Morocco- El Jadida, Sidi Kaouki and Taghazout

Our next destination was El Jadida, on the coast about 4/4.5 hours south. We mostly took the motorway passing through 5 pay booths and coughing up about 12.50 euros for the pleasure. Still well worth it I imagine! The only real traffic we encountered was on a ring road around Rabat before we rejoined the motorway. One thing to mention about the motorway here is the number of people that use it also. It is not uncommon to see people on foot crossing the motorway (several overpasses were under construction so the local donkey and mule carts can cross) or standing waiting for lifts.

We used the Camping International site in El Jadida, located a block from the beach and a 20 to 25 minute walk to the Cite Portugaise (old town with ramparts). We had a very pleasant exploration of the water front and the ramparts. Even the souvenir shops within the walls weren't haranguing for our business. We thought we would have a look at one of the French supermarkets (Carrefour) in town. We found our way there okay, but didn't actually buy anything as the queues were long and we had stocked up in Spain. We plan to shop in the souks (markets), and use the supermarkets for the odd bits and pieces. We had heard that the supermarkets have higher prices and this was the case. We turned left along the road out of the supermarket, but 20 minutes down the road we realised we had been walking the wrong road. This road was extremely busy and chaotic. It also seemed that the adjacent building has the responsibility of building and maintaining the footpath in front. This made for a variable and generally poor quality footpath. There would be a newer building with a nice footpath, then a garage with none whatsoever and everything in between. We possibly could have gone down a side street to meet up with the correct road, but these didn't look too inviting or safe, so I suggested we retrace our steps. We also used our stop in El Jadida to go to the Maroc Telecom store where for 18 euros we picked up a wireless internet dongle and a months free usage to start us off. It is a luxury having the internet at our fingertips.

After 2 nights in El Jadida we continued south to Essaouira. This time the main route was on the N1- the next step down from the motorway. It was single carriageway, so passing slow trucks was required as was navigating through towns which had stalls and people lining the main road. Dale wanted to see how many people he could get waves from, and our waves were returned by most! A nice change since one of the first guys we passed on the motorway flipped us the bird for no apparent reason. There were plenty of children on the roadside and we passed a couple of schools. We also saw plenty of donkeys loaded up, some with wagons attached.

We have a French camping guide for Morocco which lists parking places and campsites. We had a parking place in mind for Essaouira, but we thought this was unsuitable once we got there, so we tried the nearby campsite, but it looked either half construction site, or that they had sold it off for development (just a few vans crammed in by the gate). By this stage we had picked up another French motorhome which we had seen in El Jadida. We found a couple of sites in the surf spot of Sidi Kaouki 15 minutes south and they decided they would follow. On further reflection and advice from others it seems Essaouira is well worth a stop, so we will hope to return there at some stage.

We opted for the cheapest campsite in Sidi Kaouki, which has a nice view of the beach, water and waste disposal and that's about it. But for 30 dirhams (2.60 euros a night) who could complain. There were a handful of motorhomes there, but it seems the nearby campsite (at double the price) is far more popular, but it also looks far better too.  We had in mind that we would stop for one night but after a tiring day driving we opted for two. We walked along the beach and main road which was lined with hotels and restaurants. We saw our first camels walking along the beach and were duly offered rides on them too. Sadly there are some half built abandoned resort developments on the main road, one of which was clearly being used as a rubbish tip for the towns hotels and restaurants. It was full of wine bottles and as the locals are hardly going to be indulging, it can only be from the many eateries along the road. Over the past day or two we have also seen rubbish piles being burnt on the side of the road or in properties. I can only assume they are unaware of how toxic the smoke from such burning is.

 Unfortunately this is exactly what it looks like Donkeys feeding in piles of rubbish

 More piles of rubbish. We were camped just behind the wall, you can see another camper in the background.  The majority of this waste was glass from the local restaurants.

On the morning we left we had a wonderful run along the main road and back via the beach. A vendor dropped by the campsite selling fish and vegetables, so for 20 dirhams (1.80 euros) we bought a large cauliflower, 8 mandarins and some carrots (more expensive than the souks of course but it was delivered). We hit the road again to Taghazout another surfing resort 3 hours south. The main route was via the N road again (no tolls yay) and we passed a couple of fields of bananas. We were nearly at Taghazout when a French motorhome in front of us did some very dangerous overtaking. We were in a line of traffic behind them and they went to overtake at the same time as another small van. The van didn't see or expect them and the motorhome apparently not on speaking terms with his brake pedal struck his wing mirror against the back of the van. The two local vehicles pulled off to the side of the road, probably a bit shaken, but the French motorhome kept on going without even putting his wing mirror back out. He was obnoxiously passing even more cars moments later. We couldn't understand the rush. I'm happy looking at the scenery taking our time, we are on holiday aren't we?

In Taghazout we used a beachside guardian car park close to town (which we think may once have been a campsite). Arriving about 3.30pm we decided that we would head into town straight away before it got dark (around 6pm). There were various surf shops and cafes, souvenir stalls and food vendors. A woman (South African born, now lives in Canada) struck up conversation with us and took us to her mother in law's shop on the main street. Her mother in law produces argan oil, honey, cosmetics and a nut spread (well known in the region) made from almonds, honey and argan oil. We had seen the argan trees on our drive that day as well as the road side vendors waving bottles of oil. Sometimes on the roadside argan oil is sold as such but has been topped up with cheaper oils (pure argan oil is very expensive). We had been wanting to try these products and her family was very friendly even making a list of places they recommended seeing in Morocco. We bought some honey and a jar of the nut spread, but a cheaper alternative made from peanuts, honey syrup and sunflower oil. She also pointed us in the direction of the local bread baker which was hidden away on a side street, and in the morning we returned to buy our loaf for 1 dirham each (15 cents).

Checking on the livestock