M'Goun Valley, Morocco

Leaving the Sahara we head to the M'Goun Valley, the valley of the Roses.  On the way we stop for a short stroll in the Todra gorge (Zion NP like on a very mini scale)  We are in the heart of Berber country.  Chama is a Berber - they were originally Jewish, they got the Berber name from the romans (from barbarian), and then were converted to Islam, probably back in the 12th century (seems like everything dates back to the 12th century here - so it's a good guess).  We are up in the mountains so it's cooler and we have rainy weather so our four hour hike got rained out - a few of us made it for a half hour or so, but it poured - so we packed it in.  We went to a local berber home for mint tea (it's the common drink here and is served everywhere, particularly when you first show up) and got dressed up in Arabic/Berber clothing for that outing.  A fun photo opportunity.  Also a subset of us went to a Berber dance/music...mostly locals who were really into it.   Their music is heavy on drums/tambourine and vocal back and forth - very repetitious - same thing over and over, and they love to.  A little goes a long ways for most of us, but still a fun experience.  Kind of the same with the food - really good  - but very limited.  So it's cous cous and/or tagine; both of which are delicious, but we have literally had it for virtually every lunch and dinner - vegetarian tagine, lamb tagine, chicken tagine, etc.