We meandered around Marrakesh a little in the morning before getting out of the city. We took a mini buss to a small village named Asni that serves as a transit hub for several mountain settlements in the High Atlas mountains. In Asni we ran into a Czech tour guide that brings groups over land twice a year from the Czech Republic. He was nice enough to offer us a ride to the village we were destined for, so we didn't hesitate. The climb along the mountainsides was amazing. In Imlil Oran, our new friend, hooked us up with a couple of his local colleagues and they got us a great room.
Cafe Soleil was the perfect countryside hotel. The room had a really nice bucolic feel. The floor was covered in layers of Berber carpets in deep reds, black, and cream. The beds in the room were extremely comfortable and we had our own shower. The view from the room was stunning. Set right off of a seasonal riverbed, and facing two mountains the hotel couldn't have been more picturesque. Down below our window a well maintained garden was framed by trees. For dinner the staff cooked us a great chicken tajine. A tajine is a traditional Moroccan dish cooked in a ceramic dish with a cone-shaped lid over coals. They are filled with a mixture of meat and veggies and are smothered with clarified butter. We couldn't believe how good the meal was, it was the perfect thing to get us ready for the next day's hike.
The next morning we took our breakfast in the courtyard looking over the dry rocky riverbed. Moroccan marmalade, bread, butter, orange juice and Nescafe, a nice start to the days walk. The fresh flavors of the marmalade and orange juice really doing justice to Morocco's reputation as a great producer of citrus.
We set off for the days walk winding through a hillside park on our way out of Imlil. Climbing a series of switchbacks led our party to Armoud, a neighboring village on the edge of a rocky graphite-colored valley floor. We made our way across the rocks following the faint trail to a neighboring hillside. On the hill we took our first break. As we ate under an gnarled, hollowed out old apple tree some Moroccan children were skipping and playing down the path. We offered them some figs and peanuts, which they gladly took as they giggled off further down the trail.
Pressing on, I watched as the landscape became more and more radical. We crossed a beautifully constructed aqueduct carved into the hillside. The structure would later symbolize a gate between a landscape influenced by the ingenuity of man and one left to the will of nature. As our progress continued the land fell away to the right to create a deep gash in the Earth's surface. At a waterfall we crossed to an adjacent hillside. There in the crook of the two peaks was a roughly constructed group of shacks occupied by vendors hoping to eek out a living on passing hikers as a “last chance” style of commerce. Thanking them, we climbed into the mountainside to eat our lunch of sausage, pita, Vache Qui Rit (cheese spread), and dates.
After lunch we continued on our way making good time. We had a long day ahead and I wanted to make it to the base camp before dark. Eventually we came upon another vendor selling cold beverages in a very inventive way. He had blocked a natural spring and attached a hose. He led the hose to a water bottle and used it as a sprinkler, wetting down an overhang. The rock would drip over the drinks making them cool and enticing. I was blown away with his ingenuity and wanted to stop and ask some questions; unfortunately we didn't have the time.
Continuing the vegetation was dwindling to mosses, tumbleweeds, and only the toughest shrub-trees. We were traveling in the hot season in Morocco, so much of what we saw was on the extreme end of the seasonal swing. Roots seemed to be minimal as the trees stretched, reached, and twisted as far as they could to catch the sunlight that poured in as the sun skipped between the surrounding mountaintops. We also encountered a crossed several local Moroccans trafficking goods and gear to and from Imlil and the surroundings. They used mules to carry the large loads. Saddled with bright blankets and harnesses the mules slowly persisted under the weight but surefooted, they continued.
Along the way we met several interesting people. A couple of Americans coming back from a small day hike recounted their travels of the last 8 years that had kept them out of the US. They seemed to have come into some money and decided to tour the world on a sailboat. “Our money is running out.” they told us; unashamedly and not disappointed, simply stated as a fact. They were heading back to the US after a couple more stops and going to look for work. We wished them luck and continued on our way. Now several hours and many kilometers into the day's hike, we were feeling rather exhausted. Luckily we soon ran into a pair of vacationing Irish. The couple seemed to be gushing after coming down from the summit that morning. The warm exchange was reassuring and sure enough just around the bend we saw the refuge where we were going to stay the night.
The “hut” or “refuge” was far from what the words conjured up in my imagination. Climbing up to the first we were impressed with the massive scale of the building. Here, more than 30k or rough mountain trails and bad gravel road, people had built some impressive stone structures. The refuge had hot showers, electricity (generator), plumbing, and was detailed in well-crafted wooden trim. We entered got our beds in a bunk-style room, and went down to shower and eat.
Dinner was more of the same sausage, fruit, nuts,etc. We added on a bowl of warm Harissa soup. Harissa is the traditional soup that Moroccans eat to break the fast. It is a thick tomato-vegetable base. Its was a great way to get back some nutrients after a long day of walking. At dinner we met a couple more Czechs, Ales and David. They were planning on climbing, but David had fallen ill. Ales asked if he might join us. We talked a while and got to know each other. Ales had finished a job as a programmer and decided to take a trip to Morocco before settling into another job. David had been living in Ireland for four years or so and was also thinking of changing careers, he was very interested in long-term volunteering so we talked a bit about the challenges and rewards of such work. David and Ales had met over the internet and only really met face-to-face there in Morocco. They made a very interesting pair, Ales being more solemn and serious, where David seemed to laugh at everything. After chatting a while and making our plans to meet in the morning, we repacked our bags for the climb and went off to bed.
Papa cut the chicken's neck neck with a pretty dull blade and Mama got started on cooking dinner. The two young boys pounded the igname when they were boiled enough and then it was time to eat. We moved into a dark mud-brick hut for the meal. The sauce consisted of sesame, palm oil sauce served frequently with igname pile.
