Riding around with Peter is like going to adult Disney World ... The rides are exciting and sometimes scary but you somehow know in the back of your mind you won't die. (Ha- ahahaha insert nervous laughter here).
He has been driving these "roads" for about 30 years tracking each trek with a gps creating a spiderweb of trails across Southern Morocco. Seeing it in real life is impressive. He knows where he is going although there are no roads. Vast nothingness leads into a village in the middle of nowhere where you honestly believe time has forgotten.
Now going into this, we had no idea what to expect. No idea what we'd see. No idea what we'd eat. No idea where we'd sleep. The brochure is a referral from a friend, a Facebook introduction, a promise that we'd have a good time and get an inside look at Moroccan life with no hassles.
A perk of our trek is that all food is provided. And on a Trek that's 6 days long you have to stop at local "lunch spots" along the way. Sometimes it's at a picnic. Sometimes it's a little roadside stand. Sometimes you literally give a family money to share their dinner with you. And sometimes you are simply invited to join. For food options you get what you get. So we pull over for lunch #1 of the entire journey. It's a roadside cafe of sorts - a lone shack on top of a mountain pass. And sitting outside on a shelf - marinating in flies and sunshine is possibly lunch???
Add a little marshmellow fluff and it's right up Brian's alley.
From , on Sep 15, 2013 at 05:44PM
Brian said he does LOVE marshmallow but Nutella would be better with goat 9x out of 10.
From , on Sep 15, 2013 at 06:07PM
Night 1 : Was spent in Peter's mountain house. A camp to us, but already starting our trek off in a very cool way. He and Zineb found the house on one of their treks, met the local man who owned it and they bought it. They did a little work to it, added a proper bathroom and now use it for little getaways or when Peter takes guys out on week long motorbike tours (his main bread and butter).
Picking almonds off the almond tree in the front yard. Simple. Small. One room and 2 storage rooms. We told him he needs camp chairs and a fire pit and it would be the ultimate camp house.
So after a night of lets dress up Marisha and sting her eyeballs out with liquid acid we slept at Peter's cabin where I took a horrifying trip to the outdoor bathroom in the black of night. In the morning we hit the road again even higher into the Atlas Mountains. The scenery was incredible.
What a typical oasis looks like. A patch of green in the middle of nowhere. Natural springs pop up to form these so they take advantage for farming, orchards and drinking water. They channel irrigation systems from mud and rock. Oh, and up front there...are the only white people in a 100 mile radius.
So on we went onward on day 2 with a primary destination in mind (tire repair shop). Now that our back tire needed a patch and after inspecting the goiter -bubble-tire on our overnight layover - Peter decided it needs attention. It's frightening - wait until you see......
