Goodbye Taroudant and hello clear blue Atlantic! Between here and there is 200km of Moroccan drivers, variable signage and half a dozen stops to look for caterpillars. Two hundred kilometres sounds reasonable but this is Morocco. The best roads are two lanes wide but when a truck or bus approaches, you may want to drive partly off the tarmac! The road to Agadir from Taroudant is full of trucks transporting fruit and vegetables from the Souss Valley to Agadir and other Moroccan cities. The road is also full of grand taxis (like a mini-bus between the main towns driven by lunatics), scooters, small trucks packed with women (being transported like cattle - not joking!), and suicidal cyclists. But we manage to arrive safely at the outskirts of Agadir, take a few wrong turns and eventually head south. The landscape changes almost immediately. Drier than before and with even fewer trees. The driving is easier and we stop at a few of Constanti's sites. We find thistles but no caterpillars or butterflies. Finally, after crossing some barren plains we turn towards the sea - and it's stunning! A different landscape again. Greener with shrubs and prickly pear cactus. We are heading for the town of Sidi Ifni to an auberge converted from a traditional berber house.

Auberge Figue de Barbarie is an oasis of tranquility. It is in the middle of nowhere - about 1 km from the sea. It is like something out of a cowboy movie as it is situated on a hillside surrounded by prickly pear cacti. A high wall surrounds the dwelling with almost no windows. Inside is a little labyrinth of courtyards, terraces, and rooms. 'A sun house' explains Daniel, the proprieter. Each room has one tiny window and a door to one of the courtyards. The idea is presumably to keep the sun out and the rooms cool. The auberge is run by Daniel, a frenchman who is married to a berber lady. Her family are visiting as it is a national holiday here in Morocco - the birthday of Mohammed. We are fascinated by the culture. The women stay inside and are covered from head to toe in various garments and scarves. To the kids delight, there are children here (Nouhila, Momamou, and Mohammed). They become friends straight away - language not being a barrier. We are staying for full-board as we are in the middle of nowhere and we take a day off from searching for caterpillars and butterflies and head to the beach. Yes! This is more like the Morocco we had dreamed of and certainly a place to come back to for a proper holiday. Being in such a 'holiday' location makes us wonder if we are on some crazy chase around Morocco? Chasing a butterfly that appears to be evading us...

Stephen heads off the next day and I stay with the children giving them some time to play with their new friends. He goes east and south to Goulimime which was once the 'Gateway of the Sahara'. It was a border town between Morocco and Western Sahara (a country that is now considered part of Morocco). There he visits another three of Constanti's sites and finds lots of empty caterpillar nests, two adult butterflies heading determinedly north, but no caterpillars!

In the meanwhile, the children go shopping for fish for our dinner. The 'shop' is a concrete shed in the 'village' (a scattering of houses in a virtually bare landscape) and they come back with parts of a very large, bloody fish - they are delighted with themselves! We go for a walk with the family in the afternoon. They show us how to make toys from the fruit of the Argan tree and we eat some fruit of the prickly pear cactus. We are also hoping to see some butterflies. A good place to spot butterflies is at the top of hills as they often fly to the top of a hill in hope of meeting a mate. But although we are walking up and over the hills at the back of the auberge we don't spot any.

There are two towns situated on this part of the Moroccan coastline - Mirleft and Sidi Ifni. They are very different to the other towns we have visited in Morocco being more laid-back and somewhat touristy. This area is very traditional (all the women we see are extremely well covered up) but on the other hand relaxed and accommodating to tourists. We love it here. We travel up and down this coastline in search of Painted Lady butterflies and caterpillars but find none at all. We might like it here but it appears that the Painted Lady doesn't! So after four full days in this area, we head back inland. Our next destination is deep within the Anti-Atlas mountains and the adventure continues...