Back on Track

We have had a couple of adventures in the last week.

Being fully recovered from my scorpion sting I set out with Ruby to see if I could find my way round the back of the hill to the north so that I could walk back home along “horse valley”. We set off down the road from the house – with Snitch in tow, only to get to the corner and discover that Marmela was also with us. I know she would not come the distance with us and I feel anxious about abandoning her somewhere unknown so I picked her up and carried her back home, and then quickly ran back down the hill, this time making a clean getaway. Remember the last time I actively stopped her from coming with me on a walk I got stung by a scorpion.

Well we got across the river and were just heading up to the start of the climb to the pass behind Wolf Peak when I noticed Ruby scoping something in the bushes. I stopped to have a look at what she was looking at and then heard a hissing sound, and realised I had walked within 2 feet of a big red Moorish Viper. These are fairly rare and even more rarely seen – famous in the snake world because of the huge range of colours that they come in. I did not know for certain that that was what it was but was pretty sure and when I got home I looked it up and confirmed it with my herpetologist contact (he was really excited!). It is venomous and I was pretty anxious about Ruby (and Snitch) so I took a few photos and then left it alone.



Anyway we continued our walk, up over the pass between Wolf Peak and K9 and then round the back of the long low Horse Hill. I was feeling pretty pleased with myself as I followed a little track over the shoulder at the northern end and could see the track that we had walked along the week before..... and they say pride comes before a fall. The track petered out, the dogs disappeared off after birds or squirrels and I slipped on some loose stones and as I fell, saw this inconveniently placed, toblerone shaped rock getting closer to my head. All my previous thoughts of “what would happen if I fell and hit my head” suddenly came rushing back to me as I fell and hit my head. First thought was (ok after ouch!) –“well at least I didn’t lose consciousness”. I put my hand up and felt a golf ball sized lump appearing on my temple, but no blood and no blurry vision. So I sat for a minute feeling relieved and then got back to my feet and warily shuffled down the hill to the safety of the valley track. Made it home without any major mishaps... but the moral of the story is: if Marmela wants to come for a walk – then let her (Mohamed says I have to do it 3 times to prove it – but I don’t feel like taking the risk). Oh and I really do need to get some better walking shoes.

Sunday we went in to Inzegane and I bought some suitable footwear – well they will do till I can locate my walking boots somewhere in the UK (if they are in your roofspace or garage please let me know!).

I have done a couple of short walks to break them in and no blisters so far. We saw this portal to an alternate dimension while out... but it disappeared as I walked towards it so I didn’t go through.



On Sunday morning, I went back up the Glen (decided to call this Stollie’s Glen) and round Wolf Peak with the intention of photographing the place where I saw the viper for Gabri (Spanish herpetologist) but just as we came up to the spot I met a little boy with a ground squirrel on a string. He had trapped it and was carrying it about – I think for bait to trap more. I asked him if he would let it go but he said he gets money for them. The squirrel actually seemed quite calm (well as calm as jumpy little critters ever seem) and I guess that money is important for families here. I also could not help but admire the boy’s skill in setting the traps and catching them. Anyway completely forgot about taking photographs.

Today Marmela tagged along again. My aim had been to go back and take a photo of where (on the hillside not on the body!) I got stung by the scorpion and I decided to persevere as it was not so far from home if Marmela decided she didn’t want to come all the way. We were actually having a nice little walk, last rays of warmth from the sun and lots and lots of wild narcissus. Ruby and Snitch were ranging up ahead and Marmela was trotting along behind me.

Then all of a sudden there was tremendous rumpus and a small herd of wild pig appeared from the bushes above us, crossed the path about 10 feet from where I was standing and shot off down the hill with Snitch and Ruby in pursuit. Luckily I had just taken a picture of Marmela so had my camera in my hands and managed to get a few shots of them careering down the hillside.



Of course all that was too much excitement for Marmela who turned tail and ran back down the path. We – me and eventually the dogs – followed her back and then turned down the track which we call Marmela’s variation (as it is the walk we usually do when she has tagged along)... and all eventually all got home safely – even though we met a herd of goats, their goatherd and a puppy.

I have started my map making project – screenshots from google earth printed out and glued together and now I am going to trace out the main geography and add the names.... as you may have noticed I have started naming things. It makes it easier to describe where I have been – or for safety where I am going (though to be honest I am not that confident in Mohamed’s map reading ability) just in case I do hit my head again and this time lose consciousness..... Anyway when it is done I will try and get it scanned and post it here for your reference (not that I think you don’t all have a life or anything! But just in case you are interested).

