6500ft High in the Atlas Mountains

23^rd March

A chilly night! So with thermals on, we face the waiting parade of Ibrahim's 3 children patiently standing outside the van. We have become their friends and are eager to spend more time with us. Ibrahim too is keen to include us in today and suggests a walk to a cave, followed by some lunch! We agree but say we are leaving this afternoon as we need to progress towards Marrakech. ( And get our bearings lower down ! ) The 6 of us set off, stopping to say salam to everyone we meet. The old and the young alike are ready for a quick chat. The two older girls, Miriam 9 and Ayesha 8 have to turn back as they have school today. Hasnou aged 5, leads us with a happy nature rarely seen in a child! She doesn't stop laughing and skipping the mile or more it takes us to reach the cave. She loves having her photo taken and squeals with delight every time I show her another shot. She is a bubbling ball of happy energy and is a joy to be with. The cave is also at a natural spring and we drink heartily from the clear cold mountain water. Delicious! I make conversation with Ibrahim as best I can about all things relating to living in this mountain paradise. Life is hard up here but values are high and community strong. Women and men have more defined roles here, not quite what we aspire to in Europe. Manual labour is as much a womens task as a mans, in fact they seem to work harder in the fields and men do seem to sit around and chat a lot! There is an obvious sense of community pervading the atmosphere here and young people glow with youth in spite of their meager possessions! Or is it because of the lack of them? To us, they all appear to have something we have lost yet they no doubt want the very things we loose ourselves in. Krysia and I cannot grasp the meaning of wealth here. Are these people very poor? We seem to ooze affluence while they proudly hold their heads up high dressed in colourful towels and holey socks. Its cold up here and yet we spent last night in the family room with no heating and cold feet. The meals are good but the meat content is tiny and is shared equally among all. We are honoured to be here and are treated as true guests.

After lunch, a photo shoot is asked for by Lehoe, she seems keen to have many pictures taken of her new 2 month old baby, Eemen, as well as herself, Hasnou and her husband. I flash off many shots with her encouraging me to take more. Ibrahim reckons we could set up shop here as many people would want their family pictures taken. We all like to show off the family albums! How much could one charge? The mind boggles. It would be typical of krysia and I to set up a business where one gives away the product for free!!!

We say our goodbyes with many a thankyou. As Ibrahim says 'surprise visits are better than planned ones'. We offer to send him clothes and photographs as after being fed three meals, tea and a guided tour, we feel like returning the hospitality somehow. We must not forget.

The descent is incredible. Hard to believe that these people use these roads on a daily basis! They are in a fair state of repair but landslides and flooding take their toll and some stretches are as scintillating as any we've encountered anywhere! The van goes very well and we are at a more reasonable level within an hour. I'm sure one gets used to these roads with familiarity but first time round, WOW!!!

I'm posting two blogs from here at Boumaine-ed-Dades as there is full internet signal so extra photos too! See blog below for yesterdays epic journey to get here. (24th March today )