Morocco- Taghazout, Paradise Valley, Tifnit

Nicky:  It is another sunny day as we wake and we walk along the beach into Taghazout to buy bread.  We also inquired at a shop about gas.  In the UK/Europe and Morocco if you are using bottled gas you always exchange an empty bottle and receive a full one (not like in NZ where we refill the same bottle).  This is why we had a refillable tank installed so we could use Autogas pumps at petrol stations, however, like Finland, Morroco has no Autogas.  So we had the van fitted for both tank and bottled gas. We have a near new camping gaz brand 907 bottle in the van from the UK, and as the Moroccan ones are very worse for wear we want to buy a Moroccan one and use that for exchanging while in this country.  That way we can keep our nice blue bottle in the van for when we sell.  We inquired at the campsite in El Jadida and they quoted 120 dirhams (11 euros).  We left it as we knew they should be around 60 or 70 dirhams.  A shop in Taghazout quoted us 70 dirhams, so we drove the van down to make sure the thread was right.  Dale connected it all up so we knew it worked before we handed over the money.  We had been on the refillable tank since the nice 907 bottle ran out in El Jadida.

Our destination that day was Camping Aourir, a new and well recommended site we had read about on the internet.  It was our most expensive campsite so far at 100 dirhams a night (8.90 Euros), but also had the best facilities.  We spent the afternoon relaxing, as the campsite is in the middle of nowhere and there is nothing to see nearby which is unfortunate.  We just stayed the one night there, getting washing done, waste water emptied and the van refilled with water.  The campsite is on a road that leads to Paradise Valley.  Unfortunately first we had to return to the main road for petrol, 5km backwards on the worst road we have struck yet.  On arrival at the pumps we saw a boy having two drink bottles filled with petrol. We almost received diesel so some frantic arm movements and saying "sans plomb, sans plomb!" ensued as the van takes unleaded petrol.  All filled up we had to go back past the campsite to reach the valley, in which palm trees grow and water flows in a small stream at the bottom (nice but Paradise is a bit of a stretch :-)).  

We had read that this road is not particularly good due to being narrow, having blind corners and steep drop offs.  The road was quiet, which helped and there were relatively new barriers in several places.  It also hasn't rained in a long time, which was of benefit as the rain can really play havoc with the safety of the road.  The Moroccan taxis don't slow down when coming the other way which is scary when you are on the side of the steep drop offs.  In some areas there were stone cairns to mark the edge of road or to alert you of fragile road surface near the edge.  In one instance rocks in the middle of a bridge were marking exposed reinforcing steel now jutting out like lances ready to impale your vehicle.

We made our way to the waterfall at Immouzer des Ida Outanane.  This waterfall runs dry a lot of the time and only runs when there is plentiful water available.  Otherwise it is used for irrigation further up the river, so it doesn't reach the falls.  We found the car park and were immediately pointed in the direction of the falls by some local Berber men.  One of which took it upon himself to be our unasked for guide.  It was a beautiful area and you can see the impact the water has on the rocks in the waterfall.  There are also plunge pools, according to the guide are about 40 metres deep.  Along the way a man caught us up trying to sell us wooden boxes for "10 dirhams" which i'm sure would have become 100 dirhams had he got one in our hand.  At the plunge pool of the waterfall a man offered Dale some dodgy old blue swimming shorts 'to hire'.  No thanks.  Once back at the van the guide of course wanted a tip.  Fine, at least he hadn't tried to claim a ludicrous fee.  However he was trying to cadge clothes worth say 25 Euro for 20 minutes work.  We had heard beer was better than money so tried offering him a beer (which we since found out is not on) to which replied 'No I am Muslim', so a 10 dirham coin it was (half a days wage for some people), which he then didn't look too happy about.  This experience taught us that next time if we don't want a guide we will make that known, as the payment could have resulted in an argument, as he of course wanted more from us than 10 dirhams (90 Euro cents). Then of course another guys wants 'something for parking', so we got the full Moroccan tourist treatment but at least we had got out without it costing us much.

We made a decision that night that we would stick to the coast south and not go inland to the desert sand dunes.  We want to keep our costs down whilst in Morocco and it would be a big commitment to head inland and also see the coast.  The next day we headed back on another winding and narrow road to the N8 which led us into Agadir.  We stocked up at the supermarket and from there we headed south to the beach at Tifnit.  A small fishing village, where we parked up overlooking the sea and the town.

