High Atlas to Sahara

as-salam alaykum!

Wow! I have so many stories and pictures to share! It would literally take me days to write down every experience, impression, and memory I have of the this trip so far. Not to mention how long the pictures would take to up load (I took over 150 a day), especially because, I am right now, at this moment typing from a hotel perched high above the tallest sand dunes in Morocco, Sahara desert, baby.  So as you can imagine, the internet is not exactly light speed. But there are showers and toilets!! This place is a palace compared to my past dwellings of the last week. These dwellings are the perfect segue into a couple of stories from the Atlas.

I will post a few pictures also. Not all of them, I will give a slideshow to whomever would like to see it when I am home again... jiggety jig.

It is so hard to describe these people with words. Impossible even. The High Atlas Berbers live in the High Atlas- ground breaking stuff, right?- we drove up an impractical, to put it lightly, road. From Marrakech to Torffrine, the road winds and goes in and out of pavement. From the village of Torffine we set out for a five night trek to a further village and the summit of a 10,000 foot Atlas mountain. We were there durning what is called the feit. It is the biggest week of the year for the muslim peoples. They kill a ram and chant around the fire and all sorts of other fun things. The women were dress beautifully- but the were extremely against having their picture taken. I got a few shots. These are the highlights of my Atlas Adventure.

Mom and I got Henna. The real deal Henna. 

Women haul water in 4 gallon jugs and milk cartons. No men do this job. Ever. Sometimes the women have to haul the water for miles. On their backs. 

This man is the mayor/ governor of the area that we hiked in. We had tea with him, on his roof.  

The village of Magdaz. Houses piles on top of each other. 

They say this man is 130... I don't know if I believe that. But he was pretty freakin old, for sure. Blind and deaf. 

Our guides and our camp at the base of the mountain we summited. 

I have a ton more pictures and stories. But not enough time to upload everything. I will load pictures from our Camel Trek in the Sahara.... As soon as I get enough energy to load them to my computer. :)