had a resident Barbary Ape (not in the photo):

We then left the main road for the afternoon activity, a hike in the foothills of the High Atlas for all of us but Leah.  For her it was a mule ride:

The path was absolutely lovely:

We came to a school:

I was not allowed to take photos in the 6^th grade room we visited, but I’ll try to describe it.  The room was about 20 feet by 20 feet, rather dark with one light bulb.  The male schoolteacher was at the front, there were 13 students at individual desks, six boys on one side of the room and seven girls on the other, all facing the teacher. There was total decorum, total attention, no wiggling or any motion except rapt attention to the teacher.  They were doing math; multiple quadratic equations were on the blackboard.  Algebra in sixth grade!  (“Al-jebra” is Arabic for “the counting”).  Leah was very impressed with it all—the respect for the teacher and the level of the work in a truly backwater very rural school.  So were we!

We continued our hike/ride:

Towards the end, after about two hours, we crossed a small river, and on the other side saw women with bags of laundry heading to the river to do the wash:

 We continued to Marrakesh where we are now, and will have dinner in the Medina tonight.  Our last day is tomorrow when we’ll tour Marrakesh.