We went back to the hotel & grabbed our luggage & met Hmed who put us in his van & started driving to Ourazazte. It was a 4.5 hour drive to get there & we had to pass over the High Atlas Mountains to do it. Talk about windy roads like switchbacks all the way up & all the way down. These mountains would rival UT mountains. I had no idea Morocco had big mountains like these. They were pretty, not green. . . mostly brown, but still beautiful in their own way. Poor Lorien & Canyon were sick the whole time. While driving, I sat up front with Hmed & asked a bazillion questions. He loved answering & talking about his country to me. We passed a river & several women were out doing their weekly washing/laundry. In another village women had HUGE amounts of twigs/brush/grass tied to their backs. Hmed said they go down to the oasis every morning to pick foliage to feed the animals each day. They pile in on their backs & hike back up to the mountain villages. We passed several schools along the way. . . kids go to school from 8am-7pm & the only toys they have to play with are soccer balls. It’s really sad. This area was a very poor area.
We also stopped at a rest stop where we watched some women make argon oil. They crushed the nuts in a big stone & the oil came out. Then they’d make soaps, shampoos, & other cosmetics with them. They wanted us to buy some, but we didn’t. We really didn’t need anything & at this point I was kind of tired of people trying to sell us things.
Once we got over the mountains, we stopped at a rest stop & all of a sudden Jenna, Ammon, & other friends ran up to us yelling “The Potters are here! The Potter’s are here!” Mohammad (the man who arranged this trip for us) was their tour guide & knew we were passing by so he had Hmed stop so we could celebrate Jenna’s birthday with them at the rest stop. It was fun.
Then we continued to drive for what felt like forever. It was really interesting to see the different communities, houses, business, & more.
We got excited when we saw some camels on the side of the road.
And then we drove even more. . .
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