Ait Ben Haddou and new friends

This very place is what motivated me to 'get out of town' and cross the Atlas mountains to spend some time in Ouarzazate (which I can now pronounce well enough for locals to understand me) and I did not pick a loser.

While there are signs of the wear that the harsh environment has delivered for centuries, the structures are there to see and are being used as shops and, it appears, dwellings.

Mosque at Ait Ben Haddou

I'll let you read the Wiki entry for more info, and will add just a few personal images.

But, you know I'm a people person, so I'll share two people who entered my life today during this excursion.

First is Mubarak, a guide arranged by my hotel. Having a driver who can take you where you want to go and can suggest things, allowing one to refuse, is great.

So first we went to Atlas Movie Studio, which was more interesting than I thought it would be. Here is a shot of Mose's home from the 1995 TV movie. Game of Thrones stuff was shot here as well a lot of movies you have heard of or seen. It's all fake stuff but amazing to look at.

Moses' home 

Then we went to Ait Ben Haddou. Mubarak simply parked at the entrance and let me take a leisurely walk around this amazing community.

Needless to say, I am now a Berber guy according to a peddler of Berber headwear.

What do you think?
It is much cooler than the RiderCoach hat I'd been wearing. He wanted to trade, but I offered cash.

The next person was another vendor, but he actually wanted to talk about something he saw on the news from the USA.

No, not a presidential candidate, but about forest fires and floods. Did I have my emergency manager hat on? No, I was in Berber costume.  We talked for about ten minutes about woodland fires, prevention, causes, Public education and he never even showed me what he was selling. A first for me, how refreshing. Has there been some new flood and fire in the last week?

Tomorrow morning I'm going to an Oasis with a guy I met just after getting off the bus from Marrakech. He saw the picture of Hasna (the dentist I met on the bus) on the blog and thought it unusual that a woman would let me take her photo without some more formal relationship. Well, I asked and she said yes, so that was all of it.

If and when I get to better connectivity I will put up an album of Ouarzazate and nearby unreal stuff.

Thank you for reading and sharing this trip with me.  As always, I thank God for the path I walk, I feel blessed at every moment, even in airports. I think of my former colleagues at Virginia Tech and my church and family and expect that you each may one day do things like this that stretch your mind, heart and faith to make each stronger.

And aren't you glad that you didn't have to read all this from my note pad? I typed this on a phone so I can now compare the two methods.