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| We had a three-day weekend, and spent many hours in a van to get to Ouarzazate and Zagora. Along the way we stopped at a few different sites, including Ait Ben Haddou, to see the restored Glaoui kasbah, and an Islamic library archive, which was closed. We were supposed to stay in Ouarzazate but the king was there, so they wouldn't honor the hotel reservations. We drove all the way to Zagora and spent the night. Minimum of seven hours driving time from Marrakech. But you have to love the Moroccan architecture.
In the morning, we went to some mini-dunes outside of Zagora for the obligatory camel ride. They call it "The Door of the Sahara", but we really weren't in the dunes of the Sahara. Those were further on, and inaccessible in only a three-day weekend.
On the way back we stopped at Ouarzazate, where there is a kasbah, and outside the city is the playground of Altas Film Corporation. These old sets were still hanging around from Jewel of the Nile, Gladiator, and god knows what other movies. There wasn't a tour guide. 
Both desert and mountain scenery along the way, with lots of palms wherever there was water. More photos coming very soon. Just wanted to get these up to get the ball rolling!
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| Along the way, we passed an argan cooperative run by Berber women. They were grounding the nuts, and many argan salves, lotions, soaps, and oils were being sold in the roadside store.
 a fruit sold on the road for 10 dirhams (including the basket  ). We still don't know what it is called. It tastes somewhere in the apricot family, but with small seedlings, more yellowish than red inside.  A view from the Ourika riverbed, up to the entrance of the cafe, over a rickety bridge (left).  first waterfall at Setti Fatma, another view. | | |
| Last weekend, we rented a car (only stick shift here, if you're curious), and drove about an hour southeast of Marrakech to the Ourika Valley. We spent the night at a simple lodge in Oulmes and continued on to Setti Fatma to see the first of seven waterfalls hidden in the area.
We also went to Oukaimeden, Morocco's only ski area (no snow yet). These African pines struck me as very interesting.   Setti Fatma
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Moroccan architecture is geometrically repetitive and complex in its simplicity.
I haven't blogged in awhile, as I've been spending a lot of hours at work. But today I had the good fortune to take care of my residency card (step 1), so I left school early and we went to the Saadian Tombs, located behind the medina and the Djemma El-Fna just inside the walls of the city.
and some more video for scope...
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