Agadir, Morocco

I thought we’d never get to Morocco so I was happy to wake up this morning and see that we were actually here. I went on another 4×4 excursion and this time we actually went off of the pavement — Yeh!

I heard from others that the city is clean and modern but I didn’t see much of it since we went into the countryside. Dale stayed onboard so he could be there for a friend who was having issues. The people who had planned on the two night overland trip set out this morning, one day late due to the difficulty in docking, so the ship is fairly empty tonight.

I thought I’d taken less pictures than usual today but I see that is not the case. I couldn’t help myself because I enjoyed this very different country so much. So I’ll spare the words and just try, as usual, to give you a feel for the contrasts in the culture and my impressions from a very small sampling of the area.

Here’s one of the “offices” at the port and the mosaic work on the way into town.

Our first stop was at the beach where the one guide who could speak English told us that the colors on these buildings represented the variety of cultures and religions in the country who all get along together. He also said that illiteracy is almost 46% but they are working on it just like they have worked on women’s rights and feel like they are unique in the Arab world in their success. (I’m just telling you what he told us. I have no idea if he is right!)

As we drove along we encountered a big family of “wild boars” which looked very like javelina to me and many donkeys and riders with different styles were everywhere.

We drove high up into the hills of the Atlas Mountains to a co-operative where women collect and process the fruits of the argon trees ,which grow naturally here, for their oil. We were treated to a snack of their freshly baked bread with honey, goat butter, olive oil and a Nutella-like mixture as they explained the totally hand labor of picking up the fruits from the ground, drying them, husking the nut and then cracking it open to reveal the small seed which they press for the oil. This very labor intensive job produces the costly argon oil which they use in cosmetics as well as cooking.

Notice that all of us old, decrepit people are sitting on the floor (and thinking about how we will get up later).

Hospitality dictates that the host wash the guests’ hands and they have a vessel just for this purpose. I got to wondering what they did with the water afterwards. I’m sure they use it wisely because they have had a three year drought lately. It is a harsh place to live. Their co-op building and its environs was interesting; the oil mill which crushes the small seed, the cemetery across the road, the outdoor kitchen, the courtyard and the beautiful stone walls made without mortar.

The trees themselves seem to be everywhere and most are just growing wild, not in rows like these. When we left the co-op we went further into the mountains on a dirt road that even for me, a seasoned off-roader, was a bit frightening due to the huge drop offs, but our driver was careful and we made it 🙂 We were a bit surprised at the large dam construction project underway in this desert but have to believe that someday there will be abundant water running down off these mountains where right now it is as dry as could be.

We went back to the ship via the Atlantic-where-it-meets-the-Mediterranean.

Home sweet home — for another two weeks.