The previous night I woke up in the middle of the night and it looked like day. I went outside and saw my own shadow in the moon light. Beautiful. We ate a nice breakfast and set out from the camp in the Shirwa Plateau. Take a look at the change of landscape. It would completly change over the next 30 miles.
The green grasses of the campsite gave way to rock, rock, a few scrub plants and more rock. We also encountered several sheep/goat herds along the way feeding on the random scrub grasses.
The green grasses gave way to rock.
After a long climb most of the morning we decended into this nice village. The crew stopped and waited for the whole group to catch up. The kids of the village quickly spotted us and line the road into town to give us a high five. Soo cool.
A common theme of the trip was a nice break, Moroccan tea break with bread right before a nice climb. This was the road out of the town. Don't worry, we didn't run over the chicken in the middle of the road. Before we left a mule with two kids on the back took off up the hill. A challenge.
We got into the middle of the town and our drivers had gone into the village and got hot tea boiling and some fresh bread. Note the white chunks next to the tea pot. Those are sugar chunks. Two was the magic number to have the sugar still absorb into the water. The stuff was rocket fuel.
-This was one of the favorite spots of my trip. On the way in, we saw a little old lady cutting a field of wheat with a hand cicle. The mule next to her was loaded with wheat. Then saw a nice concrete floor with a threshing rake leaning on the wall. It was like going back in time 300 years. Soo cool to see how bread is made using the basics. Yes the bread was amazing.
The kids (boys) liked to see pictures of themselves on our digital cameras. The girls of the town were seperated from the boys during the day. Must be a cultural thing. It reminded me of my time in Nicaragua doing hurricane relief work with SPRINT (Seattle Pacific University-outreach).
Looking back at the town. The earthen clay/straw structures were starting to seem common and normal. If construction worked 2000 years ago, it will certainly work now.
I got the wierdest look when I passed these boys on a mule. So if 1 horse can generate 1 horse power and estimate a donkey can generate 1/2, then a mule must generate 3/4 horse power? Since I passed the mule, how much power does that get me?
As we left the city, the landscape changed again to what seemed like lava rock. Looked like Kona Hawaii lava fields. But this was in the middle of the Atlas Mountains Morocco.
Another 30 mintue ride and we were into another landscape. Made for some really neat riding conditions.
Not long we were back into a barren landscape. Really neat area.
Here is a neat panorama of the area where we road. Gives you a better perspective of the terrain.
I looked on Bike Hikes website and saw this tour is running again right now. Hope the group had as much fun as I did.
1 comment:
Spectacular - as usual.
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