I have finished reading my birthday reading, RL Stevenson’s Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes (which I haven’t read before but really enjoyed) and the Amateur Emigrant which led me on to the Silverado Squatters and then to On the Road. I haven’t read On the Road for years and years – possibly not since I first read it when I was 17... and I have to say I really enjoyed it (putting aside the terrible male chauvinism). There was a part at the start that really struck me as so right (and makes me wonder how much I was influenced by this book) “... the only people for me are ... the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing...”. I have to say that I have no interest in the type of people who just yawn and say common place things - not that we don’t all yawn at times or say common place things at times.... but with some people (I can think of some...not any of you dear readers of course) that is all they do.

Eh me is that the time? (yawns) I really must go and get the cat’s dinner sorted.
bye

For Stollie

I just heard some really sad news from friends back home, their dog Stollie has just died. Stollie was a great little dog, part Jack Russell, part collie and all character.

I have very happy memories of Stollie. When she was younger she used to jump into my arms when I visited and with one paw on each shoulder tell me just how glad she was to see me - even if she had just seen me 10 minutes earlier.

Stollie owned the ground she walked on, was equally happy at home or out and about. A couple of times she came to stay with me and would walk my fields with perfect confidence but also behaved exquisitely with my cats... the perfect house guest.




I guess the local postie will feel safer now, but I think the world was a better place with her in it and, for a little dog she leaves a big gap.

A Sting in the Tail

Yesterday I was in Agadir for a while and got home a little late – so my walk with Ruby was a bit late. We headed off up to the top of the hill above Ouikiran, having out-manoeuvred Marmela, and I was looking forward to watching a spectacular sunset. Just before the topmost point there is a part where I have to climb up and squeeze between two large rocks. I was just doing this when I felt a sharp sting in my derriere. As soon as I was back on solid ground I had a look to see what had got me... no sign of anything. Meanwhile the pain was increasing incrementally and I was starting to feel some strange sensations in my leg.

So trying to keep calm, searching through my memories of first aid training etc I went straight back home. Had a look in the mirror and couldn’t really see anything apart from a bit of redness. I put some anti-histamine cream on... but the pain was getting worse and by this time I was also feeling pins and needles and a growing numbness in my teeth, lips and tongue. I went online and checked out the symptoms for Scorpion sting... and there they were – described exactly as I was feeling them and advising immediate medical attention. Mohamed was not convinced – I think he thought if I had been stung by a scorpion I should still be lying writhing on the hillside. Anyway I managed (I will leave you to imagine how) to convince him that he should drive me to Agadir and off we went.

When we got to the local hospital accident and emergency unit they had a look at it, asked some questions and then prescribed me some painkillers. Apparently they normally monitor for up to 6 hours to make sure there are no problems with breathing, but scorpion stings are rarely dangerous for adults (children and old people have to watch out!). Anyway I got sent home to monitor my symptoms myself.

It was all a bit weird, I have never had neurotoxins in my system before: as well as extreme pain (think wasp sting x 1500) at the site of the sting, numbness and pins and needles in teeth, lips and tongue and then hands and feet there were cold sweats followed by hot sweats, feelings of nausea, my feet feeling like lumps of lead and a strange inability to keep my knees straight when standing.

So it is still sore where I got stung, but apart from a lingering tingling at the tip of my tongue and my lips and general spaceyness from painkillers and lack of sleep, there doesn’t seem to be any other side affects... and I am still here to tell the tale.

And it is all my fault for not taking Marmela with me – she has tagged along for the last 3 days and really I could have let her come last night since we were not going to be out for a long walk. If I had let her come along we would have gone for a different walk and I wouldn’t have met the scorpion (or it wouldn’t have met me since I didn’t actually see it) and I wouldn’t have had the night I had. But I suppose it had to happen some time and at least now I know what to expect!

After Goya

sorry for the gap

I really hadn't realised how much time had passed since I last blogged. I just haven't been writing very much. We passed the Eid at Ait Iazza as usual and as usual I now have a freezer full of bits of lamb.

When I came back I came down with a bit of a cold and spent 1 day in bed feeling miserable and quite a few days feeling only half on. It has taken me a while to get back to full walking fitness - but I am starting to feel more energised.

