THE ROCKS HEAVEN

Asking locals or people who host you is always the best way to go to this treasure places you couldn’t find in Travel Guide Books. Tinghir was in our route but as soon as some moroccans said that Gorges du Todra (15 km from Tinghir) is a better spot to stay we changed our mind. And did pretty good.

Gorges du Todra is basically a trench of gigantic rock walls and mountains, perfect for climbing activities. You can also find a river, palmeries and small berber villages. The way from Tinghir to Gorges is spectacular, with a mix of desert feeling, green zones with palmeries and villages. 

As you hike in these huge rocks you will find nothing but goats trying to eat some vegetation left and silence. A kind of silence I never experienced before. Literally silence. Nomads that locals seldom see, only when they come down to get water from the river. They live in caves in the rocks and the goats we saw belong to them. They never went to school, they don’t speak, read or write. They have no clue about the Technology Era we are living right now. I kinda envy these nomads, who live with so less and still are happy in their simple lifestyle. These are the real nomads like Samed said.

Talking about Samed, one of the workers in the hotel we are staying, we were lucky to find these people. Really. All the hotels were pricey for our budget and this guy just asked how much can we pay and then showed us a Moroccan style living room with table, chairs, a big carpet, mattresses, pillows. Just in front is the kitchen and the bathroom. We even have Wifi. And all the staff are so kind, every night we go to the roof top of the hotel and share cultures, stories and opinions while watching the shadows of the big rocks, the stars and the moon.

If you come this way I highly recommend you to stay at Maison La BelleEtoile.

This is the view from Maison La Belle Etoile Roof Top (terrible focus, sorry.)

Three days here and we feel like home. When we walk around we say Hello to the lady who sells the bread, to the guy who stayed with us in the roof top the last night, to the kids always smiling and shaking hands. This spirit of community nourish my soul. Everybody knows everybody here. I understand that is probably a good spot to live, quiet, serene, safe, protected by mother nature but could I actually live here? I think we are so used to go to the movies or theater, learn something new in a course or workshop, go to post office or library or cultural house, etc. etc. that we would be bored here. For the locals, it’s the best life you can get.