Atlas Mountain Adventures

One of the big draws of Morocco is the scenery.  Anne and Mark decided to take advantage of this and trek throughout the country, or at least the length of the Atlas Mountains, starting in Marrakech, stopping in the Erg Chebbi area to visit the sand dunes, and then finishing at Fes.  The scenery certainly did not disappoint.  It was a clear day and on several occasions, Anne and Mark could see mountains and valleys miles away.

Kind of looks like Utah.

One of the most striking aspects of the country is the scenic diversity.  There were lush, agricultural areas nustled next to towering peaks.  However, only a few short miles away, this vista gave way to drier, more arid environment.

Anne shows off a scenic area of Morocco.

Eventually, all of the views were of a desert area.

And then it looked like the surface of Mars for awhile.

Maybe this is where they tested the Mars Rover (Totally just made that up).

Anne and Mark had plenty of time to observe the changing landscape.  The roads in Morocco were not bad, but they were certainly not a modern highway system.  The main roads go through every little town between major cities.  Progress then slows to a snail's pace through these hovels as the speed limit decrease combined with pedestrians carelessly wandering the roads combine to impede all traffic.

And driving through small towns was not the only speed-reducing obstacle on the trek.  First, Anne and Mark had to deal with a little windstorm.

As the winds picked up (near the area where the Tattoine scenes from Star Wars were filmed), Anne and Mark found themselves driving directly into a little sand storm.  Obviously, visibility was reduced, but otherwise, the storm was minor and they had no trouble getting through this obstacle.

Later, Anne and Mark encountered some obstacles arranged by Moroccan animals.  First, while moving between mountain ranges, Anne and Mark started noticing shepherds and their flocks of sheep on the side of the road or in the ditches.  This turned out to be a significant obstacle when a few rebel sheep refused to move from the road, disrespecting the superior horsepower of the rental car.

A lot of traffic for this place at this time.

But this was not the only animal life on this trek.  Not far from Fes, Anne and Mark spotted a group of monkeys hanging out beside the road.  Apparently, these beasts have become tame from their encounters with humans at this roadside location, or somewhere else.

 Anne and Mark had yet another obstacle on this trek, this one dealing with local authorities.  Mark was driving and noticed that he was driving at around 70 kph (43.5 miles per hour) in a zone that had a maximum speed limit 60 kph (37.28 mph).  Actually Mark did not notice this, but the helpful police officer hiding at the side of the road did.  Ticket, please.

Near to where they arrived, Anne and Mark had a final obstacle.  Mark had driven past the turn that he needed to make in order to arrive at the hotel.  He decided to make a u-turn to correct this mistake.  The shoulder looked like it was covered in gravel, but it was not.  Ooops.  At this point, the car was stuck in the side of the road in a sandy ditch.

Now the car is stuck in the ditch.  What should Anne and Mark do next?  The ideal solution would be for Anne to pop it in reverse and give it a little gas while Mark pushes the car.  Unfortunately, the rental car has a manual transmission and Anne is not able to drive a stick (despite Peaches' promise to teach her last summer).

This put Mark in quite the pickle.  He knew how to work the clutch, but he was also socially obligated to get out in push, rather than sit in the car and wait for his wife to push him out of the ditch.

It also put Anne in a pickle, maybe moreso than Mark, because Anne entered up getting covered in sand as Mark gave it a little gas and the spinning tire threw fine Sahara sand 25 feet in all directions.  One of those directions was toward Anne and she was awarded her first sand shower.

Finally, a Good Samaritan stopped and offered to help push the car.  Anne and Mark had to explain to him that there were enough pushers, but he could help out by driving.  The passer-by agreed and Anne and Mark pushed the car back onto the beaten path.

Given all of these obstacles, it is a miracle that Anne and Mark made it anywhere.