Just Put Some Argan on it...

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We were met by our English speaking tour guide/driver at 8:30am. His name was… Mohammad. We are calling him Mohammad II as we had Mohammad I in Marrakesh as a tour guide. We started the day by heading to an old Kasbah (castle like homes). It was old and broken down but still had some walls and beautiful views. Following the Kasbah, we headed to banana fields. These were amazing to say the least. We were driving through the desert (4 wheel drive of course) and everything was so dry. Before we knew it we went over one hill to see all the lushness of the banana fields and the river surrounding them. There were men hard at work (laying 1 brick per hour) as the river over flowered last year and a lot of the bananas were destroyed.

We drove to the desert (Dunes of Resmouka). We saw our first stray camel and a scorpion. We took our shoes off and felt the orange sand through our toes. As we were close to the shore, the weather was beautiful. Going out to the Sahara would mean 110+ degree weather… we are still debating if we are going to do it or not when we get to the mountains next week. After shooting our first stray camel sighting, we drove to Tiznit. Tiznit was kind of a sleepy little town… so we didn’t spend to much time there. Betsy haggled to buy a hammered silver cuff. Of course I used my master negotiating skills to get 300 MAD knocked off the price. Our drive continued through no mans land where we were heading to lunch in a traditional Berber village. We drove and drove and I imagined that moment in the movie Traffic when I thought I was about to get shot and left for dead when a little village in the middle of no where appeared. It was fabulous! We sat under a huge colorful tent in comfy seats… we ate salad and beef tagine (as they serve whatever they cooked for the day). It was quite a lovely experience.

After lunch, the original goal of the excursion was to get to Souss-Masa National Park; however Mohammad II warned us that the wildlife was SO scarce. It was really nice land - Mohammad was right as we only saw a few birds. The highlight of the day was Sidi R’bat Beach. We took a walk along this deserted beach (minus a dog and 2 locals). Mohammad brought us into one of the beachfront cabanas (imagine a 100 square foot space that you cant stand up in and is being held up by stilts)… my pictures can tell the story! Anyhow, it was one of the coolest beaches I have ever been to! We then went off roading for a bit. I asked if I can drive, but it was clearly pointed out there was no one else to help him push the car once I crash it… so that was a no-go.

Overall, it was one of the most interesting and fascinating days; although very long. Above all, we learned all about Argan Trees. They are protected by the government. We saw 1,000’s of trees today. These trees create nuts that are used for about a billion things. For instance, my feet are slathered in Argan oil with socks to smooth them. I massaged my scalp with the oil. Betsy put some on her face. Apparently you can eat it, drink it, bathe in it, use it to play slip and slide… limitless possibilities I tell you! The one thing we were hoping to see was the goats climb the Argan trees. There are goats in North Africa that climb Argan trees to eat the fruit these trees make. Also, Argan trees are natural… no one planted them and they magically grow on their own. Interesting stuff! I am going to rub some Argan on my bug bites now so they stop itching and some on my temples to help me go to sleep. It's like Windex from the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

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Comments

[Abdallah]

waww
is the camel of my father at the time, I love it!