Zagora - where reality ends and the Sahara begins

After a 6:45 wake up call to take sunrise on the dune pictures (I skipped this for an extra hour sleep) and breakfast, we were on the road again.  The first thing we wanted was to get cleaned up.  There were no showers in the camp (not enough water) so we slept in the clothes we wore to get there and then kept them on for today's drive.  God we stank and our skin was covered with the fine dust of the Sahara.  Hair like straw!  Managed to get some sand as a souvenir though!

Today Zagora, with a pit stop at the cooperative in Tamgroute to take a tour of the very small community and learn how they make pottery there.  Most of us bought something as all the proceeds as go back into the village.  

I saw all the scenery I missed on the drive into camp including the very large military base complete with tanks and 4x4s with turret guns.  The base protects this part of Morocco from Algerian marauders and insurgents.  The US provided the weaponry.  Other than that, the scenery was pretty much the same for the entire drive with the occasional town so seeing it once was enough.  The only other weird/cool thing was the sign post with the distance to Marrakech.  There are groupings of signposts every 5-10 km with a different town on their own post!

Zagora is located in the middle of the Draa valley - the Draa being Morocco's longest river.  It is filled with date palmeries and most of the inhabitants are Berbers.  It is referred to as the boundary between the Sahara and reality.  Apparently after Zagora, time and distance are measured in camel days - a sign at the end of the village (complete with camel picture) says Tombouctu 52 days, or 52 days by camel!  

We arrived in 37C heat at 1:00 pm and headed for fresh fruit, cool showers, and downtime - yeah!!!  The heat is really wearing and this isn't high season!  From June to August temps can reach 55C.  I took advantage of the pool - fabulous!

The grounds of the Hotel are filled with flowers and trees - we're the ones that look wilted, not the flowers.  A walk to the palmeries was on offer but reading and a chair in the shade beckoned.  

A quick tour around town, including singing Arabic French rock songs on the bus preceded supper - the guide sang through his microphone and half the town watched us as we went by.  Really loud!!!

First night without Tagine - thank heavens.  We were able to order what we wanted and the entire group choose something different.  The couscous was fabulous, filled with sweet raisins and the dessert crepes were drizzled with the honey produced at the hotel.  The bees eat the date so the honey is darker and rich.  Wow!

We didn't have to guess...7:30 start tomorrow morning. Heading southwest, almost directly below Marrakech.