Ouarzazate--Ait Ben Haddou--Ouarzazate; 64km

64 kilometers today, mostly flat. The legs felt a lot better than they did over the past few rides, 60 days of rest likely helped a bit.

We rented bikes from a place in Ouarzazate, a town on the other side of the Atlas Mountains from Marrakech. The city is roughly 200km, 5 hours by bus away; a trip mainly of going up and over a massive mountain pass, at least 7000ft elevation gain to the top. The route the bus took would make for a great stage of a pro bike race, if they could close down the road and get the traffic off.

Our ride was on the amazing 80 dirham Target bike: generator headlamp, dual fenders, rear rack. Pretty much the perfect commuter bike. We set off by 7am to avoid the traffic, as the Moroccan day doesnt really get started until after 9am. Got to Ait Ben Haddou by 10:00. You have probably seen the city before; the main tourist attraction was the kasbah, used in Lawrence of Arabia, The Mummy, and Gladiator.

Very cool. By lingering around at the top of the hill and taking in the scenery, the Chef of the UNESCO restoration project invited us to the very top of the Kasbah. Hesitant at first--trained by West Africa to believe anyone doing anything for you expects payment--we were pleasantly surprised to recieve hot fresh mint tea, an explanation of the construction project, and hospitality. Ahmed has three sons and lives in Ouarzazate, he also heads another project near Asni, where we will pass through tomorrow. For payment, just a handshake.

The weather behaved through the afternoon; clouds rolled in to keep us cool for the slightly downhill ride home.

Things that are making me love Morocco so far:
*all day bike ride
*delicious sweets around every corner for a quarter a piece
*5 dollar haircut, including the use of a straight blade razor for all the details
*10 dollar hotel room big enough to sleep three people
*hospitality not found in Spain or West Africa.

This hospitality is great
*tour at the top of the kasbah
*restaurant owner letting us store the bikes at the side of his house
*adjacent store owner offering to look after the bikes when we tried to return them and the place was closed.
*free extra OJ from a stand because we were a repeat customer

and did I mention the desserts?

Tomorrow: headed off to Imlil to climb Jebel Toubkal the following days.