We are very sad to leave Auberge Figue de Barbarie, the lovely, lovely coastline, and the little towns of Sidi Ifni and Mirleft (we all hope that we will return someday). Up and over the hills we reluctantly drive and onto the flat expanse of dry landscape before the town of Tiznit. We spot some thistles and decide to stop. Lots of empty caterpillar nests. Hmmm... the Painted Lady has been here too! On the outskirts of Tiznit is another of Constanti's sites. But still nothing. We head due west on the road to Tafraoute, a town nestled in the middle of the Anti-Atlas. First we cross a flat expanse of dry landscape and then we see the mountains rising before us. The road winds through a narrow gorge at the foothills of the mountains and we spot thistles. A quick stop and we find many empty caterpillar nests. We search about 30 or 40 thistle plants and they all contain empty larval nests. A good sign. On reflection it appears that the Painted Lady doesn't visit the coast of Morocco but prefers to stay a little inland. It visits Tiznit, Taliouine, and Taroudant. Does it also visit Tafraoute?

Slowly the road climbs up and up into the Anti-Atlas mountains. It's a much better road than the Tizi 'n' Test pass that we drove over from Marrakech but there are still some hair-raising moments as well as some breath-taking ones. As we descend into the valleys at the heart of the Anti-Atlas we meet almond trees in full blossom. The profusion of delicate pink and white blossom on the still leafless branches softens the rugged mountain slopes. It is one of the least visited parts of Morocco although it is without doubt the prettiest place that we have visited so far. The stone houses cling to hillsides and are plastered with pink clay, there is very little rubbish, very little modern development, and the barren, red-granite mountains and hills are a beautiful hue of pinkish red. Winding our way at an average speed of just over 20km an hour we finally reach Tafraoute.

We have booked another traditional berber auberge and are looking forward to similar hospitality to that of Auberge Figue de Barbarie. But unfortunately our hostess is a dour berber lady. She isn't one bit friendly. We mention our reservation (which we had confirmed by phone the day before) and she looks very doubtful. 'What is your name?' she asks brusquely in French. This auberge is situated, like Figue de Barbarie, in the middle of nowhere and they have only four rooms. We wonder how many reservations for two adults and two children does she have? Finally, after phoning her husband, she nods her head and reluctantly leads us into the most amazing house. The corridor just inside the front door leads up to the first floor on bare soil and rock. It's like something out of the Middle Ages. Luckily this is the only part of the house that is quite so medieval. Our room is just off a terrace and is basic with a grass roof but has an ensuite bathroom, hot water, and heating! The terraces of the house have stunning views. The red-granite mountains rise straight up from the back of the house and the terraces look out over the valley below. A mosque is situated close by and the call to prayer echoes through the valley.

The next morning, we meet the other guests. They are speaking a mixture of English and French and we are delighted to chat easily with people other than ourselves. Two are French with Moroccan parents and it's great to chat openly about Moroccan culture and get some tips on bargaining! We spend the day visiting a number of Constanti's sites and find quite a few empty caterpillar nests and one live caterpillar. The Painted Lady appears to also visit the Anti-Atlas valleys which were thought to perhaps be too cold. We are delighted to add more information to the puzzle - these finds boost our mood before heading back to Madame Happy.

The next site to visit is south of Tafraoute and it's called Ait Mansour. We head up over the mountains with stunning views all the way and down into the next valley. At this stage we run out of words to describe the landscape - stunning, amazing, breath-taking, incredible. But it really is! We wonder where this road will take us. Firstly we travel through absolute barren mountains, then the road winds its way through narrow gorges with sheer red cliffs on either side, and then oases. Lush, green, wet oases in the middle of thousands of square kilometres of mountains and deserts. We hadn't quite expected this. But I suppose this trip has been full of the unexpected. There are a few villages within the gorges and the houses are mostly mud houses built into the sides of the mountains. We stop at a number of locations to check for caterpillar nests and adult butterflies but nothing down here. We cross-check against Constanti's records and this site was a negative for him also. On the one hand, this was quite a long journey to take for negative records but this area is jaw-droppingly beautiful and well-worth the road trip.

Back at Tafraoute, we have built up the courage to venture into a carpet shop. Bargaining is an integral part of life here in Morocco and so far we have successfully bargained for babouches, necklaces, a dagger, scarves, a lamp, and saffron. Our french has vastly improved and our confidence has grown. In the town square we have been lightly haggling with a young carpet seller who each day approches us and each day brings down the price of a very pretty carpet hanging on an outside wall. So we accept his offer to visit his shop and spend the next couple of hours admiring the numerous carpets and haggling over prices. This is one huge difference between Irish and Moroccan culture. You have to know the price before you can buy anything. It can be very frustrating for the tourist who has very little idea of how much something should be. During our time here we have been slowly building up a knowledge base of prices - but it takes time and a very good memory! Then it takes patience, skill, and more patience to actually buy something. We explain to many shop keepers that Europeans loath this type of shopping but they won't be swayed. Emerging triumpantly but tired and hungry from our carpet-shopping experience, we head to the 'best' restaurant in town and tuck into chicken kebabs and chips. At last - a non-tagine dinner. Lovely as they are, there are only so many tagines one can eat!