Then it rained.... lots and lots of rain over 3 or 4 days - and yes we had leaks in the house. We have arranged for someone to come round this weekend and put an extra layer of cement on the floors upstairs as there is more rain forecast next weekend. Mohamed has started negotiations again about getting permission for the roof. fingers crossed.

Even when it wasn't actually bucketing down with rain the river was so full that Ruby and I were stuck on this side of the hill for walks. I went out and bought some waterproof trousers and a jacket - bright yellow - though no luck so far getting suitable footwear. I will keep looking though.... and now we are back to blue skies and the river has subsided so I am thinking of heading over the river to try and find a new route. Just before the cold and the rain I set off past the little wooded glen along the path that seems to lead to the next village to the North West. This was the valley that I could imagine riding a horse along - and I wasn't disappointed. It was a lovely track and a nice walk. I had hoped to find my way round the hill to make it a circular route but had to come back the way I went. I did do a little bit of exploring and round the side of Wolf Hill I found where there might be a track that goes the way I want. I had both dogs (Itchy and Ruby) with me and they had a great time running after birds etc - until we got close to Wolf Hill, when they suddenly became much quieter, sticking close to my side and constantly sniffing the air.

We had only just made it home, and it was just getting dark, when I heard the yowling of "wolves" in the hills we had just left behind.

I had emailed wolf.org (an american organisation) to ask if they thought it possible that there were wolves in the Atlas Mountains. They said it was not impossible that I had seen a wolf - but improbable. The nearest known wolves are in Egypt though they do travel long distances..... They then went on to say that maybe it had been a pet wolf or a wolf-like pet dog... well that just shows how little they know about Morocco. Ruby is the only pet dog in these mountains - all the rest have to work for their living... and the local dogs are not very wolvish - all fairly similar to Ruby.... and I would think it quite improbable that you would see a wolf in America. So until I see one again the position is still in doubt - though I am giving the locals the benefit of the doubt.

I just heard from the Spanish herpetologist who advised me about the snakes - he is setting up a Moroccan herpetofauna website and wants to use my photos!

and that is all the news from me. Will try and get more photos posted

fox

It seems I did get a shot of the fox after all .... see if you can spot it!

Some pictures

I am just taking advantage of a fastish connection to get some pictures loaded.

a room with a view...



Taarzhout



beehives


wild narcissus


Camels


Prickly and Pricklier


This is Ruby running back to see what is taking me so long!



and I think that is all I am going to get done today!

more walks

There are camels in the valley again,  They seem to come in every couple of days to fill up with water from the village aqueduct and the best place for watering a herd of camels is just opposite our house.  So I get a ringside view of the camels.

I am trying to post some pictures but they just seem to load and load.....and never appear

Yesterday Ruby and I walked along the aqueduct then crossed the river and climbed the main path up to Taarzhout, and then round the back of our hill home.  Just as we got to near home I spotted something moving on the hillside which I thought at first was Ruby, but then since Ruby chose that moment to appear in the bushes behind me I looked again and saw it was in fact a fox.   Sadly by the time I had fumbled for my camera it had disappeared, though Ruby picked up the scent and followed it up the hill into the boulders that cover the top.  So I am more convinced than ever that what I saw before was a wolf.  We have walked round to the same track at the back of Wolf Hill since then - this time little Snitch, who had come with us (or Itchy since she always used to visit with her brother Scratchy or Snatch) ran off up the track with absolutely no fear, though Ruby stayed close to my side till we had left that part of the hill well behind us.  And Mohamed reminded me that at Taroudant Tannery they have some wolf furs for sale....

At the weekend we went over to Ait Iazza for young Soufian's circumcision party.... poor little boy.  I now know why all Moroccan boys love their mummy so much - it is their dad who holds them down while they are cut!

On Friday we went on our most ambitious walk so far and managed a route that I had looked at and wondered about, coming closer to the top of the nearby ridge and also finding another hilltop building, this time made of stones...... pictures will come.  I have found that like the red kasbah this building could be seen from the house - but unless you know what you are looking for it is really hard to distinguish what is a natural rock formation from what is a man-made rock structure.

