Rising early, I make my way out to the balcony. The morning has a slight chill but is much warmer than I expected. The sun is just starting to rise, but no one else is, so I try to take a shower but find the gas is off for the night. I settle and watch the spectacular sunrise. Soon I find company as we line up for a shower with hot water water, then a quick breakfast before getting ready for a morning hike. Kate and a couple of the other girls decide to take it easy in Imlil, the rest of us prepare for the hike.
Hitting the street, we follow the narrow walkways before abruptly dropping down a short ravine to the dry riverbed. A short walk over the rocky bank soon leads us to a trail leading toward Mount Toubkal. This path not only leads to the peak but several small settlements along the way. We walk with and pass many other hikers, mountain bikers, locals carrying provisions, as well as many mules and goats. As we round a bend Imlil completely disappears behind a mountain and Mount Toubkal's snow-capped peak looms before us. The day is warm and the sun is out as we climb. Too soon we reach our destination, the settlement of "White Rock", named for the white rock legend says holds a pilgrim to Toubkal. We pass a small waterfall and scramble over rocks to reach the settlement, where we sit down to a soda, a candy bar and the spectacular scenery surrounding us. Too soon Mohamed yells his "Ya-La" (let's go) and hiking back to Imlil, we rejoin our travel companions, grab our packs and hike back down to Armed to meet back up with Abdul and his van. Grabbing our stowed luggage in town, we again load into the van and hit the road.
Today's drive finds us quickly leaving the mountain's rugged terrain and finds the landscape flattening out into an arid plain. Today's drive could be called uneventful but a more descriptive term would be monotonous and boring. Other than driving through Marrakech it was dry, flat and long. We did stop at a nice cafe for lunch, encountered a brief rain shower on the outside deck during said lunch, but all in all it was a long day. As we neared Essouira, we drove on a dirt road in the middle reconstruction, as the sun sank. On a slight mound overlooking Essouira with the Atlantic Ocean beyond, we stopped for a quick photo op. Arriving in Essouira, we first drove through the Ville-Nouvelle, then followed the beach briefly before nearing the Medina. Abdul found an empty spot to drop us off as porters pushing carts arrived to carry our bags to our hotel. We will no longer be chauffeured by Abdul and bid our farewells to our driver. Kate and I chose to carry our own bags as we filed through the city gates and into the crowded streets. We walked perhaps ten minutes before arriving at our hotel down a narrow street/alley.
We again waited as Mohamed obtained keys and the room-lottery played out. The hotel was stuccoed and tiled throughout, with a central courtyard containing the cafe with glass overhead. Three floors above contained the rooms with the hallways overlooking the open courtyard. Immediately everyone started laundry and showering and I believe everyone had hot water, at least eventually. We rejoined the group in the courtyard and decided on a change of pace for dinner, a western-style restaurant. We made our way through the busy streets, following Mohamed to our destination. We had a pleasant dinner complete with live pop music and adult beverages. Following our meal, Kate and I decided to walk back before everyone else was ready to leave and were joined by Natasha. I thought I had paid better attention to the directions (famous last words) but found all the streets looked alike under the sparse lamps. We made several wrong turns and looked very out of place but eventually were found by Mohamed, who had checked with the hotel concierge and discovered we had not returned and came looking for us. Returning to the hotel, we went to our room to call it a night. Everyday has shown something different Morocco has to offer but today's contrast has seemed to be the most stark, we started the day in the quiet, isolated village of Imlil at the foot of Northern Africa's highest mountain and end the day in the bustling coastal tourist town of Essaouira.
No comments:
Post a Comment