Day 5

 Today we left the Sahara behind on our way to the Atlas mountains. Water used to be brought down from the mountains through huge pipes to provide for the smaller villages and towns. At regular intervals there were wells for the villages to  access the water.

We stopped to visit one of the families who lived in one of these disuded water tunnels. An enterprising family that now have opened their home to private tours.

We were taken down some steps into the tunnel.

Every 50 m or so there was a large hole where a family had accessed the water. 

Deep inside a candle lit table had been laid for us and we were served a delicious meal.

We then made our way out of the tunnel into the strong daylight.

The next part of out jouney took us through the fertile valleys of the Atlas mountains.

Of course, wherever we stopped, we were greeted by friendly faces wanting to sell us something.

By late afternoon we arrived at our hotel for the night/ The swimming pool looked lovely but it was freezing cold and nobody ventured into the water.

 In stead we all sat in the gardens to just relax and chat. The tables were set outside for us to enjoy our evening meal in the lush gardens.  We had only just started eating when it began pouring with rain. We quickly picked up our plates and ran indoors. Four of us stayed on after dinner to chat to our guide Youseff. He had been born in the desert and was brought up living the life of a nomad. It was no wonder he had connections with so many people. He changed the itinerary quite a bit to include extra visits to people's homes etc making it a very special and interesting trip. He has decided that he wants to start his own travel business rather than working for a company. He is an excellent tour guide and I hope he makes a success of it. He is one of G Adventures top guides and is off to Cambodia on a trip next week as a reward from the company