This countryside is intricate and deceptive.  The hills or hillocks near us appear to join together but are mostly all quite separate with little valleys in between that only appear from certain viewpoints.  The hillsides are covered in argan trees that could be bush sized or tree sized... so scale and distance is always hard to judge and as I have said sometimes the rock formations appear man made when they are natural and vice-versa.  I have had to learn to walk in a new way... always watching where I put my feet.  A moment's distraction and you are guaranteed to stand on a wobbly stone or a patch of loose sand and end up on your backside.  I am always conscious of what a particular track uphill may be like to come back down.... and on one occasion had to abandon an uphill track and slide back down it on my backside (not helped by Ruby who couldn't work out what the problem was) and find myself grading walks.. (this one for Dad, this one maybe not!).  But I can't believe how lucky I am to have found such great walking countryside just outside my back door and with almost infinite variety.

Our only really miserable walk was in the pouring rain because the earth turned to sticky clay that weighed my feet down and made downhill stretches really really dodgy.... the upside of this walk was coming back along the river (starting to fill with water) and seeing how all the multi-coloured rocks actually gained more colour with the rain.  I swear I saw a rock with cyan and magenta!  However I then got distracted by something, slipped in the mud and hurt my hand on landing.... and am still suffering a little from that.

The cats are all fine, sometimes coming with us on walks.... and sometimes not.  It is nice when they come - though a bit limiting as I don't like to take them too far out of their comfort zone.

Mohamed has finally started his university course....

and that is all the news

Close encounters of the porcine

I have seen this little family a few times....

where the wild things are

Yesterday Ruby and I set out to walk some of the tracks I explored on Sunday, only walking in the opposite direction. We had reached the back of hill number 3 and I was looking up at the higher peaks behind and the argan trees in the little valleys, thinking to myself that if I was very quiet I might see a wild boar or two.

Ruby had been running ahead, up and down the hill seeing if she could find any ground squirrels but all of a sudden I heard her galloping down a track to suddenly appear in front of me. Hackles up, she immediately turned round and stared back the way she came. I looked up the track and there was a wolf looking back at me! Ruby immediately started to bark and the wolf turned tail and ran before I had time to take in anything more than it's grey face and bright eyes. I am sure it was a wolf and not a fox or a feral dog.... it was larger than the foxes we have seen and the wrong colour. It was about Ruby's size but as I say it was all too quick for me to see much more than the face.

Ruby's hackles stayed up for a good half hour and she kept her eye on the hillside till we were well on our way back down the valley. It is good to know that she would come back to me when under threat... though whether it was to offer or get protection I don't know. I think the wolf was just as surprised to see me as I was to see it.... it was that time of day when most Moroccans are on their way home with the goats or settling in to their second breakfast of the day.

I am not having any luck posting photos - not that I have any of the wolf - but I will try and get some online later.

see, its not just me!

"The air of the unforeseen blows on one from the roadless passes of the Atlas"

From Edith Wharton's book (also named) "In Morocco" written about her travels in 1917.

boldy going

I think I will have to rename this blog "Walking in Morocco", but Ruby and I are enjoying ourselves so much on our walks.

On Friday we set off to climb the nearest hill to the east of us. We crossed the river bed and then followed quite a wide track as it went round the shoulder of the hill and found ourselves in a lovely little valley full of argan trees and GRASS!!! Ok the grass is quite dry and hay-like at the moment but it must be really lovely in February and March. Anyway I thought I should get to a highspot to get my bearings so I headed up the hill and there I found the walls of an old ruined kasbah built around the hilltop! I guess everyone and their donkey in the village knows about it but it was a brand new and exciting discovery for me. I don't know how old it is but the walls are made the same way that the walls of Taroudannt are built, from compressed slabs of earth. Moroccans have been building large structures like this for over 10 centuries. I found two sides and two square towers at diagonally opposite corners and possibly the places where the third and fourth tower were. I could also find the outlines and wall foundations of at least one stone house built just below the Kasbah. Mohamed says that the villagers talk of houses built by the "Berrrd Kheiss" - Portuguese, who were here abouts in the early 1700's, to the west of the village but I don't know if they specifically mean the kasbah (ok Mohamed is also sceptical that it is a kasbah... but he hasn't seen it yet.) BTW when I got home and looked I could actually see one of the kasbah walls from our house - just hadn't recognised it for what it was.

From the top looking over the river you get a nice and different view of the village and the valley, to the North the hills rising higher and to the east (?) there is a large wooded valley with more hills surrounding... I started for the first time to think about taking a horse out! (I also realise that I am possibly getting my north south east and west a bit muddled.... must get a map.)

