Editor Pick
Baba, Budget Hotel, Ouazarzate
- February 22, 2002
- Rated 4 of 5 by
Marianne from Eindhoven, Netherlands
He pushes his business card into my hand. I try to read in the semi-darkness. Hotel Baba. Tout confort. l’eau chaude 24/24 solar.
Quite reassuring, especially the ‘solar’.
The room is sparsely furnished; two beds, one table, no chairs, no hook to hang my clothes. Hot water, solar energy. The sun set two hours ago. The water is cold.
I am not yet recovered from the long journey. Alarm clock at 3 am. Taxi to Zaventen, Brussels Airport, four-hour flight to Agadir, taxi to Inezgane bus station, a two-hour wait, bus to Ouarzazate. It now 8 pm. I have been ‘en route’ for 17 hours.
He is wearing a woolly hat, a thick wintercoat over his ‘djellaba’, sports shoes. The seat of the chairs are cold, the table is cold, the walls reflect cold. The door is open. Would it be better if it were closed. I have my doubts.
He puts our meal in front of us with great style. Omelette, French fries and Moroccan salade. The meal is stone cold. It was prepared especially for us. I could smell it. The way from the kitchen to our table is not far. Some French fries right in the middle have not become cold.
Ouarzazate is on 1160 metres, and very cold once the sun has set. At night the temperature drops to 4 – 5 degrees Celsius. During the daytime it reaches 20 degrees Celsius, if you are lucky. Summers are very hot: 40 – 45 degrees Celsius.
Present time and weather in Ouazarzate:
We stayed in Hotel Baba, no address needed. When you leave the bus station it is on your right. There are a few more hotels which are equally good. We were there in winter, two woollen blankets were enough to keep the cold out. The room is quite large, with a high ceiling. This is good in summer as there is more air circulation which keeps the temperature slightly down. There is no air conditionning, and no fan. We did not need them in winter, in summer it is probably quite hot here. But so are all budgets hotels in Ouazazate.
If you want to splash out you can stay in Hotel le Meridien Berber Palace, right in the centre of Ouarzazate. Here you will find all western comforts. I do not like these international hotels, they are the same all over the world. No colour locale. I am sure they would have had heating here and hot water but I am glad I did not stay here as I would have missed an experience never to forget.
From journal Winter in Figuig: Kasbahs, Palm Trees and O