Rock the Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou

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We're on our way to the Sahara Desert! I wrote down a stream-of-consciousness while we made our way out to the UNESCO certified Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou:

I'm sitting in a van full of people, up in front with the drive.
Being able to see out the front window makes me feel more a part of the scenes I'm passing.
Gorgeous Marrakech; streets flooded with bikers, pedestrians, horses, buses, cars and taxis.
Streets on the outskirts of Marrakech flanked by orange trees and red clay buildings.
Tiny villages now, dotted with red buildings, some adorned with a bright red Coca Cola sign.
Little towns getting ready for market.
Cactus lined roads as we snake up the beginnings of the Atlas.
French on the radio.
Tractors tilling the soil, people standing around, children walking across fields to school?
A man in a jellabah.
Beautiful palm trees set among the Atlas in the background.
Hairpin turns.
Now Arabic on the radio.
A cactus farm?
Negotiable optional lane lines until another car or motorbike comes speeding around the curve.
A sense of community even as we stop at a gas station to fill up.
Pigeons flying out of a minaret adorned with a crane on top.
Tajines for sale, I need to get Abby a good one.
Trees appear on the right, shrubs sparsely fill the left side of the road.Ouarzazate - 180 km.
A donkey.
What do they farm here?
Electricity poles, roses, slightly chilly outside.
A fancy village - pink.
Ouarzazate - 143 km.
Cloud day -- I can barely see the tops of the hills. Steam and fog cover them but become clearer as we maneuver higher and higher into the mountains.
We're well into the foothills now - everywhere I see is sloped terrain.
Arabic graffiti on some red stones. A cow road sign - watch out!
A kasbah appears.
Our driver honks at a dog in the road. We're eye level with the tops of trees growng in a valley right off the side of the road.
Another kasbah. It appears and disappears as we turn the curve.
Arabic signs. Restaurant signs. Signs for children playing.
There are children playing.
A deep valley - splendid view! It must be 3,000 feet deep. And yet we have another 1000 to climb.
A man rides a donkey. A woman walks along the road.

Pine trees line the road, cactus grows below. Homes built into the sides of the mountains just like a Moroccan Cinque Terre.
Higher and higher... pink restaurant with vivid electric blue doors.
The edge of the road is the edge of the mountain. We turn. Foothills become mountains. Real mountains. We're in the mountains.
Beautiful scenery - Arizona meets Sierra Nevada meets Kasbahs meets no where else like it.
Pottery for sale. A rock crystal for you?
Snow capped mountain peeks through the red peaks.
Terraced earth - they must farm everything they need here. A river stream through the mountains.
In the distance a woman climbs stairs to her home built into the side of the hills. Rocky terrain. The sun shines. Two boys on a bike coast down the road.
I'm loving this.
Our van creaks as we make a turn. The road follows the river. Ourazazate - 120 km.
Barren landscape... we must be up high. We're left of the river, it's below us now.
Plain sight of the snow capped mountain, but it disappears as we turn a curve. There it is again. It disappears again.
A herd of goats. The river finds us again.
Blue skies... every now and then I see electricity poles. Barely any trees now. Just shrubs and cactus. A lot of moutain graffiti. Ouarzazate - 113 km.
A school? Lots of children, homes blend into the earth. We're in Ouedamaskar. The homes are dwarfed by the landscape.
A score of brown homes - half with satellite dishes on the tops. Taddart, very big town.
Meat cooking on a fire, carcasses hanging, waiting for a similar fate. A man herds sheep 200 feet below us.
Sun is warming my face. Tichka, the pass. Very high up now. I see where the red mountains were and where they turned into brown. Stunning... grand view. Nothing but cloud shadows and mountains.
Surreal.
Higher and higher. Looking straight down. My ears keep popping.
Our driver asks if we speak French. Moi, je dis "un peu, mais Keith seulment sait dit "Bonjour" et "Au revoir" " Nous sourions.
Curves on the side of mountains. Red again. Very windy. I can look out my window and see a mile down, right off the road. Neither Abby nor Mom would like this.
A large village -- lots of people and buildings. A woman gathering plants, other women with baskets. Not many signs, just painted stones with information.
A sheep crosses the road.
Keith and I talk about seatbelts -- we don't have any. I'm not concerned.
We're starting to descend. The cacti are back. Three girls sit by a rock.
A few horses till fields. Another village - woman carts away a dead... sheep?
People trying to hitch a ride, another river. Ouedifilit. A lot more establishments.
Children playing in streams. More plateau-like scenery. 11:45 AM. I feel like I've gone back in time. Ouarzazate -- 39 km.
Jeans, jellabahs, a girl being pushed in a wheelbarrow.
Palm trees again. Smoother road. 2 donkeys carrying sticks -- time for a fire!
A handwritten sign to Ait Ben Haddou (6 km).
Much flatter terrain. Ouarzazate - 28 km!
A beautiful kasbah on a mini bluff. Great view.
An official sign to Ait Benhaddou (9 km).
Rugs for sale!
People riding camels.
VERY narrow road.
Vast landscape.
And we arrive at Ait Ben Haddou.

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