Yesterday I went out in the same direction and climbed the two peaklets to the north of the Kasbah - actually all part of the same hill, and on my way back found a nice track that looks like it heads off up the first big hill in the range. I think I might find my way up there next weekend.

I always come back from these walks looking as if I have been dragged backwards through a hedge - which is quite incorrect as I usually plunge through them head first - and covered in scratches. Most of the tracks I follow are made by goats and their goatherders... sometimes with a donkey and sometimes just by goats. As the tracks wind through (and sometimes under) argan trees (prickly), thorn bushes (organic barbed wire) and other just normally prickly plants, it would be a miracle if I didn't get scratched.

We saw a spectacular sunset... though Ruby gets very impatient with me if I sit for too long - it is almost as if she thinks something bad will happen if we stop walking... and when the full moon came up yesterday it was a bright orange. As we walked back home after seeing the sunset I heard the wolves up in the mountains calling to each other. Ruby, thank goodness, was quite unaffected by this.

I will take my camera and post some photos soon.

another year

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes and gifts..... I went along to our postbox in Amskroud yesterday and found some nice surprises. It was the first time I had been along to check the box and was surprised to find that the postboxes are all handmade wooden boxes. Not all the promised packages have arrived - yet so I have more goodies to look forward to.

This year Mohamed had got me a nice Moroccan tiled table and two chairs so that I can sit on the terrace or in the patio and have my breakfast (or will when it is all finished)... When we went along to collect we found that the table top was ready but not the base or the chairs so I will have to wait a while before I can sit down to breakfast.

We had lunch at the port and then went along to the University to see if we could find out anything about Mohamed's course... but still no news. It seems a bit shambolic!

Walking the map

I have settled into a new routine which involves getting up feeding all the animals, working for a bit, having breakfast, work, lunch, work and then at around 4.30 heading out for a walk with Ruby.

If we manage to get away on our own we are free to range further but if one of the cats catches us we have to keep fairly close to the house. Yesterday I didn't spot Marmela at my heels until we were almost right down at the river and though she came over the river with us she started getting cross and anxious so we turned back and walked along the river bed with her. (nb when I say river I mean river bed... although in some parts there is a trickle of water, it is mostly dry) So when we are in the mood for a long walk we have to tiptoe out of the front door and then sprint along the road till we know we are free of company!

We have been exploring the hills on this side of the valley, walking up stream along the river bed and also along the aqueduct. We generally stick to the tracks - otherwise we either get stopped by someone's thorn hedge (there is some cultivation goes on) or end up climbing up, or down, cliffs.

The day before yesterday I spotted a wild pig with 3 little piglets heading down the hill towards us.... but someone came along the road and scared it off before it got too close. Of course I didn't have my camera with me. The hills are full of game birds - quail I think - and ground squirrels and Ruby is always so sure she is going to catch one. We also see a lot of lizards and once two scorpion and an eagle but no snakes, foxes, rabbits or wolves (so far) - and I know they are out there!

From just above our house a track runs westward along the hillside to the next village Taarzhout (actually a subset of Ouikiran) which is built along the top of the hill and appears to be without road access. The houses are perched on the hill, in some cases built into the hill with footpaths worn in the rock and accessible only by donkey or foot. In fact a new road was put in last year, though it is tucked round the far side of the hill so I haven't come across it yet. Halfway along the hill, in a little pass between two peaks is a ruined house, a really big house actually. It is in a great spot but abandoned. I wonder what happened to the people who lived there.

View Larger Map

Googlemaps looks like it has been updated in the last year and you can just about make out where we cleared the ground to build our house - more or less dead centre of the map... and you can see the tracks that Ruby and I follow on our walks. I would love to get my hands on a good map of the area - especially as I am starting to look at the hills on the other side of the valley and Mohamed thinks there are tracks that go through the mountains to Immouzer (of the waterfalls) which seems possible if a bit of a long walk. Though I think before I tackle the hills I need to get some proper footwear - come the spring I will have to think about wet weather gear as well... I expect Ruby will still want to walk whatever the weather.

