Assif-n-Tissakht

I woke up in...okay I can’t remember where we spent the night. Early morning starts and long hours on a bus really fuck with one’s bearings.

Todra Gorge! Yes, we left Todra on our way to ben ait haddou. A small village that has become famous since the filming of Lawrence of Arabia in the 60’s and was the filming location for Gladiator and for some Game of Thrones scenes.

On our way to Ben Ait Haddou we stopped for our daily morning nous nous fix. Nous Nous is a Moroccan coffee very similar to a cafe latte. I purchased 2 for 20 MAD and gave the the man 100 MAD (yes I feel like a baller here) he gave me back 30 MAD. I looked at him funny and was like how much was the coffee. He was like 20 but you have me a 50 and he held up a 50. I was like no I did not, I gave you 100. It went like this for a bit but I was standing my ground for what is the equivalent of $7 CAD. It was all about principle. Do not rip me off Mr. Local Man. In the end he gave me my correct change. Ty said it was funny to watch as the guy was not expecting push back.

After another delight lunch we made it to Ben Ait Haddou which is a UNESCO site because it still has buildings made in the old way. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aït_Benhaddou). It also has a lot of kasbahs. Which after seeing a kasbah up close I am not too sure why The Clash chose to sing about.

After a bit of a lie down (Ty gave me his cold for my birthday, asshole) we took a tangine cooking demonstration where we made our own chicken tangines. It was fun and they are pretty simple to make. Now I just need to figure out how to get a clay cooking dish home.

The surprise of the night was the cake they brought out. Which looked like it was made from scratch and was. Turns out the purchased cake from the town we stopped for lunch got smooshed on the final spot. Not shocking as the roads were winding. Since our guide Khalid wanted to give me a presentable cake he got the staff at the hotel to make one. It was chocolate. Everyone knows how I feel about chocolate cake but what can I do? It was an unnecessary kind gesture so I said nothing and I ate my cake.

All in all a pretty good memorable birthday. A cake, a cold and I did not get ripped off.Read more