Wednesday was our wedding anniversary. We went out horseriding for
the day at a new place that has opened just outside Taroudant. What a lovely day I had - and I think Mohamed enjoyed himself as well. The horses were Berber Arab stallions, very well looked after. I set out on a four year old chestnut called Aloueen - which means "God Help You" (yes I know - it put me off a bit as well but actually this is a common term used almost like a blessing in Morocco - the sort of thing you would say if someone walked past carrying a heavy bag or was about to start a major task). He had a beautiful trot and a nice smooth canter but was rather full of energy and shook his head a lot and tried to buck me off at one point when I was holding him back in canter. I didn't want to overtake Mohamed - as this was only his 2nd time riding.
Aloueen also at one point decided that a sandy part of the track was the perfect place to get down and roll! I thought at first he was just trying to grab a bite to eat - and was not at all ready for him to go down onto the ground. I managed to get my leg out of the stirrup and as I put one hand on the ground to try and get myself away from under him he realised that he had me on his back and had better get back up. Luckily I managed to hang on!
Lascen, our guide, made me swap with him so for the rest of the ride I was on Kalel - a very nice dark dapple grey. We rode through fields of ripe barley, along little tracks and dirt roads till we came to a small village at the start of the High Atlas and then turned back towards Taroudant. They do run overnight treks into the hills... a definite for a trip sometime - maybe when I have some horseriding visitors! You can see that although things are getting dry, there are still wild flowers growing along the tracks. It would have been truly lovely just after the rains earlier this year.
So I can just about sit down and walk normally again now.... I must try and get some more exercise this year.
We have a house full of visitors again... Mohamed's mother and two of his cousins. She had been staying with her brother for a week and the girls (one from her sister and one from her brother) came back with her to visit Aicha and have a look round Taroudant.
Things are just getting back to normal following a huge transport strike. Morocco has a really awful road safety record - in 2000 there were 10 fatalities a day from RTA - 1996 figures show that there were 20 deaths per 10000 vehicles compared with 1.5 in the UK. The figures have only gone up since 2000. So the new minister for transport is trying various means to improve the situation. He has tried education campaigns and is now looking at implementing stricter fines and sentences for people speeding or driving under the influence of alcohol (yes it does happen).
The problem with this is twofold (or is it threefold?).
Moroccans do not generally respect the LAW - there is a deeply ingrained belief that you only need to obey traffic law if there is a policeman watching. This is only reinforced by the corrupt and lazy police force. The increase in the level of fines just means that you have to pay more corruption to the police when you are caught... and so the average moroccan is at a big disadvantage.
Morocco is a poor country. Most people subsist on wages that allow them to keep a roof over their head and food in their family's mouths. People do not have the cash to buy anything other than the minimum daily requirements, the smallest packet of washing powder, single helpings of cheese or sachets of shampoo - they do not have extra money to buy in bulk never mind save for holidays etc.
As a country it gets by because fresh food is cheap. As a developing country it is trying to expand its export market and here the countryside is full of orange trees and polytunnels growing courgettes and aubergines, tomatoes, bananas etc etc. To be able to sell to the west, it needs to keep the price of production down.... so for example in order to keep the cost of oranges down, the factories pay trucks like ours to transport loads that are in fact twice the legal limit for loading (we carry 16 ton when we should only load 8!) If we carried less we would only get half the price and that would only cover fuel and driver costs and we would go out of business. So everyone overloads... and as you pass the frequent police stops you just hand over 10 or 20 or 30 dirham. With this new law we would have to pay 100 or 200 or 400 dirham just to keep on the road.... so no profit in the trip and the reason for the strike.
What is the answer? The factories should pay twice the price for the loads..... but then will Tesco and Asda continue to buy oranges from Morocco if the price goes up?
I said threefold but maybe I should have said fourfold or more .... the other elements are that most Moroccans have not passed a real driving test - pay the right level of corruption and you are guaranteed to pass. So the standard of driving is not high..... and then there is the fatalistic approach to life in general. Inshallah!