The ground is very stony and any time I look up to see the view I inevitably stumble... in this countryside it does not pay to let your attention wonder. Keeping my eyes on the ground does mean that I do spot fossils.... and there are lots. I have picked up a few rather nice bits - though nothing compared to the specimens that you see for sale at the roadside in the mountains - and some I have found have been too big to carry home. Although walking along the river bed is really hard work I love the colours of the boulders, everything from white, yellow, orange, pink, red, blue grey to black... there is a really amazing mix of geology. Ruby likes the river bed best as well as there are a few squirrel nests in amongst the boulders. When we want an easy walk we head along aqueduct. There is quite a good track alongside it most of the way into the valley and there are lots of trees, palm trees and even grass growing - and it is just a gentle slope!

Happy Birthday Katharine!

We have had a return to horribly hot weather again after a week of just hot weather and I had to sleep on the roof for a couple of nights.

Yesterday Ruby and I went for a long walk, heading upstream along the river bed,



then following the village aqueduct to the source,

then heading vertically up the hill onto the road and down to the fresh water spring... where I had hoped to meet Mohamed and the car. No luck there and I had walked all the way back along the road till I was just opposite the house when I saw the car heading off down the hill...



and since I hadn't taken my house keys with me, we had to wait for Mohamed and go back to the spring with him.



He had gone to collect Francois - the other foreigner in the village, to show him where the fresh water spring was. Francois has been living in the village for about 2 years, building a house into the side of the hill, but I think he is a little lonely. He is a composer - I am looking forward to hearing some of his music sometime.

There was, surprisingly, still some pools of water along the river, full of little frogs and late tadpoles and beautiful orange and blue dragonflies. Also (much to Ruby's delight) lots of ground squirrels and really pretty, plump quail. On the way back home we saw a whole family of squirrels sitting in the evening sun... but they were too far away and too quick for any decent photos.

Ruby and Mohamed have been out picking wild thornberries.... they have a strangely sweet woody flavour... not revolting but, for me, not very moreish - Ruby and Mohamed (and other moroccans) are quite addicted to them. The thornbushes are quite awesome though - infinitely more superior in stopping power and at inflicting wounds than the man made mimic - barbed wire!

I found this little chap (ess?) the other day... and I saw a Chameleon while out for a walk last week.



Ruby and I are enjoying our walks, she is getting more confident and has (I think) decided that she is my dog.

Mohamed has managed to enroll at the university in Agadir to study English Literature.... though I am not sure exactly what the syllabus is going to be - I think the first year is fairly general and includes french and arabic studies. I am looking forward to getting access to the library!! He is also picking up some work repairing and reformatting pc's and satellite receivers.

.... and that is all the news.

Happy Birthday Kat!

Ruby's Story

Mohamed was talking to one of the locals who helped with our building work yesterday. Ruby went out with him and ran up to the neighbour as if she knew him. He recognised her and told Mohamed what he knew about her background.

On the hillside to the north of the village, there is a collection of beehives and a little tent where the men sleep when they are working with the hives. Our neighbour spends quite a bit of time there with his bees. Some men from a neighbouring village took Ruby up there earlier this year and left her there to watch the hives. I suppose she would have been OK as long as she was able to scavenge or hunt food or while there were men in the tent. She (of course) got pregnant and had 8 puppies but this was at the height of the really hot weather that we had. I don’t suppose she had enough milk to feed the puppies and they all died and eventually Ruby had to leave to try and find food…. and that is how she came to us.

The neighbour said that one of men had asked him just last week if he had seen her and he said no, because he knew she was with us and would have a better life with us. (...thinking about it that is quite a big deal - telling a lie during Ramadan! I am really grateful to him - though I suppose it will get round the village grapevine that she is here.) He thinks she is something over a year old.

I think at the moment Ruby believes that she is still their dog but hopefully with time she will forget them. In the meantime I won’t be taking walks in the direction of those hives!



On Friday, the Eid (holiday at the end of Ramadan) we went along the coast to Tagazhout. Ruby was a little bit slathery during the car journey (first time in the car) and we had to stop to give her some fresh air. It was also her first time on the beach (euch it is all wet!) and in a restaurant for lunch (I took some biscuits for her which the cats came and ate – not our cats the restaurant cats). She is wary of traffic and large groups of people but got her confidence walking back along the beach. We drove back to Agadir and had a walk along the corniche (prom, paseo whatever you want to call it) down at the quiet end. She was walking really well on the lead but did not want to go back in the car.



Yesterday we walked up the riverbed for while and saw some striped ground squirrels running up the rocks and about 12 magpies all together.

I am so happy that Ramadan is over. It has been really difficult this year as it was so hot and also the days were longer.

