Whiskey Jack Adventures: Boumalne Dades, Morocco

Because we had many straight roads and not much distance to travel today we did not start until 10 am. The day was unusual in that it did not warm up much. Temperatures ranged from 7.5C to 13.5C with a lot of the riding around 10-12C. Our cool weather gear is coming in handy.

The first part of the ride was through a flat, arid plain to the town of Alnif. There we were met by the proprietor of a restaurant/hotel where we stopped for a coffee/mint tea break. It was suggested that we could leave a few pens and trinkets for the children as this was not an affluent area. Norma took care of this task and the children were very polite (the restaurant owner rode herd on them a bit). He gladly accepted a Canada sticker and insisted he take a picture of the 4 Canadians. He put the sticker on his door.

We then headed to Todra Gorge. This is a limestone river canyon with walls up to 400 meters high. The route to the gorge passed through several small towns where it seems all the children are out to wave at us and give us the standard throttle twist signal. The canyon was great however we were met and pestered by persistent souvenir sellers. One of the Moroccan tourists asked to have his picture taken with the bike so Doug obliged but would not let him mount the machine as he requested.

The highlight of the day occurred just out of the gorge as we stopped at Said’s place (a Berber family) for lunch. There we were welcomed into their home. This came about several years ago as the tour company used to stop outside this home to take pictures of the oasis below. Said would be out trying to sell his wares and after seeing the same guides several times asked them into his home. This progressed to asking the entire group in for lunch and has now become part of the tour. They served us a delicious homemade meal of bread, kabobs and tagine, dressed us in Berber costumes and entertained us with music and dance. It was great fun with everyone taking part in the dancing. A bottle of Jim Beam was gratefully accepted on the sly!

We then rode the remainder of the distance to Boumalne Dades and watched the sky grow progressively darker. No rain YET. Again we were greeted by the drummers and dancers and the fellow serving mint tea. This is the custom at many of the hotels. Also several of the hotels (but not this one) have metal detectors for us to walk through though no one seems to be monitoring the beeping.

We had been told prior to arriving in Morocco that we will notice a different way of greeting and may be surprised to see it. Men greet men with a hand shake, hug and cheek kiss. They may walk hand in hand for short distances as they are chatting. At first it was a surprise but now it is a common view.

Tomorrow could be our most challenging day. The weather forecast is not good (-1C tonight) and possible rain tomorrow.