Going to Ait Ben-Haddou

I would be spending a couple of nights here in Marrakesh. I thought that it would be a shame to spend it all in a city. I decided that I should at least use one day to go out of town. When I got back to the Riad Bousskri, I mentioned to Ghizlane, the lady who works in the riad that I was wondering how I can go out of town, in particular to Ait Ben-Haddou. She suggested that I join one of the group tours which are organized in Marrakesh and she would be able to hook me up with one if I wanted to. I considered that there was no way for me to take a bus to Ait Ben-Haddou and make it back because there are so many variables here. I decided to go with the group tour. I was told to get up early for breakfast because the driver would come pick up me early.

The following day, I totally missed breakfast. I woke up late and by the time Ghizlane was knocking on the door, the driver was already there. Apparently, she had prepared me breakfast but I was still in the shower. I apologized profusely and she hurriedly ushered me to the waiting driver. Apparently, there was a motorcycle waiting outside the compound and I was whisked to another vehicle. It crossed my mind how dodgy this operation is and you could imagine just vanishing from the face of the earth because they brought you somewhere else. The other vehicle had to wait for other passengers before bringing us to yet another bus. By this time it is starting to look more like a legitimate operation. Apparently, they pool all the people interested in certain places and bring them there together in one bus. It makes economical sense rather than having the bus leave with just one passenger. Unfortunately, this is the easiest way to get to Ait Ben-Haddou. The next one would be hiring your own car but that is another story.

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