Today is the first day since the end of Ramadan that we have had sunshine in the morning, it has been quite overcast, but this morning I will be having my coffee and croissant sitting on the roof.

Say Hallo to Ruby

So I was out feeding leftovers to my proxy dog last Monday night when I turned around and found the most pitiful little skeleton of a dog standing patiently in the hope that she would be fed.

So of course we took her indoors and tried feeding her. For the first 24 hours, while she would drink, she didn't seem able to eat anything - nothing tempted her. I ended up making a sardine smoothie and forcing it down her throat with a syringe. Little and often is apparently the trick with dogs who have been starved. When I had managed to get that down her I moved on to chicken mashed with rice and slowly she started to eat again. We have now graduated to Pedigree Chum biscuits (though I did have to spend a while teaching her to eat them) and she is slowly gaining weight. Still a long way to go but she no longer looks so much like a cross between a toast rack and a bicycle. We have also managed to get rid of the legions of ticks that were sucking the blood out of her.

Here is a photo of when she first arrived (looking like a pin up for the PDSA)



The cats are not overly impressed but so far there has not been too much trouble. She is behaving almost impeccably. There is a little bit of growling if they walk past while she is eating, which isn't helped by Marmela stealing her biscuits at every opportunity. I am training her not to go into the kitchen so that the cats have their own space while they are eating. In fact she is quite cautious about coming into rooms... though she does come and sit beside me while I am working.

Mohamed has had his heart set on an Alsation puppy which he would then train to do all sorts of amazing tricks as well as guard me from all potential threats. He was not at all keen on keeping this girl, but has relented, bless him.


We have started going for little walks down to the river and back up... so this will be good exercise for me and yesterday I woke up with her name in my head - Ruby.

Yesterday Marmela and Martha came with us. More to keep an eye on me than to keep Ruby company.

Other news.... well only a week left of Ramadan and the weather has cooled down a bit - thanks goodness for both!

Waiting for the new moon....

Two weeks into Ramadan and two weeks to go... it has been pretty hard work this year. Hot weather and no drinks is not a good combination.

I am in a lovely cool internet cafe with a fast connection so I thought I would post some photos.



It is hard work staying awake just now!

Alls Well

Well I managed to find out (via the very helpful European snake experts at euroherp.com) that the snakes I saw were both mostly harmless.... ie they might try to bite but any venom that they have is located at the back of their mouths so they would have to get a really good bite first and secondly it would feel a bit like a wasp sting.

This one is a Malpolon monspessulanus or Montpellier's snake



and this one is a Psammophis schokari or Schokari Sand Racer.



Apparently any dangerous snakes that you could find round here have either been killed or caught and sent to Marakesh. Now all I need to do is convince the rest of the family that any snake that they see is harmless.

I also have a photo of another visitor... cute eh?


My friend Kate is arriving this evening for her now annual holiday in Agadir. I am really looking forward to seeing her and her family.

Catch Up

Hallo.. sorry for the gap. Not a lot happening - well lots of little things.

We went through a really hot spell... accompanied by snakes, scorpions and family visits. It is the time of year when Mohamed's family make their annual trip to Ait Iazza, this year involving stop offs with us - though the news of scorpions and snakes puts some off!

The weather has cooled again thank goodness and it has been a few days now since I saw a snake - though Mohamed found a skin near where we park the car. I will try attaching a photo of the last snake I saw... it was huge! I am still trying to identify it, and it the meantime have been given some stuff to paint across the threshold - apparently the snakes don't like the smell. It smells a bit like it is a mixture of tar and burnt stuff... I don't blame the snakes for not liking the smell - who knows how effective it will be.

We also did a quick trip to Marrakesh... and yes it was a quick trip. The new road is open - dual carriageway all the way. It just took about 2 1/2 hours maybe less if we pick a better exit off the road into Marrakesh, the road does a huge loop all round the city.

and I think that is all my news...hope you are all well out there

close encounters

It was too hot to sleep indoors last night and too many mosquitoes to sleep outdoors! Not much sleep.....

Yesterday we went and got some drinking water and when we arrived found 3 large birds of prey circling around in the sky above the spring. I thought at first they were buzzards but the wings were not quite right... having looked them up I think they might have been Booted Eagles... but not 100% certain and of course I didn't have my camera with me.

