This morning I woke up at 7am as per the orders of my High Atlas Mountain Guide (A Berber man from the village of Armoud that slipped into my Grand taxi from Marrakech to Imlil. By the end of the 1.5 hour ride he had convinced me to pay for his services). After breakfast we set out for a 7 hour trek from Armoud to Tacheddirt. We chose this route as it would allow us to explore several Berber villages along the way. This was the view from our Gite when we woke up this morning.
Some of the villages we saw along the way (and that we would be examining more closely as our trek continued)...
I found the fine line between rugged terrain and plush greenery to be quite intriguing. Just when I thought I was in a harsh, unforgiving climate I turned the corner to find a fruitful, thriving valley full of villages. The villages always straddle the line between the two terrains, leaving the green valley to support the agricultural needs of the people.
Our guide arranged for a Mule Man (Ali) and his mule to transport our food and backpacks from one location to the next.
We began our trek by snaking through a few local villages. Unfortunately, like the rest of Morocco, these locals didn't appreciate being photographed. I had a hard enough time just snapping the spaces! The traditional Berber dwellings are made of a mix of stone, mud, straw, and wood. Our guide confirmed that these constructions are extremely comfortable in terms of temperature control (Warm in the winter, cool in the summer). Unfortunately, because this process takes a significant amount of time to build they can be quite costly in comparison to more modern day construction methods.
An interesting use of materials and resulting light patterns...
A non-traditional Berber type of construction...
So this is how they build these ridiculous roads (If you can call them roads)...
Ali and Mule along the way...
A Lizard that joined us for lunch...
When we finally reached Tacheddirt in the early evening the sky was swirling, which made for a pretty beautiful end to the day.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment