Blog 5 - Thu 3 Sep. Agdz, MOROCCO

Well, unbelievably we have only been in Morocco for just over a week, but it seems like a lifetime ago that we were on the ferry from Spain.We have seen such a variety of scenery and people… it seems to change every 100km or even less. From high mountains to never-ending fields of hashish to everlasting barren plains to fertile riverbeds brimming with cultivated plots of land.Now we are entering the Draa Valley, which will take us in a couple of 100 km to the edge of the Sahara.

The last few days have been spent in the High Atlas Mountains (as mentioned in the previous blog).I'm not sure what we expected up there, but it wasn't what we got - they were even more spectacular than imagined.We made a point of spending a few days off the main roads - and were treated to a completely different world of nomads living entirely off the land and their herds.A hard life indeed, but the mountains certainly seem to provide enough water and fertile land for it not to be too harsh - and let's not forget we were there at the end of the hottest and driest time and water was till relatively abundant.

We had a treat yesterday - as I mentioned we stayed (camped) in a Kasbah Hotel. We were the only people there. Ramadan is not exactly the height of the tourist season here - can't think why….. but I have started to dream about cold beer!We had exclusive use of their pool & impeccable attentive service. One minute we asked to borrow a hose to wash Itchy down, the next we found that there was a man actually washing her for us… this was all done in good spirit, without the obvious pestering for money that we expected. They did get a good tip of course, but it's nice not to be asked for a change!

We spent yesterday afternoon being shown around the village (Tamtattouchte) by Moha - a local guide, come sophisticate! We saw all the village gardens, where they mainly grow crops for their cattle/sheep etc (to sustain them throughout their harsh winters) and corn.Each family has a number of plots allocated.He showed us an old Kasbah, where several families used to live in what is effectively a large house/walled commune, with each family having a small set of rooms off a central passageway and communal courtyard.

After that we went back to his house to meet his family (children & father - his wife was not included).The women appear to do all the work - they farm the land, gather the crop, collect the wood, cook, clean etc etc etc.We even walked past Moha's wife in the field - she had a very large bundle of corn to lug up the hill to their house.Moha simply walked past & pointed the load out to us… no offer to help her!When I asked him what the men did, he seemed quite offended… he simply replied, "we earn all the money to buy clothes".From what we have seen so far, that seems to mean spending most of the day sitting in the shade somewhere!

Supper that evening was a delicious Chicken Tagine.We were highly amused to see supper clucking it's way past us as we had our mint tea in the hotel lounge… two minutes later, a large thump from the kitchen indicated that supper was obviously ready for the pot!

So - now we are sitting under beautiful palm trees about to enter the Draa Valley.It's getting hotter & hotter.We keep promising to get ourselves a thermometer… but it was 43 deg a few days ago & today was much hotter.

Afternote:we thought we were on our own here, but two minutes ago a local appeared from nowhere with a massive handful of utterly delicious dates straight off the tree, plonked them down in front of us & just wondered off again with a smile. He's now disappearing over the hill on his pushbike.Don't remember that happening very often in Andover!