Jenks & Jane on the Road to Morocco Days 8, 9 and 10

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Beginning with a brief recap of the previous night.
We were marooned in the hotel. Not by civil disturbance, war, pestilence or anything dramatic but by rain. Just as we were leaving the hotel to head into the medina for dinner it started raining. We hung around for 15 minutes waiting for a taxi but, in common with the rest of the world, when it rains the taxis disappear. As the rain was showing no sign of letting up and maybe getting heavier we decided that room service was the prudent option.

Tuesday 8th March: fortunately a bright sunny day so we were up early to go on the eco-walk through an argan forest that we'd booked on Sunday. At 9am we were collected from the front entrance of the hotel by a local named Othman who spoke very passable English; and who also had a degree in geology as we found out later. Already in Othman's car were an Australian couple, James and Jane from Adelaide who had been in Morocco for the past two weeks and had already visited most of the tourist destinations in the country, and who were interesting and cheerful company. We drove south of Essaouira for about 6 miles then turned off on to a country lane and parked. We hopped out of the car and Othman introduced us to a nearby tree which he identified as an argan tree. The argan tree is found in the central and coastal areas of Morocco and nowhere else in the world. A valuable oil is produced from the kernel of its fruit, though in very small quantities: one olive tree produces as much oil as 150 argan tree; which may explain why large areas of argan trees have been replaced by olives. Also, the tree is subject to predation by both goats, who eat the succulent leaves at lower levels and who have developed the ability to climb the trees in order to get at the leaves on higher branches, and by camels who can chomp on the highest branches. It's a wonder that any of the trees have survived this long. Measures are now being taken to protect the remaining trees and to employ local women in co-operatives to produce argan oil for cosmetics and as a food supplement.
We walked through very pleasant countryside among lots of argan trees, though not enough to amount to a forest, passing fields liberally covered with limestone rocks. Some of the fields had been mostly cleared of rocks which are then reused to make attractive dry stone walls (just like in Wales, except here the stone is a warm honey colour) and planted with wheat.
After stopping to take a look at a Islamic saint's tomb we carried on walking in lovely warm weather under a beautiful blue sky (just what we'd come here for), and came across some goats grazing the scrub grass amongst some argan trees. One of the trees had a goat up in its branches which provided an irresistible photo opportunity. We continued walking to a 16th century sugar cane processing plant now mostly ruined but with enough remaining for Othman to explain how it had operated. Then we stopped off at a Berber farm for mint tea. The Berbers are the original inhabitants of this region of Morocco and still have their own language and writing (no similarity to arabic script and the letters are written left to right). After washing our hands we were given bread baked by the lady of the house to be dipped in a bowl of argan oil, which tasted like a fine olive oil. The mint tea was prepared by Othman in something of a ritual but nevertheless with a delicious result. We resumed our walk and ended up back at Othman's car. The next item on the tour was a stop at a woman's co-operative to look at how argan oil is produced using traditional methods. The idea of the co-operative is twofold: to preserve the traditional techniques for producing the argan oil, and to allow the local women to earn and retain their own income. The co-operative now employs some 35 women on a part time basis. They get paid according to how much argan oil they produce individually and they receive a payment every two weeks from sales of the finished products which are retailed in a woman's co-op shop in Essaouira and at the the co-operative itself. We were then invited to taste various blends of argan oil: pure oil like we'd had at the Berber farm, mixed with honey, and pure honey from the argan tree. Afterwards we had various argan oil products: cosmetics and foods explained to us. This soft selling approach had the desired effect and both us and the Australian couple bought several items. Then it was back to Essaouira for a late lunch.
In the evening we went for dinner at the restaurant where we had found out about the eco-walks and told the patron and his wife, who founded the eco-walk business, how much we had enjoyed ourselves. Then James and Jane, the Australian couple, showed up and were similarly enthusiastic in their praise. A win-win situation all round.

Wednesday 9th March: a rather overcast and drab day so we didn't walk as far along the beach as we had originally planned and after a fortifying cup of coffee we went back to the nearby “off-licence” to buy a bottle of the local wine: another one of the wines recommended to us by the French restaurant owners who run the eco-walks. Then into the old town for lunch at the same excellent restaurant where we'd lunched the previous day: good food, in a sunny, entertainer/hustler-free zone out of the strong wind. After lunch we headed deeper into the souk area looking for the ancient Jewish quarter but as we were entering a rather dingy, evil smelling alley a European couple came towards us and the man said: "English?". We confirmed this and he cryptically said, "Don't go there. Not safe." So we did an about-turn and headed out of the souk to the esplanade that links the old town to the Dunes Quarter where our hotel is located. After a soothing coffee at a beachside cafe we strolled back to the hotel and ordered room service for dinner once again as the weather was looking a bit threatening and we couldn't be bothered with the journey to the old town and back.

Thursday 10th March: overcast again but no wind to speak of so this time we set off along the beach for the mile walk to the ruined Portuguese fort out on the headland at the southern end of Essaouria's beach. Then inland to look at a real castle in the sand: the extensive ruins of a royal palace built in the 18th century and mostly covered by the shifting sand dunes. Back to our hotel's beach restaurant for a fortifying cup of coffee then we took a taxi to the bus station so that we could book our journey back to Marrakech for Sunday. Then another taxi to the old town for lunch: again at the same restaurant we'd been to on the preceding two days (boring and predictable that's us). This time we sat upstairs; luckily for us, as two lots of musicians came into the square to “entertain” the people at the several cafes that border the square. Afterwards we had a wander around the souks and then walked back to our hotel. For dinner we decided on the La Decouverte Restaurant, where we'd been twice before and where we'd booked the eco-walk. On the way we stopped off at the off-licence to buy some wine then on into the old town for another delicious dinner followed by an easy walk back to the hotel and bed.

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Photos

Argan forest expedition start
An introduction to the argan tree

Saint's tomb
The tomb of one of the saints who introduced Islam to Morocco and which is still a place of pilgrimage.......just like St Columbus bringing Christianity from Ireland to Scotland.
That's a well in the in the foreground.

Goat up a tree
The local goats have developed a taste for argan leaves and have developed tree climbing skills

Jenks and tree climbing goat
Jenks is the one in the red shirt. The goat is the one with the horns.

Underneath the aqueduct
Built in the 16th century to bring water for the sugar cane processing plant which was in operation for only 25 years.

Argan forest
Not exactly a forest but even so exceedingly pleasant countryside for walking

The Nutcracker; possible career change?
Not Mozart's. This is how argan nuts are processed, beginning with cracking the nuts to remove the kernel which is then ground to produce a paste and then refined to produce the oil. After deciding that she didn't have the necessary mix of skills to be an argan oil production specialist Jane reverted to being a tourist.

Essaouira Panorama
Old town and harbour on right, Isles de Mogador in the bay and new town and beach on the left

Carpet seller in action
No hustle here

Castle in the sand
Former palace mostly covered by sand dunes. There's a 15 foot drop on the other side of the rampart.

Herr General Jenks von Rommel
Jenks practising his Desert Fox pose

Comments

[Christine Beadle]

Wonderful Morocco
Its nearly 40 years since I travelled around Morocco with my husband when we were both students - it does not look as if things have changed so much since then. Thanks for the lovely pictures and interesting blog.