Sandstorm!!

The I The wind got even stronger this afternoon and we had a full blown sandstorm! The sky went dim and sand whipped across the road getting into your mouth and eyes. I am grateful that I was not crossing the High Atlas today. In fact the police were turning around drivers on the Marrakesh road stopping them leaving town. 

I was going to head up to Ait Benhaddou where a number of big films were made including Lawrence of Arabia, Kingdom of Heaven, Prometheus, etc.... but the wind was too strong blowing me across the road. The only time I have experienced anything like this was riding through the Camargue in the South of France when the Mistral was blowing! 

Instead I headed into Ouarzazate and went to visit the Kasbah. At the entrance I was approached by a 'tour guide' but Abdul actually turned out to be friendly and knowledgable. The Kasbah is about 500 years old but is made from a mix of some brick and mud and straw. Thus the buildings have to be repaired every 5 years or they collapse. Unfortunately some houses had seen better days. A Portuguese Business man has bought some of the grander buildings in the middle and converted them into a posh hotel. It has been the preferred staying place of the film stars when movies are being made so prices are high.

There are 3 'quarters' (not sure how that works) Berber, Arab, and Jewish. My guide took me into the hotel of a friend of his and I enjoyed the panoramic views from the roof terracce.

On the way out Abdul showed me the chemist shop. A little different from Boots.

From there I crossed the busy road to the Film Museum. This was mostly a collection of small film sets where they had filmed US Biblical themed films but I notice that nothing had been shit there since 2002 so the place was looking a little tired. I think that the last film to be shot in the Kasbah was Prince of Persia. Movie making is a major financial shot in the arm of the local economy as, as it has been a few years, Abdul told me that people were feeling the pinch.

I went back to my Riad for an afternoon nap. Hunger drove me out back to the town as the food in the Riad was poor. I also needed a beard trim so found the barber. Check him out! He's a Berber barber. His smile is priceless.

You have to be very careful when riding as a combination of ridiculously low speed limits and police everywhere will get you pulled and fined. So far I've been ok.