Didn’t really get very far today as we stopped off in Er Rachidia to get more water supplies in anticipation of Monday’s Aïd es Seghir and the shops being closed on Tuesday.
It seemed like a very modern town with electrical shops and car showrooms on the way in. The Marjane supermarket even had a big car park.
Suckered in by the Rough Guide, we thought we’d park up in the palm grove of Meski, have lunch there, and then go and see the natural spring water pool.
Down a ramp and suddenly we’re in a campsite…”Come in my friends. You can stay here. It is very beautiful and peaceful. You can walk to see the Kasbah, it is lovely”.
Well, it is a beautiful setting and for under €4 with electricity included, what’s not to like?
We parked up and the owner immediately placed a huge mat outside our door – part of the service. Guy went to see if they had any bread to buy, but they only had yesterday’s which was stale.
Thirty minutes later Mohammed reappeared with freshly baked bread – still warm. A welcome gift.
Being unable to find the famous Source Bleue, we went for a walk to the ruined Ksar on the opposite bank of the dirty river. It was a huge crumbling affair, with plenty of rock hopping for my balancing practice.
There was much excitement when we saw turtles in the river too.
Upon our return, we seemed to be inundated with visitors. The six dogs were our own fault as we dished out some of the dog food, but the man trying to sell us a palm leaf to keep the flies away took a bit of getting rid of.
Next came Abdul, a young lad of 22 who just came and sat with us, chatting about life in Morocco. Without even looking he plaited a piece of grass and made a camel for me. He might bring us some date honey to try tomorrow. 🤔
The natural spring water pool here has sadly dried up and this was the campsite’s main attraction. It must be heartbreaking for them. Even the palms look really dry. We assumed this was due to the recent years of drought, but it sounds more like farmers upstream diverting the water for irrigation.
Mohammed had said that he would bring us mint tea later, but it was dark around 7:30pm and it looked like everyone had gone to bed.
Around 7:45, lo and behold there’s a knock at the door. “My wife has made us fresh mint tea, please come and join us. “
We’d just got settled for the night – Guy was already in his best pyjamas 🤣
Better go…
So we take tea with him in his little shop while he tries to find a selling angle on anything from camel tours to carpets 🙄 …or we can trade if we have any old clothes or medicines for his tribe as they are difficult to get hold of.
Might buy this plastic mat from him as we’ve been after one for ages but we’ve made our excuses until tomorrow.
