Ait Benhaddou

Today is the start of our 3 day trek across morocco. We had to get up at 630 to get up on time and find our meet-up location. It wasn't hard to get up because we slept on a brick of a mattress and the softest pillow ever made. I got up and had a shower with lots of time to spare and check the room for anything we may have forgotten. We made it to the pickup spot on time, but there were so many buses and people it was overwhelming. Buses started leaving for their tour before Pearse, and I even knew where we were supposed to be. We were worried our bus left without us because we just couldn't find our guide. Luckily, a man named Aziz pulled us out of the crowd and asked if we were Ethan and Pearse. We got on the "bus," which is just a work fan with seats in it. It's pretty small with no leg room at all. Of course, we got the very back with the least leg room as well. Crammed in this bus we left for our first stop. It was a look out of the Atlas mountain. It was the first really cool view we've had in Morocco so far, and it didn't disappoint. It's nothing like the mountains I'm used to back at home, but I think I liked it so much because the landscape surrounding us was so cool. It was dry and Rocky with this red rock gorge. It was really interesting. Our next stop was only about an hour away, where we stopped on Africa's highest road. It's about 2600 meters above sea level. I had no idea we were going to see this, so it was a nice surprise. After some more photos, we had to get a move on to today's main attraction, Ksar Ait Ben Haddou. This village was built in 800 AD. There are two main sides to the village, the old ksar and the new ksar. The old ksar has a ruined fortified lookout tower called a kasba. Unfortunately, an earthquake destroyed the kasba only a few years ago. All that remains from it is rubble and the bottom portion of it. What makes a ksar a ksar are the houses. They're made of clay and mud, meaning a rainy week will start melting the buildings away. I couldn't imagine seeing rain in the forecast and thinking, "Ah shit I'm gonna have to remold my house." Right before we got off the bus, Aziz told us to apply sunscreen because the sun was really strong here. I looked at my weather app, and it only said it was 20 degrees. I grabbed the sunscreen but decided I wouldn't need it because I'm really good at ignoring people's advice. Well, after standing outside the van for two minutes, I conceded and put it on. I felt like my neck was turning red in the two minutes I was outside for. We started by having lunch on the new ksar I had tagine for lunch. I had it for dinner last night, so I knew it was gonna be good. I think last night's was better, but it was still really good. We walked across the bridge that connected both sides above what's supposed to be a river, but it was completely dried up. I guess lucky for their homes, they haven't had any rain in a long time. When we got to the other side, we were able to look down at the bottom of the ksar and could see where the movie Gladiator was shot. Everyone knows Gladiator is a badass movie, so it was really cool to see where the arena used to be. My favorite show of all time, GOT, was also shot here in season three. This world heritage site has been the filming location for tons of different movies and shows. Those two are just my favorite. We kept climbing the stairs of the ksar when we came across an old man sitting down with a recorder playing some music. He called me over to sit next to him. When I was on my way over, he pulled a snake out of a burlap sack and put it around my neck. I was not expecting that at all. He started playing the recorder, and this snake that was probably almost dead just laid in my hands. It was a really weird experience. Pearse took some pictures and a quick video for me, so when I got up, I told him to sit down and I'd do the same for him. We were both pretty excited by it and not paying attention to the rest of the group. As the old man was about to pass a chameleon to Pearse, he froze with a concerned look on his face and put both the snake and the chameleon back in the bag. Confused, I ended the video and turned around where we saw a member of our group having a seizure. We later found out she has epilepsy. She's okay it was just a little concerning to see. She just sat down in the shade for a while while we finished the tour. The next stop was my favorite stop. We stopped in this guys ksar where he was painting. The style of art he was doing is hundreds of years old and is only practiced here. He only has a few colors to work with, blue, which is indigo in water, yellow is saffron and water, and for black and 6 used tea and sugar in water. The really interesting part is that the only color that's visible after being painted is the blue. The brown and yellow disappear into the canvas really quickly. The way they make the colors come back and stay on the canvas is by lighting a gas stove and heating the canvas over top of the flame. It was really cool to see the painting just appear after being over the flame for a few seconds. It doesn't really make sense to me how that works. I ended up buying a small painting because I thought it was so cool. After the demonstration, we continued to the top of Ksar Ait Ben Haddou, where the kasba was located. We got to walk around and explore for a few minutes before making our way back down. It was so hot in the sun. In only a couple hours, it jumped to almost 30 degrees outside. For the rest of my time here, my sunscreen won't leave my pocket. I think this is one of the cooler world heritage sites I've been to. It was really interesting to me. Unfortunately, it was time to leave, so we got back in the van. This is where I realized I left my fuckin headphones at the hostel. I'm devastated. There's no way to contact the hostel, so I'm gonna go back there after the three day trip to see if they still have them. I don't have much hope. It was a long drive to the hotel we stayed at, but it was worth it. We stayed at a really nice hotel with comfy beds and even a pool. We had one roommate named Billy who's really cool and easy to get along with. We had dinner where we played uno for a bit and chilled out. We sat by the pool for about an hour before hitting the hay. Tomorrow is a huge day!Read more