Last day in Morocco

The last morning our village was further from the mosque, so we didn't wake up quite as early. We still were up early enough to see a beautiful sunrise over the mountains before a quick Berber breakfast of bread and mint tea.

Sunrise over the mountains

Double fisting, Moroccan style

 Today we only had a short, downhill hike of about an hour to get to the van that was to take us to Marrakech. It hadn't really warmed up yet, so we had wonderful cool air and more gorgeous views.

Just beautiful

 One of the things that was most interesting about the trip was seeing the Berber farming techniques. Much of the land is carved into terraces to make the hills farmable. They then have little channels running all down the hills from basins of water at the top. They dam up or undam the top to let water run down as needed to irrigate the plants. They also use dried branches of a prickly, thorny plant to line their field, thus keeping out goats and other animals that might eat their plants.

Terraces for farming. What an incredible amount of work.

 The first day of hiking some of the group had the chance to ride the donkeys, but there wasn't time for everyone. The last day I was reminded that I wanted to try and got hoisted up on Couscous...

Like a sack of potatoes

Me and my buddy, Couscous

 Unfortunately, Couscous had a predilection for ledges. Most of my ride was spent in terror as he continually walked right on the edge of the ravine. The guide kept grabbing his head and turning him towards the middle of the path, but he always turned back out to the precipice. He seemed pretty sure-footed, but there were definitely times where my leg was hanging out into space. I'm not such a fan of living on the edge.

A valley oasis

 We finished our hike, took a minute to enjoy the view, then climbed in the minivan to go back to Marrakech. That was pretty terrifying too. The roads were very narrow and winding and at times it looked like you were going right off the cliff.

And pretty maids all in a row

 We knew we were stopping somewhere for lunch on the way, but we didn't know where. After awhile our van pulled off the main road and started down a dirt road. We kept going and going through dirt fields, and started to feel car sick since it was really windy (even though we were just going through a flat field). Imagine our surprise when we ended up here!

Rugs and mint tea in a garden oasis

 Our guides had taken us to an organic farm that just opened a restaurant. We had one of the best meals of our life in the middle of nowhere, Morocco.

Delicious food

 We started with a delicious assortments of hot and cold salads, bread, and banana milk. Then there was a tagine with dates, couscous with roasted vegetables, and melon, the standard Moroccan dessert. We were so stuffed we could hardly move. Another highlight was the Western toilet! (even though it didn't work too well). We had to rush through in order to make our train, but if we're ever in Morocco again we will certainly go back.

On the train ride (which was mercifully shorter than the way there) we had to finish off the last pomegranates, as we aren't allowed to bring fruit on the ship. I'll leave you with a picture of my hunky husband opening even more fruit with his bare hands.

Pomegranates are even harder to break into than pineapples