We had gone south about as far as we had intended. It was time to turn east. We headed in a SE direction to the village of Icht. The road goes along the Algerian border on the northern stretches of the Sahara desert. Algeria is pretty much off limits to riding across the border. We were told it is heavily patrolled. They’re also mines in the frontier areas. We were riding just to the south of the anti-Atlas mountains. We had decided to skip Marrakesh as we’re pretty much cited out from our coastal ride.
The route was fairly boring and monotonous. There were long stretches of sandy expanse. This was interrupted by green palm trees and people and occasional oasis’s. This time of your most of the rivers were just dry riverbeds. There is evidence along these dry river beds of the massive flooding that had happened last year. At one point we stopped to check on a German traveler who was off his bike. He was just taking some pictures and we had a great chat. He took one of my stickers and placed it on his clean panniers. He had just been to Dakar, Senegal and was on his way back to Germany. Later that day we stopped to have some water. The German chap from earlier slammed on the brakes as he went past us. He pulled over also for a quick break. We had a great time chatting and a couple minutes turned into 30 before we knew it. Time to get going.
We were on our way to Ouarzazate. This city is at the southern edge of the Atlas mountains. We planned to stay here for three nights. This would allow us to ride the beautiful Tizi N’Tichka pass, twice. We would ride it once towards Marrakesh and once back.
Ouarzazate was also famous as the Moroccan Hollywood. Several Hollywood productions had been filmed in this area. The surrounding area had boomed in anticipation of what would follow. By the looks of it the expectations never came true. On the way back from the pass we wanted to see Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou. This UNESCO site was believed to be built in the 1700s. Before that it was along one of the trans-Sahara trade routes. It’s popularity now stems from its use in about 23 movies. Those include Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator, The Mummy and Game of Thrones. We passed through the town with tour bus after tour bus lined up. A blonde tourist on her cell phone walked right out in front of the motorcycle. We decided not to stop and just catch a photo instead. Heading back to town Melanie yelled to turn around as we passed a hotel.
Melanie needed to have her riding pants repaired and find a new pair of reading glasses. Her account:
Today I have no photos but wish I did. I passed a sewing shop yesterday and realized my riding pants were in need of repair. This morning I walked to the shop, pants in hand, and asked (more like motioned) to the man that I needed his skills to continue my trip. He indicated he was able to help. After a quick walk to the market, I returned to a perfectly sewn repair. He refused any payment. It was a gift. I thanked him many times and offered more than once to pay. He just smiled.
Later today, I needed to replace my reading glasses. We found an optical store nearby and decided to give it a go. I didn’t need prescription lens just magnifier to read so I wasn’t sure they could help. Again, the kindness of Moroccan people is amazing. The young girl spoke very very little English, but with Google translate, I could tell her what I was looking for. She smiled, opened a cabinet, handed me a pair to try. They were perfect! I asked how much…
Another gift! I almost cried! Stories of the kindness to obvious travelers are so very real. I wish I had asked to take a photo❤️❤️❤️❤️
So many stories like this. We just love travel.
That day a friend of ours Chris Bright who we spoke of earlier was going to ride through town. We invited him to stay with us for the night as we were leaving early the next morning. We had a good afternoon catching up and had dinner at a street vendor down from the hotel. Thanks for the Irish whisky, Chris!
When we left in the morning, there is another great story. It involves good people helping people. Good people are everywhere. I hope some of my posts help you to understand. This will come in our next blog.
Cheers,
2WANDRRs
2WANDRRs 
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