Advertisement
Published: February 22nd 2008
Edit Blog Post
We slept past our half nine alarm and reluctantly got up at ten instead. The room was dark and freezing but outside the sun was beginning to shine. We had breakfast which was just two flat breads with a bowl of jam and a bowl of butter.
We were told by a guy at the hotel that there was a great walk that took four and a half hours and went through the gorge and then up and over. We thought it sounded great, so we got his directions. He told us to walk through the gorge until you came to the first village with shops etc. From there you took a left turn and climb up etc.
We left at approximately quarter to eleven and from our hotel the walk through the gorge is amazing. You walk on a tarmac road and either side of you are two huge rock walls. There were so many campervans around and we mocked them for driving rather than walking through.
Once we got through the main part of the gorge, we found ourselves following a road that wound around in between two rocky mountains. Initially it was all rather impressive
and unlike anything we had seen before. Eventually the sun got higher in the sky and it was beating down on us as we continued to walk through the gorge. We had walked for about an hour and a half when I suggested to Rob that perhaps we had missed the turn. He disagreed and since we had come so far, we decided to continue walking. At one point the road we were following just dropped away and it was here that we met an English couple who were a bit stuck with their car and were contemplating whether to continue. We chatted for a bit and they decided to turn back and offered us a lift. We declined and continued only to see a lorry leave the collapsed road and drive into the dried river bed to avoid the bad road.
Around one we found the smallest piece of shade to shelter in whilst we ate our dinner. The bread was dry and we were rationing our water because we didn't have much for how hot it was. We sat and watched as a lorry stopped and pulled out six or so heavy sacks dumped them and left.
We thought this was extremely strange as we were in the middle of nowhere with no houses around.
We continued walking this time with slightly dampened spirits. We planned to keep walking until we saw a car going back towards the hotel and then try to hitch a lift. No car materialised and we found ourselves asking some workmen whether there was a village anywhere near. They laughed and said no but there was a café. We rounded the corner and saw a car approaching so we stuck out our thumbs. It was a German couple and they told us that 5km away was a wonderful village "wonderbar wonderbar".
As we got nearer the village we were joined by a local guy who walked with us. He was training to be an official guide so he had plenty to say and knew lots of interesting things about the area. He laughed at our now five hour walk and invited us to use the facilities at his friend’s hotel and join him for a tea. We sat outside and chatted for a while and when we wanted to pay, we weren't allowed. We were very anxious about the time
and sunset was looming in the not too distant future. The guy took us around the village called Tamtattouche and told us plenty of interesting things. He answered my question on why so many women had a line tattooed on their chins. Apparently when the last king was in rule the Arabs used to come into the Berber villages and get their women and take them to brothels. They were given the tattoo when they had served their stint so that when the Arabs returned to the same village they knew which women had already been used. As a result many Berber women tattooed their Daughters at birth so that when the Arabs returned they would assume they had already taken the children. We just hope that the women we have seen are part of the latter category.
Another thing we were told is that despite the fact that the term Berber is used by so many people it was actually a term given by the Romans meaning barbarian. The true word for a Berber is an Amazigh (sp?) pronounced am-a-see-er.
Tamtattouche was beautiful and everyone their was doing their jobs and it was completely untouched by tourism.
We heard plenty about the running of the village and the way the girls tended the land etc whilst the boys went away to be educated. It would be fantastic to come back in summer and see how lively it would especially during the five day wedding ceremony.
Eventually we really had to get going despite the offer of tea in the guy’s house. We knew it was a good few hours walk and the sun was already beginning to disappear. We walked for about an hour and a half and luckily the moon was bright enough to light up the road. We played games of twenty questions to pass the time and distract us from the pain in our feet. We saw headlights and saw a truck coming our way and both stuck out our thumbs. They stopped and two guys jumped out of the cab and into the trailer to make room for us. It was extremely nail biting stuff sitting in a lorry as it navigates a crumbling road in the dark. There were many occasions when I thought it was just going to topple over.
We arrived back at the hotel whilst the electricity
was still on so we ordered a meal and sat down to chat with the Polish boys, Peter and Adam. We ate together and afterwards we decided to play a game of Monopoly. The guy from the hotel joined us and we played the most painful game of monopoly ever played. The electricity went off around half ten, but we just lit a lantern and continued.
Our bedroom was freezing in comparison to the room we had been playing in and pitch black. We hurriedly got ready for bed and dived under the covers to keep warm.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.282s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 28; qc: 126; dbt: 0.2113s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.4mb
kate
non-member comment
fantastic
Hi As I read I can't believe the amazing things you are doing. It all sounds really wierd and wonderflo. Keep it up!! Love mum x