Blogs from Agadir, Souss-Massa-Draâ, Morocco, Africa - page 4

25 mars J'embarque dans le bus CTM à midi en direction d'Agadir, station balnéaire importante du Maroc. J'ai un petit sac de pistaches dans une main et mon lecteur MP3 essoufflé dans l'autre: c'est qu'il y a presqu'un sept heure de route qui me sépare d'Agadir. Le voyage, c'est aussi les nombreuses heures de bus accumulées. Je prend place sur mon banc inclinable, avoisinant celui d'un vieux bouc aux yeux couleur impairs. La barbichette prend beaucoup de place à mes côtés. Il s'étire, s'allonge et s'accapare notre accoudoir commun. Je suis collé à ma fenêtre alors que lui lit son journal en tournant bruyamment les pages froissées avec ses sabots. Bon. Et voilà maintenant que son museau poilu renifle sans arrêt. "Ça doit être difficile de respirer avec tout ce poil au fond des narines" que ... read more

Yesterday was a bit of a bad day, not just for the possible storm, but also as we lost Mark and Alan from the group. On leaving the campsite they heard a knocking noise similiar to France, when they ran out of oil in the rear axle and wore out the bearing. So when we first pulled over, Mark added some oil and we headed back to Ouarzazate for more oil. All the way there the noise dissappeared, but when we then began heading for the first waypoint of an off road route, the noise came back. At this point the guys decided to split from Dave and I and make a slow trip up to Marrakech while we carried on to the route. The route started off on a bad tarmac road and shifted between ... read more

None but natives ever master the art of surf-bathing thoroughly. (Mark Twain) Mornings in Morocco are still cold in February, easily below 10°C, and the thought of spending most of the day jumping in and out of the waves suddenly seems a little less appealing than before. We huddle around the breakfast table outside on the terrace for our first Moroccan breakfast. It turns out the staple is bread—the same flat, round breads we had with dinner—eggs and jam. One thing on the table is unique and exciting—a bowl of runny almond butter called Almou. I never thought peanut butter had any competition, but I'm beginning to question my affiliations. Predictably, this little bowl is what we fight for every morning—a good reason to get up early for breakfast –until it runs out on ... read more

Agadir, in the Souss valley, is a beach resort over run with European package groups. We should have avoided it, but being our first time in Morocco, it made a convenient base to explore down to Sidi Ifni and area. Agadir was wiped out by an earthquake in 1960 while about 18,000 killed. The hillside by the beach is the site of the buried town. It's a memorial now, as most of the victims were never recovered. Being Christmas time, it was also high season for the package tour lots. Most just plunked down on the beach or took tour buses for a day trip to Marrakech. But, since we had a car, we managed to avoid the biggest mass of this lot. The beach is pleasant, but not spectacular. The beaches south of here are ... read more

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 ... read more