After ~24 hours travel from Denver I arrived in Marrakech last night about 7:30pm. Flights were mostly smooth, DEN->JFK->CDG->CMN, then train to Marrakech. We’re at Riad al Cadi one night, and Dan is already here. The porter from the riad met me at Jamaa El-Fna square, walked me through a maze to get there, and I don’t think I would have found it without him. Crazy narrow “streets”, unmarked doors, tons of scooters, tourists, vendors, snake charmers, monkeys, and loud drums and flutes. Really very cool, high energy at that time. My room is right next to the pool. We had dinner in the riad (nice romantic setup!) and then I finally was able to sleep. The roof top is really amazing. Grant, Gabor, and Henrik fly in on Friday morning.

I’ve been using Timeshifter to prep for jetlag and adjust, and it has worked very well actually. I didn’t sleep much overnight on the plane, but probably had a total of 3 hours dozing. It created a plan for times to have caffeine, get lots of light, and other times to rest or at least avoid light as much as possible.

Grant, Gabor, and Henrik arrived this morning and we moved to our next riad, BCK Art Riad. Walked around some more, got some lunch and beers, now chillin in the room. Dan and I went to Bahia Palace and a couple other sites this morning (Bahia is the only one interesting).

We went out to a nice restaurant called Petanque Social Club. Very good gnocchi. Then went out to a club called Kabana (i would have been fine to just go home, it was very late).

Yesterday was a free dayin Marrakesh. We slept in, did some markets, etc. I found one of the YAH starbucks mugs for Marrakech that i like, and got a couple Morocco football jerseys. We ate at an African place called Blackchich, then watched F1 qualifying and some soccer matches, then a great dinner at Mizaan. Relatively early to bed for 5am hot air balloon ride.

After the balloon ride in the morning we traveled by mini-bus over Tizi n Tichka pass to Ait Ben haddou. The road is actually pretty good, but there are several areas where rockslides closed the main road and we had to drive around on a makeshift path. The rock slides happened several years ago when a large earthquake hit the area. We passed a few small villages on the side of the road, and stopped at the high point of the pass (~5400 ft).

When we got to Ait Ben Haddou we were all surprised how crowded it was. Many tour buses. The guide (Yunus) proposed a hike up to an old fortress in the evening before dinner, but i declined, not wanting to risk any treacherous walking with my knee still recovering. It turned out to be closed anyway, so good choice!

Started the day at Riad Mahktoub in Ait Ben Haddou, now we are going to pick up D2 at the Ouarzazate airport in a couple hours. Then we head to Zagora, get in the 4x4s to somewhere else, then take the camels to our ultimate destination somewhere even further in the desert…

Travel to the desert camp (Erg Chigaga) was pretty long. We switched to a couple Mitsubishi SUVs in Zagora, then drove out to then of the road, near Algerian border and to base camp. Then took camels a bit further. The tents were not ventilated at all, i guess due to sand blowing around so much, and it was the worst sleeping experience i have had on the trip so far. But really awesome outside, stars were amazing, and the dunes are really cool.

We left the desert camp about 8am today, after sunrise on the dunes. Heading back to Ait Ben Haddou, through Zagora today. This breakfast was the first one all trip with eggs, cooked in the tagine, and it was excellent. Coffee was still subpar.

We are leaving to go back to Marrakech this morning; Henrik flies out at 18:30. Hopefully an easy drive again. The cool temps only lasted the evening, it is nice an hot again. It really feels very much like Colorado here, except it doesn’t get as cool overnight.

In the morning when we were waiting for our van, Gabor had left his bag in the lobby area, and couldn’t find it later. It turned out another group had loaded it in their van! Luckily they didn’t go far and the riad owner had the cell # of their driver, so they brought it back. Could have been very inconvenient.

Driving down the from mountains was cool; very twisty switchbacks. I got a photo of one of the rock slides that has blocked the road for a few years now.

Once back in Marrakech, we took Henrik to the airport, rested an hour or so at the last riad, before going back out in the medina. We found a section where people were welding right in the open, no masks or even glasses of any kind (no pics though). I picked up a couple more souvenirs/gifts, then we got drinks and had a nice dinner. The pool at this riad (Riad Chergui) was great; not as cold as some others.

Today Grant and Gabor left very early (4:30am and 7am), although grant’s taxi didn’t show so he had to get his own. We got breakfast, and i stayed in the room in the dark for as long as i could to help with the timeshift coming up. Took a taxi to the train station where i am now, waiting on a 12:50 train to Casablanca.