DAY 3: Road to Imlil

Got a SIM card for the IPad 3 from Marco Telecom (GSM Network Service Provider). 20 MAD (£1.50)  for the card plus 100 MAD (about  £8) for 1Gb of 3G data (valid for 1 month) is relatively cheap compared to back home in the UK. The shop didn't have a nano-SIM, but had a rather useful tool to clip-cut it from the standard size SIM. 

The Plaza in Guilez on Mohammed V Avenue, where you will find some international brand shops such as Zara, New Yorker. There is also a McDonalds Fast Food restaurant at the end of the Plaza, visible in the bottom left. The Marco Telecom shop is directly opposite the plaza.

The Wi-Fi service in Marrakech, although free at the hotels and in various food/drink establishments across the city, is notoriously slow. With free wifi comes greater usage, more connections and therefore less bandwidth available per connection for data transfer. Hence the slow speed.

It's probably more efficient to use a 3G SIM card. Apparently, there is 3G coverage on the mountains too !!

The journey from Marrakech (459m above sea level)  to the town of Imlil in the South took about 1.5 hrs on the main trunk road to the town of Tarouddant further to the south. The road is well tarmaced and safe for the most part, meandering around the low hills with steep drops on one side as we gain altitude towards the heart of the Atlas Mountains.  

The land is sparsely populated with most people within easy reach of the trunk road alongside which they setup up small shops or stalls to sell their goods and wares.

About an hour or so later,  we get our first close up view of the snow covered peaks as the clouds briefly lifted up. We turn off the main trunk road and head on to Asni. We make a brief stop at the town Asni to pick up some bread. Another 30 mins further up the road and we reach Imlil (1600 +SL) where the tarmac ends and our trek starts. 

Cafe in Asni selling tagine dishes, slowly cooked to perfection over hot charcoals contained in pots

Our kit bags get transferred from the minibus to a smaller van which will take them up via a dirt track to the gite (local lodge) at Arroumd (or Aremd, 1820m), a local village where we will be spending the night. Meanwhile, we put on our day-sacks and start trekking up the zig zag path that cut through the village of Imlil up to the gite.

The dirt track from Imlil to our gite in Aremd. The cluster of houses on the hillside is one of the villages of the vicinity.

60 mins later, we arrived at the gite, which was basically a three story building with a breakfast/lounge area on the ground floor, bedrooms (with 3 single beds each), communal shower rooms and toilets on the first floor and a balcony area with more sleeping quarters on the second floor. Slightly removed from the bedrooms was a large living/dining room with a log fireplace. 

We collected our kit bags and settled ourselves into our rooms (John, Simon & Ingver in room 1, Kavi and I in the middle room, Vicky, Duncan & Jack in the third). The hosts offered us some much needed Moroccan tea and biscuits while Mohammed (our guide) briefed us on what you expect over the next 4 days. He then headed back to his home in the local village. 

Mohammed, our Mountain Guide, giving us a briefing of the trip and the paths we will trekking over the next 4 days

The day started to get colder as the evening wore on and the clouds dropped lower again. A taste of what was to come further up the mountain. The temperature outside had dropped to 7 oC. We spent most of the remaining part of the day in the living area where it was relative warm (10/11 oC) due to the log fire. Dinner was served by the in-house cook at 18:30. We had Morrocan soup (made from lentils, rice and spices) and bread to start off with, followed by a huge chicken tagine laid with steaming potatoes, corgettes, peas & sweet carrots. Bland as it was, we scoffed it down gratefully. Cold makes you hungry.... and less fussy. Moroccan tea was served shortly after with orange slices topped with cinnamon powder (quite delicious). 

After the meal, some of us settled down with our books, kindles or iPads. I intended to update the blog with the days events. Unfortunately the promised 3G data service was not available this far out from Marrakech. There was not much hope of getting any 3G service deep in the mountains. Ingver & I therefore took the opportunity to take night pictures of the village instead. 

A night shot of the village of Aremd

We have an 8:00am trekking start the next day, so by 20:30 we were all in our bedrooms.