2000m, Maria Callas and great cooking❤️

We are now in the central Atlas mountains, and constantly varying around 2000 and 2600 meters. Unbelievably steep roads with hairpin bends leading up Mountain passes and down into the next valley, and finally endless high altitude plains.
And yet there is also a sad side. The slopes and plains are massively over grazed leaving the surfaces bare to wind and rain. The result is massive erosion with huge gullies everywhere. I have never seen such bare surfaces!. On top of this many locals use wood for cooking and heating. I was really shocked when I saw trees cut down to run a charcoal production all along a steep mountain road.
All this shocks me and makes me sad.

In the midst of all this, parked off road on a peak near the 2509m pass, we listen to Maria Callas as the sun sets to the smell of delicious cooking.
Oh my god, how good life can be❤️

Just as we get up in the morning we get a visitor. "Joe" the donkey has just carried his owner up the pass and so they drop by for a cup of tea and the donkey for a carrot. The crazy thing is he doesn't want the carrot, only the prickly thorns grown out of a tiny bush.Read more