ANDY’S TRAVELS & RANTS

morocco pictures at www.andrew-rabatin.org

heading for marakesh for a few days and then on to Europe and my trip to Slovakia. Morocco is a very exotic place but worth the visit. Going to slovakia to look up my roots and viisit “cousins” will be in the eastern part of slovakia.

took a hike in the desert. broke tent camp and left though the middle of the desert. we are near Tineghir in the High Atlas mountains. Spent the time in the deseret in tents without electricity or facilities. did have a shower and bathroom tents. so it wasn’t too bad. sand storms were amazing, just a blanket of red. sand in everything fine and blowing everywhere. storms start about 12:00 and seem to end around 4 or 5. the day temp, was 104d. and you are confined to the tent because of the storms, some of the party went to the dinner tent and had cocktails to celebrate the wind and sand. But tonight we are headed toward Tineghir and a hotel to get cleaned up a bit.

As you see from earlier pictures we have been driving in 4×4’s. Spent the night in the desert in out tent. We went out today tooking for Tuareg nomads and our guide came upon a family to visit. The nomadic way of life is in a period of change from the traditional roaming to living in small towns, the goverment provides the materials to build houses and the towns have communial gardens and fields for farming. Not sure how many of the nomads have made the change, but there seemed to be several small towns on our trip though the sahara.

They sky is very differenty here, many more stars, see a lot of shooting stars, no city lights here. the camp site does not have electricty. we have candles for light at night and one or two propane lights. the tour company provides the transport and the food and tents. we go from day to day depending on what the guide might find in the desert. it is an always changing. each day brings new discoveries.

thiswas the inside of our tent in the desert.

Technorati Profile

On day 7 we drove to Rissani a small town, met up with some locals. had a guide that could translate so we had an enjoyable time in this small town. this was a chance to get away from the bigger cities and see how the average moroccan lives. there are a number of new houses being built in the area. judging from the outside they look very nice. this was the last chance to get water and some money. the ATM’s dont seem to like mastercard. I’ve been having a problem though the trip with my Mastercard. the people with Visa seem to be doing fine. I can charge services and meals etc. but no luck with getting money from any ATM tried all the different banks, with out any luck. We will have a three hour drive though the desert to our first tent camp. right now we are in the middle of the daily sand storm. happens every day in the early after noon until 5 or 6. then suddenly stops. we are hoping to find some nomads en route to the camp. you can see the pictures at www.andrew-rabatin.org (google)

andy day7

drove though the Middle Atlas range on day 6. the pass though the Middle Atla is at about 6,00 feet. the thing to see here is the Ziz Gorges and valley. Peronally not one of the bigest i’ve seen, but this is the area that “green” morocco starts to turn to the desert. kind of the entrance way to the desert is though the Atlas mountains. People have been very nice, but have to watch taking pictures of locals. be sure to ask first. usually its ok. and they expect some small monatery token. some do not want their picture taken under any circumstances, be sure to ask first! i got yelled at a few times till i figured it out. We are headed toward the Erg Chebbi sand dunes, the highest in Morocco. It is a 9 hour drive from the middle atlas to the Erg Chebbi. We will have tents in the desert tonight! see www.andrew-rabatin.net for the gorge and tent pics/

just finished a “travel map” made from my gps and google earth. it will play without installing goolgle earth on your computer. I think you need a fast connection for it to work properly. You can double click any of the photos as they show and be transported to the gallery. Also you can zoom in on the map.  In the upper right you will see a small icon that says “map this” an you will be transported to the trips in the order taken. have fun.

go to www.andrew-rabatin.net

ang

on my photography site: www.andrew-rabatin.org, there is a new section that i have started entering the gps info on some of the many pictures i have taken on my travels. you can see the “map this” on the main page and then the “play” then you can follow the travel trail. the map plays though google earth and starts from the earlies digital photos to the most recent trips. you can click on a photo to go to the gallery they came from. have had fun putting it together.