Day 10 Ouerzazate to Marrakesh

Day dawn sunny and warm in Ouerzazate, the gateway to the south. We ate breakfast in hotel and then rolled out to see the Atlas Film Studios just outside of town and then 50 km later Ait Ben Hadou, a kasbah (walled town) that was first built in the twelfth century. The film studio had sets from movies made there such as Gladiator, Jewel of the Nile, Kundun and many others. It was pleasant to walk from one country to another in a few metres. Only outdoor shots were filmed there or at our next stop, the Kasbah. So a bit disappointing. The Atlas Mountains are sometimes snow peaked and they form the backdrop for the whole drive and visit to Ait Ben Hadou. This Kasbah is being restored under UNESCO funding. It lies 10 km off the main road north. We parked near a complex of little souvenir stops and restaurants and walked to the edge of the river. To get across to the Kasbah, you either have to take shoes and socks and walk across, search down stream or just pay the boys with donkeys who are lined up to carry you across the 25 metres. As good tourists, we choose the donkeys, haggled a return trip price and then "boarded" five donkeys to get across. (From camels to donkeys, a practical country..) Once on the other side, we were typically befriended by a young adolescent who became our guide to this kasbah complex overlooking the valley. Inside, it is earthen, collapsing or partially restored. It turned out our guide also lived in the Kasbah, one of the few actual residents. He even showed his mother, his little room with a poster of Russel Crowe and the sheeps and chickens kept locked up in a pen  in the house. There are artists and little souvenir stands throughout the complex. The view was fabulous, surrounded by snow-capped mountains in  the distance all around with a bright sun and blue sky.We haggled with a Touareg nomad trying to sell us Touareg jewelry and items, all interesting but over-priced. Leaving the kasbah, we reversed the donkey crossing and then headed to the car. To arrive back at the main road to Marrakesh, we played chicken with oncoming cars and buses on a road built for 1.5 cars instead of two. Once back on the road to Marrakesh, N9, the road was two lanes wide and passed through the usual assortment of busy villages and towns, rising to the mountains anf the Tizk- test Pass. The road was amazingly twisty in serpentines rising and falling up and down the valleys. It seemed never-ending, especially for the car sick passengers of the back seat. The road reaches some 7000' feet altitude, I think, and somehow, no matter how barren or windwept there is a souvenir stand or table or even a single man selling something around each bend. On the way, we had to pass buses and large trucks often carrying cows on a roof top corral. It required fair bit of concentration and gear shifting to not become a road statistic. Finally we began descending towards Marrakesh and the vegetation and climate changed with more greenery and clouds on the northern side of the mountains. Marrakesh is a big city which in typical Moroccan fashion has few street signs, as if they were an after thought, something to get around to eventually. Despite that, with only two requests, we found our hotel and checked in. The room is a little crowded "duplex" split on two levels. We walked a few long blocks to a good Spanish restaurant called Puerto Bunas and ate delicious but expensive fish meal. Very filling. Tomorrow we tackle the sites of the city as well as the New Year.