Sitting in my hotel in Marrakech. A few hours till my plane takes off for home. Looking back at my time here, it has been a magnificent couple of weeks for an amateur astronomer like myself. Dark skies night after night with little or no clouds. And no frost to cover the lenses and mirrors of my optics and ruin photos.
I must admit that I couldhave done more here than just take astrophotos, but due to lack of, bad, or no sleep during the nights. I have not been up to anything much duiring the days. Mostly doing some processing between the naps. But I have made a few walks into the desert surrounding the hotel. For some reason, I love desert. I have ever since I walked into the dryness in Peru in 1996. There was a beauty in the dryness and deadness of it.
I took this shadow-selfie of me and the hotel the first day I stayed. Sahara was trying to reposess the area, and one guy was constantly shoveling sand to keep it back.
Close to the hotel, there are some sanddunes. I decided one day to cliimb the highest. I had no idea how high it was since I didn't have any reference of distance or anything. But as I apporaced, a biker stopped by it, and it was clear it wasn't excactly Mount Everest...
One small step for man, but....
... a giant leap for whatever else had left its footprints here.
Rule #1 for hiking : Only leave your footprints.
There are also some nomads living close to the hotel. They offer camel rides for tourists. I was approached by one, but since I wanted to walk by my own energy, I politely refused his offer.
The not so nomadic nomads have pitched their tent close to the dunes to offer the passing tourists rides on their camels.
When they are not riding the camels themself. This guy was probably on his way to the market. He was riding past the hotel, so I got a picture of him from my balcony.
But as everyone reading this has already understood, my main purpose of staying here, has been to take astrophotos. And this has been my tool. A wonderful refractor from William Optics. I have a similar scope at home and love it! It has been a wonderful workhorse and has given me great images these 12 nights. I just wish my scope at home had such pristine skies to shine under!
It was kind of sad to get up at 6 the last morning and for the last time take down my gear and pack it up. I took some photos and just enjoyed the rising Sun in the east.
It was a bit hard to get into my car and head out onto the N9 back to Marrakech. I knew it would be a long drive. But this time I had better time, so I could stop more and maybe even take some more photos. I did, and it was much more enjoyable drive. And it didn't feel that long, even thought it actually took longer... I took some photos here and there. Too many to include here, but especially the climbs and decents across the mountains were beautiful. With stunning gorges below the road. Beautiful patterns carved by the wind and the sand through thousands of years.
I stopped once and took a picture down the valley through which I had driven up.
On the road, there wasn't much to take pictures of, but I saw this truck with the wash of the driver hanging to dry. I had to smile when I noticed...
Right after checking in to my hotel here in Marrakech, I walked to the Jemaa el Fna marked to get some food. The market place is just a big chaos and cacophony of musicians, food vendors, dancers, scammers and snake charmers. It had changed since the last time I was here in 2003. The food wagons had been replaced by something that reminded me of makeshift restaurants. But still the same feel as last time. I sat down at one of the restaurants and had a filling meal of sausages, chips and kefta. Wonderful!
So this is me checking out for now. Till next journey, keep travelling!
Ingen kommentarer:
Legg inn en kommentar