OUKAIMEDEN - 3273 Meters. A short drive out of the Marrakech mayhem, you start to climb rapidly up into the Atlas. Flash floods are common with the spring snow melt, with rock washouts and collapsed road edges as you wind up through the villages. The ski resort is at the top, and you can ride a donkey to the lower lift - but the snow has been poor this season, and the locals that rely on the winter snowfall have got more desperate to make a buck, even the cops. I was bust 7 000 dirham going the wrong way down a minor road after forgetting there was a sign there when I arrived - but it seems I wasn't the only one to get set up like that. Most tourists were pulled over for the same reason. But after a lot of arm waving, rapid talking and some hysterical crying ( a dirham is worth a rand...) he let us through. The hotels were triple as expensive as anywhere else, the food, twice - and both were pretty empty. Budget squeeze is the mother of invention...we found a fantastic Berber guy from a village about an hours walk over the mountain - with hand signals interpreted by his deaf buddy, we ended up with a 2 roomed 'villa', vista of the mountain through double sash windows, and a box of wood - which is pretty impressive seeing there're no trees. Go where the air is rare. He disappeared after leaving us with our names written in 2000 year old Abjad symbols - as well as his e mail and facebook details...just can't seem to find the letters on my keyboard.
Deon
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