Morocco- Agadir and the Fifa Club World Cup

The following day we headed into Agadir.  The reason we had been "rushing" along the coast was that we wanted to see Auckland city football club play in the Fifa Club World Cup.  The competition is made up of teams who have won their club competitions in their part of the world.  Auckland won the Oceania competition.  The family we met the day before had heard on the radio that tickets were being sold at the tournament village by the waterfront so we headed there first.  It proved to be a good tip and after finding it, we managed to get tickets and Dale even played some 4 a side football with some young Moroccan men in a pitch set up in the complex.  It was a hot day so we returned to the van for more water and lunch and then decided to walk along the promenade.  We reached the end of the resorts, the last one was the Robinson club resort where the two teams, Auckland and Casablanca are staying for the tournament.  Unable to spot any celebrities we climbed the neighbouring dunes back to a street one block from the beach.  We were a bit tired once we reached the van and we drove to Marjane (supermarket) to buy some water and bits and pieces before driving to the stadium to check where we would have to go on Wednesday.
Even though we just bought our Morocco map for the Tomtom it didn't feature the road up to the stadium.  That didn't end up being a problem, and after going to the main entrance Dale asked about car parking and we were directed to another entrance, which we checked out as well.

Photos from our time at the football village

The beachfront at Agadir

The dunes

The Robinson Club, where both teams were staying

We returned 25 minutes north to Tagzahout.  That morning we had seen a larger area for motorhomes very close to where we had been the previous night.  We decided that we would try this one for the night as it was more spacious and had less road noise.  It was a reasonable 20 dirhams a night (1.80 euros) which the guardian collected at 5.30pm.
The following day was a lazy day of washing, reading and surfing the net.  We did break it up with a short walk along the beach and buying a couple of items from vendors who dropped by.  We felt we hadn't done too well with our bargaining when we bought 9 small bananas for 10 dirhams (90 cents)- I don't even like overripe bananas!  So following that we spent the afternoon consuming several bananas each.  It was a cloudier day and that night the wind picked up and we woke to a grey day, but still warm.

That afternoon we drove into Agadir, stopping at the Marjane before heading to the football.  I know, I know, we should be using the souks right?  We have not bought from a souk yet, but any buying we have bought we felt we haven't managed a great deal.  At the supermarket mandarins are 3.50-4.50 dirhams (about 30- 40 cents) a kg and strawberries 6 dirhams (50 cents) per 250g.  I just don't think our haggling skills are up to it yet!

We also notice a large Police presence wherever we drive.  They often have checkpoints leading up to towns or roundabouts, but show no interest in us so far.  Perhaps there are more checkpoints around Agadir also because of the Fifa tournament.

Late afternoon we headed to Agadir for the game.  We arrived early hoping to get a good park and get into the stadium early.  By being early we were directed to the first carpark, which was a 15-20 minute walk across wasteground to the stadium- failure!  We arrived in the stadium about an hour before the game was due to commence and there was plenty of fans already inside.  The stadium staff were very welcoming, patting Dale on the back when seeing his NZ flag.  There was a wonderful display before kick off with youngsters parading in the uniforms of all teams at the competition, adults singing and playing instruments and balloons flying in the air.  There was a minutes silence for Nelson Mandela, which consisted of the fans chanting.  One end of the stadium (5-10,000 of the 35,000 crowd) were all given a coloured card.  When this was held up it spelt out 'Raja' the Moroccan team, and when turned over spelt '1949'.  It was an awesome sight!

Agadir Stadium

Our tickets!

The two competing teams flags

Balloons released before the match

Raja Casablanca were first to score and the crowd literally went wild.  Auckland however equalised in the second half which subdued the crowd, and we went wild!  Unfortunately for us Raja scored in extra time, the final score 2-1.  I thought we played very well, and should be proud of our performance.
Many of the Moroccan fans were intrigued by us and came over to talk to us and to take photos with us.  These mostly young men were so friendly and excited it was fantastic to talk to them and share the experience.  A fan gave us his Raja flag which we carried out the stadium with our NZ flag, stopping often for even more photos!  Going to a football match in Morocco, where they are so passionate the game was an experience I won't forget.

After the game we headed back to Taghazout and appear to wake the car park guardian up as he appears weary eyed to collect our 20 dirhams.  We broke our rule about driving at night in Morocco, but it is mostly dual carriageway and lit, apart from the last 5 kilometres or so.  In Morocco if you are travelling under 20 km/hr ie. on a bike or donkey, you aren't required by law to carry lights.  There are also pedestrians on the roadside as well, hence we prefer not to drive at night.

