We are now making a lazy return trip to Marrakech.  Today we headed back up deeper into the Atlas mountains to see how many of the Mountain Berber people lived.. they have carved out a life wherever there is water, and built villages into the steep rock walls.  They are efficient at capturing the melted snowfall to irrigate farms..all of southern Morocco is oranges and browns except where there is any small amount of water – and then you get lush greens and huge varieties of plant life.  Top elevation was over 7200’ and most of the villages we visited were above the 6000’ level.

Heading out after breakfast.  Brenda squirreled away some sugar cubes from breakfast to give to the hotel donkey.  His braying was our wake up alarm in the dark at 6:00am today.

We had some time to explore again the deserted ‘ksar’ village. 

Down one alleyway we encountered a dog seemingly guarding the pass.  His body language got more and more nervous as we approached, so Brenda made us turn back.

This photo could have been taken yesterday or 500 years ago.

Roadside vendor.  Brenda is negotiating final pricing on some more trinkets for the girls.

Goats in the Tinghir valley.

Better shot of this gorge.. creek running through a pass flanked by impenetrable, steep walls.

Small town where we got lunch,.

On the rooftop of our restaurant.  Again, we were the only ones at this level.  Brenda can just be seen, tucked deep into the shadows.  The Arabic writing on the mountain side say “Allah, Country, King”.

Teapot vendor further along on the trip.

Shot of a typical village in the mountains.  Tallest tower is always the mosque.  Green in the center of the valley where the water flows and the crops are grown.

Back up over another mountain.

Our final stop for the day, in the Dadés (pronounced “dads”) George.  We are calling this the Riggins of Morocco.. small town at the bottom of another gorge with walls of mountain on either side.  B and I walked up and down the road for an hour to get some exercise (long car trip day).  I wanted to buy some weird Moroccan candy to bring home to the kids.