Day 13 Monday March 14. Gorges Thodra

To go to Gorges Thodra from  Hassi Labied is  little tricky by public transportation, it takes several grand taxis, several buses and a some hitching, but it  was fun.
There was a moment in a town where the sand just rose with the wind and I could not see in front of me, the sand got  into every part of my body that was uncovered , specially, eyes, head, nose, ears. That is when I knew why a turban is useful for those occasions and why women dress with a dress  that  covers the head, face, etc, is so useful. The traditional dress of these region is like a sari, a big piece  of cloth, like 6 meters and wrapped around in  a very artistic and utilitarian manner. I bought 3 of these dresses, one  is now in my living room as a curtain., since it is a beautiful fabric you can do anything you want with it.

This man and his wife and mother in law gave us a ride and invited us

to his restaurant, he is an electric engineer  and works on the silver mines,

he made his studies in France. He was very polite and generous.

He is saying "welcome, welcome"

his restaurant was not on my rough guide and I told him I would 

 e mail the rough guide to ask them to  update it and to include his restaurant

he said is the best on that region. he showed us the kitchen, the gardens

and introduced us to his staff. he was  very friendly and kind.

Beautiful day, although cold

After having tea with this man in his restaurant, his wife and mother in law 

came and gave us ride to the hotel in

George  Thodra, I took  the picture from the car



Here are the Gorges, it is gigantic rock walls that  change color
at different  times of the day  with a river in the middle,
the buildings are hotels

narrowest and highest point

It  was getting late and colder, it was time to go
back to the hotel for dinner. The hotel offered a room
for one person with dinner and breakfast for 20 dollars
with bathroom in the hall and the bed was hard with a river like depression  in the middle.
It  was the last room available in this hotel.
Many people come here to rappel the rocks
and these are the hotels just under the rocks, mine did not
have electricity, it was powdered by a generator but only
for a few hours. The  electricity stopped at 11 pm when I was
in the shower and I was not aware of this. I had trouble
finishing the shower and getting back to the room
as I did not take to the bathroom  my most beloved posesion during this trip;
my flashlight.

This is how cold it was,

 I wrapped myself in my little blanket

and used my scarf on my head
I looked like my grandmother.

It was  a really special place.

There was no electricity in the  dining room so the waiter brought candles,

it was actually very nice and the tagine was very good and very hot.

I had the opportunity to talk to other people eating there

who were going to the place I was coming from