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

Morocco - Moulay Bousselham

Nicky:  Destination Morocco today, we woke at 7am on Sunday morning, and headed to the ferry terminal at 8am, ready for the 10am ferry.  We weren't sure what time we needed to be at the terminal so thought we would be on the safe side and arrive early.  And we were first in line for the ferry!  There were no lanes for us to line up in, so it was a little confusing, especially as they were loading another ferry as we reached the dock.  A while later we were able to board.  The ferry was large and it wasn't busy.  Surprisingly (considering how many we were parked with the night before) we only saw 2 or 3 other motorhomes board with us.  The ferry left about 20 minutes late, but made up some time.  Our first task to complete once we boarded was to hand in our immigration cards and to get our passports stamped.  We waited for the line to die down and then joined in.  I was a little worried whether we had filled it in the form correctly, but we were fine.  We spent the rest of the journey on the outside deck and inside in the lounge.

We must have arrived about midday, but I was too focused on the knot in my stomach to know the time.  We left the ferry without incident, stopping for the Police to check we had our passports stamped, and continued on to the vehicle importation part of the process.  We had completed a 3 part form before boarding, which the Police signed and took a copy of.  We waited for a while, then a Customs man poked his head into the van, asked if we had any guns and bid us farewell.  What was also of interest at this point was the number of loaded up vehicles.  We had two couples in a small car next to us, obviously going on the camping holiday as we could only just make out the two in the back behind sleeping mats and pillows.  On the other side was a vehicle loaded up on top and inside, which was sitting so low, he could have been driving on his rims.  He precariously passed us later on the motorway.  The Tanger Med port we used, is a new port and we thought very efficiently run.  There are no touts offering help inside the port, which is great as we found the whole process able to be done without this assistance anyway.

We had exchanged some euros into dirhams when we bought our tickets in Spain but needed some more cash, so Dale used the ATM just outside the port.  Here I felt a bit uneasy, and there was a tout that followed Dale back to the car and then peered at us through one of the vans windows until I shut the curtain on him.  We then quickly hit the road to be away from that.  Another benefit of Tanger Med port is that it comes right out onto the motorway.  The motorway is a two laned European standard road which is comforting when you have just arrived.

We had a few destinations in mind, but we settled on the town of Moulay Bousselham.  Leading up to our trip we had read online blogs and had written down useful advice, especially recommended campsites.  We drove about 2-3 hours along the toll motorway to Moulay Bousselham, stopping for petrol and lunch (at the petrol station- no beggars/touts yay) on the way.  The petrol was pumped for us and we paid direct to the attendant, not in the shop.

Moulay Bousselham is a charming village set on a lagoon, known for bird watching.  Local fisherman go out in boats, and there is restaurants lining the street up on the hill overlooking the lagoon.  There are two campsites there.  We chose the one right on the lagoon.  The owner was very friendly, and charged 80 dirhams (7.10 euro) a night.  By mid afternoon all the lagoon side spots were taken, so we parked hoping to pick up the wifi signal from the restaurant instead!

We crashed that night and spent the next 2 days relaxing.  The following day several vans left and we moved to a lagoon side spot.  An Austrian couple moved next to us, they were on their way back home after spending several weeks in Morocco.  We also met two British couples:  Helen and Tony, who have lived previously in Africa and hope to spend up to 4-5 months in Morocco, and Jane and Ian, from Devon who will spend around 3 months here.  We had planned to make our stay 2 nights, but after a drinks invitation we decided, why not? lets stay another night, as I don't think either of us were ready to leave.

Another highlight of Moulay Bousselham was our birdwatching trip out on the lagoon.  Many guides and sellers frequent the campsite or the fence that borders the lagoon and campsite, and Dale talked to Hassan one morning about going out on the water.  Hassan has been guiding since the late nineties and has very good English, he also knows what he is talking about when it comes to birds.  We decided on 100 dirhams (8.90 euros) for an hour, which quickly turned into two, when Hassan assured us we wouldn't be able to see all the birds in one hour (suckers, but he was right)!  It was an enjoyable trip seeing the birds, spending time on the lagoon and learning a little about Hassan's life.  During our stay we also visited the town, which is accessed by a large set of steps up from the campsite.  The main street is lined with cafes and restaurants and everyone was haggling for our business.  We thought a small town like this was probably a good place to get used to this aspect of the culture here, but in the week that followed it turned out we were approached the most in Moulay Bousselham.

