We crawled out of bed at 7am and were greeted downstairs by a lovely breakfast of fresh orange juice, hearth breads with jams, and Laughing Cow cheese. This sort of breakfast seemed to be typical for Morocco, occasionally with a hard boiled egg or yogurt thrown in for extra measure.

At 7:30, there was a knock on the door, and we were met by Ibrahim, a man not too many years older than me who walked with a limp. For 2500 dirhams (under $325) he would drive us all day out to Todra gorge, with plenty of stops to see the sights and take pictures.

We loaded up into his Land Cruiser, leaving a duffel full of extra gear back at riad for our return, and headed out of Marrakech. On the way out of town, we passed through the royal gardens, which was mostly an orchard of olive and date palm trees.

The low lands around Marrakech were full of high prices villas and golf courses, set right next to primitive farms and dwellings, giving a rather stark contrast between the rich and the poor.

We quickly entered the foothills, winding up the well-paved roads, dodging overloaded lorries and donkey carts, and over the 2500 meter high Tichka pass. Shortly after the summit, we stopped at a small shop for refreshments, Clare and I getting a bottle of Fanta. Clare tried to give the young boy tending the shop a Jolly Rancher candy, but he seemed to be puzzled by the hard candy.

Coming down the pass, we drove through a pastoral mountain range which was downright verdant in contrast with the valley below.

Half an hour away from Ourzazate, Ibrahim asked us if we would like to see a kasbah. Not far off our path there was a three hundred year old kasbah, Ait Benhaddou, that we could get a tour of. We thought it sounded cool, so he turned off the highway onto a 4x4 dirt track, cutting across the barren valley with dry, salty, mineral laden earth. After a couple of miles we mounted a hill and saw several small homes, and around the next bend we turned back onto a paved road, where we could see the kasbah on the far side of a small town.

We pulled up and were met by a guide who gave us two options: We could go all the way to the top, which would take about an hour, or we could go half way, which would be half an hour. It was getting close to lunch time, and we wanted to eat in Ourzazate, so we opted for the half hour tour, which would cost 100 dirhams ($12).

We walked through the village, and then down an embankment to the river the kasbah was up against. Our guide, a genial man in a long white caftan, was fluent in many languages, including Spanish, Italian, Berber and French, and spoke passable English.

There were stones and sand bags laid down to cross the river and as we crossed, two boys grabbed Clare's hands to "help" her cross. When she stepped on dry land, they demanded 100 dirhams ($12) for their services. It took a few minutes, but Clare managed to convince them to leave her alone, and we continued on our way.

Walking into the kasbah, our guide informeed us that much of what we saw wasn't original or authentic, and was actually created for movie production. While the old part was indeed 350 years old, the fancy structures and gates were all recent fabrications. Many movies had been filmed there, including Lawrence of Arabia, The Last Temptation of Christ, and Gladiator.

We finished the tour, taking a different route across the river, saving Clare from the torment of the boy scam artists, paid the guide, paid to use the bathroom (who puts the price on the _inside_ of the door?), and then continue on the road to Ourzazate.

Ourzazate is the Hollywood of North Africa, with several large film studios on the outskirts of town; the town itself is relatively prosperous, and appeared clean by Moroccan standards. We stopped at a shop to buy some Berber music, and then had lunch at a touristy restaurant which had slow service, high prices, and an excess of flies. On the way out of town we passed by many high priced villas, and got passed by a full-sized Dodge pickup truck with California license plates.

We continued on our way, the scenery returned to the barren wastelands of high desert. It greened up once we got near the Dades Gorge, with olive, palm, peach and apricot trees, and lots of roses that were unfortunately well past bloom.

As we approached Tinerhir, the last town before our hotel, it started to get dark, making for some dramatic views of the towns and buildings. Most of the buildings were made of earthen clay, similar to the adobe buildings of southern California.

Along the trip, Ibrahim offered that we should leave Todra gorge a day early, and head out to the Sahara. We'd leave in the morning, ride camels to a set of tents, spend the night sleeping out in the desert, and head straight back to Marrakech the next day. All this could be arranged for $250 each, including the drive back to Marrakech, about twice what we paid for just the drive out. We agreed that seeing the Sahara would be a once in a lifetime opportunity, so we told Ibrahim to make it so, and stopped in Tinerhir to get more money.

Leaving Tinerhir in twilight, the roads got narrow and bumpy, up until we got inside the gorge, where the road was paved in concrete. Even out in this remote area, at 7 in the evening, the road was full of pedestrians, carts and scooters. Our decision to go with a 4x4 vehicle was vindicated when we crossed several sections where the road had been washed out a "fortnight ago".

We arrived at the hotel in the dark and were greeted by Adi, who had built the hotel himself. We grabbed our bags, paid Ibrahim and confirmed the pickup time, and headed up into the hotel.

The hotel was dark; being so remote they used solar power for light, so exterior lighting was minimal. Barry and I decided to stay in the "troglodyte", a room build in a cave, while Clare got the tower, up on high.

In the hotel lobby/restaurant we were served an excellent meal of soup, bread, meatballs, eggplant and potatoes. They even made Barry a tagine without any meet. As a bonus, we were kept company by a friendly cat, who identified Clare as a sucker from which to extort food.

After dinner Clare and Barry looked over the guidebook to the climbing routes, planning out the next day. The plan was to do sport climbs the next day, and then an 8 pitch trad route the day after.

This place is really quite the contrast to the medina in Marrakaech. Quiet, dark, and pristine. Quite pleasant, really.