Southern Spain Part 2

In the morning we drove through Granada to the Alhambra.  The Moors remained in control of Granada until late in the 15th Century and the Alhambra was the emirs palace and fortress.  It is one of Spains main tourist attractions and fairly expensive but I must say it was one of the top places I have seen on our trip.  The site has so many different aspects, archaeologically excavated foundations, intact defensive walls and towers, restored and preserved palaces, and grounds and gardens fit for rulers.  They have a maximum 8000 visitors into the Muslim palaces (the main feature) per day so in high season that is something to be wary of.  I tried to follow the rough guides recommendation on how to manage your visit to the Alhambra.  Your ticket allows you entrance to several discrete ticket only areas and you have a timed ticket for the palaces.  So it was first to the fortress area at the opposite end from the entrance, this is mainly foundations but you can go on the walls and towers that are still there and it provides excellent views over Granada.  From here it was time to queue for the palaces as my time was 11am.  The 3 palaces are amazing examples of Islamic art from the 14 and 15th centuries, there is plaster-work the like of which I've near seen before.  This plaster-work although it looks amazing was actually the Islamic rulers equivalent of hanging curtains or tapestries and was something that was intended to be replaced.  You can see this in the wear and tear in areas that visitors can touch/bump into even though you mustn't touch.  One eager Asian tourist was stopped from touching a column, the staff were taking it seriously which was good since it is a national treasure. Then I checked out one of the museums before heading across to the Gardenlife and Summer Palace.

We left Granada mid afternoon and drove south to the coast and a town called Salobrena.  It was another picturesque white washed village atop a hill with a 16th century castle.  We found an area for the night where roughly 20 other motorhomes were parked up.  The most common number plates seemed to be French, German and GB.  We felt we were in a safe spot with so many motorhomers about so we went for a late afternoon walk through the town.  It was extremely hilly but we were rewarded with beautiful views of farmland (the area is known for growing sugarcane), the village and some seaside resorts.  That night we slept soundly and it was remarkably warm overnight.  It also rained lightly, the first time since Barcelona and we are enjoying the better weather now we have reached the south.

The next day we continued west to a town called Almunecar.  It was a happening town with seaside resorts, bazaar shops and some interesting monuments.  There has been Roman settlement here and there is an excarvated fish salting plant and the remains of an aqueduct in town.  There is also a Roman built Castle (later improved on by the Moors in the middle ages) and a pleasant botanic gardens.

That afternoon we continued west along the motorway past Malaga, stopping in Fuengirola for the night.  In the morning we each had a walk along the beachfront promenade to the castle and watched a digger clearing out sand, opening the rivermouth and drains to the sea.  We drove through Marbella and stopped at a resort complex which had excavated Roman villa remains and a watchtower.

Through some help of the guidebook we decided that we would head inland.  The first town we stopped in was Casares.  We parked at a viewpoint and got amazing shots of the whitewashed houses, church and castle.

We continued on to Gaucin.  It was equally attractive and we decided that we would take turns to look at the castle there.  Again the villages roads are extremely narrow and we rather foolishly (Dale: no, bravely) decided to drive up to the castle, passing two bemused Police officers on the way.  We parked just short of the castle and both took in the views. To leave the village we had a tight bend to negotiate, which went fine.  What was more difficult was the narrow roads with parked cars.  At one point Dale stopped to let a woman and pram pass, as he thought he would otherwise clean her up with the wing mirror.  I ended up getting out and running ahead to check we were not going to hit any cars, which I felt much better about doing compared to staying in the van, where I had less visibility.  We, as well as the cars and pedestrians made it out unscathed.

The next day was our final day in Spain and consisted of doing our last preparations for Morocco.  We made our way to a free water and dump point in the morning, where we had showers and filled up with water.  We did make a stop in La Linea for lunch, not far from the border crossing with Gibraltar.  We had already decided that we wouldn't cross over to Gibraltar as we didn't want to inflict another unnecessary border crossing on ourselves and we didn't felt safe leaving the van unattended (La Linea is a particularly bad spot for car crime).  We found the La Linea area very busy and not overly pleasant.  Our next job was to fill the LPG tank which took us up to a station near Los Barrios (only bottles are available in Morocco and we will use a combination of these and the tank).  We then arrived in Algeciras where we would take the ferry from the following morning.  We went to a car parking area which had two supermarkets, McDonalds, a hardware store and more.  It is a popular spot for motorhomes to stop, as they can fill their cupboards and buy ferry tickets before they sail.  We spent the afternoon buying our ferry tickets and extra food and nervously and excitedly anticipating our crossing in the morning.