So this afternoon I was just about starting to feel alive again, after some restless sleep, when what should come down the stairs but a snake! It was quite a big one - well very long anyway and moving quite quickly. Needless to say Mohamed's mother was all for killing it. I don't think it was a venemous snake but I didn't really want to take any risks of it getting loose in the house - so I opted to contain and remove it. I managed to cover it with a plastic tub and slide something underneath and get it out of the house.... sorry although I thought of it + I didn't stop to take a photograph! I was more worried that Marmela was going to get herself into trouble with it as she wanted to investigate. It certainly wasn't very happy and was hissing a lot but not striking.

I have tried to find out what it was online but without much success. Anyone out there know anything about snakes?

Today's quote "He that has light within his own clear breast May sit in the center, and enjoy bright day: But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts Benighted walks under the mid-day sun; Himself his own dungeon. " reminds me of last week when I was sitting reading Crime and Punishment in the Gendarmerie Royal (with my back to the little holding cell). By coincidence I had been talking about it (C&P) when my Dad was over as being one of the "classics" that I had not yet read. Next time I was in Aswak Asalam (supermarket) there it was - that was the coincidence part!

I have also just finished reading Bad Science by Ben Goldacre. I think that it should be compulsory reading for everyone. Go out and get a copy if you haven't read it already ... or borrow one or look at his website www.badscience.net

I am just about back to where I was last Monday - technology wise that is. The motherboard on my pc died and after looking into how and where and how much to fix it we settled on buying a new 2nd hand pc and then sending off for a new motherboard (haven't actually sent off for the new motherboard yet but will do). It means next time things go belly up I will have a proper back up. So new pc plugged in and we have scrambled through all the unpacked boxes to find keyboards and mice etc and then downloaded the various softwares I need to work with..... as I said I am just about back to normal.

Mother-in-law is here again before the crowds descend on her for the summer. She was driving me crazy the other day when she found a snake in the garden and wanted me to kill it. When I refused she then had to spend all day watching it in case it sneaked into the house and under the bed so it could crawl in and bite her while she was sleeping..... I have looked it up and as far as I can tell it is a totally non-venomouse species. Anyway it looked pretty full up with the lizard it had just eaten so I don't suppose it would be much interested in eating her (well not for a day or two anyway).


Well I have a little bit of work to do and then I must clean the cooker... oh the joys!

Anyway today has been overcast all day. We have had more trouble with the car.... I am seriously thinking of getting it fixed and then selling it and buying an Renault 4 - at least then when it breaks down we will be able to get it fixed anywhere.... and I have very fond memories of driving round the Picos with Malcolm (and Eve and the boys during the holidays).

this week I have been mostly queuing....

I have just spent a week going through the ordeal of renewing my Carte de Sejour... I did actually start a month or so ago by sending Mohamed to the Police Commissary to find out exactly what we needed to provide. He came back with a list of documents which I gathered together. When I went to the Commissary last Friday I felt fairly confident that everything would go smoothly, or at least confident that I had all the required paperwork. But no, I also needed a yellow card from the police in Taroudant transferring me from their jurisdiction.

So on Monday I went to Taroudant and collected my yellow card. I went back to the Police Commissary on Tuesday morning only to have my file thrown (almost literally) back in my face and told to provide copies of our contract of ownership for the land. So Tuesday afternoon, after queuing for hours to get copies of the contract legalised*, we went back to the Police Commissary where the woman then actually looked at what we had provided (remember this was what she had previously told us we needed) and then after finding out where Amskroud is she told us that we needed to go to a different police station - ie the Sherrifs rather than the city police.

By the time we found the correct office for the Sheriff and woke up the sherrif on "guard" we were too late for the Chief who would handle my application (it was just about 5.30pm). So Wednesday morning we turned up and finally got in to see the man in charge. He then gave me his list of requirements... which was mostly what we had already provided but instead of 3 copies he wanted 4 plus one other bit of paper and he gave me a form to complete ... which of course also had to be copied 3 times (though legalised copies were not necessary). We managed to collect all the necessary papers, filled in the form and got the necessary copies legalised and got back to the Gendarmerie around 1.00.... but too late the Chief had gone for a meeting and he did not come back all afternoon.

So this morning we set off again and apart from having to go and get copies of my yellow card I was able to hand over my file and now I don't have to go back till Tuesday to collect my Recipesse.. which along with my passport will serve as my Carte de Sejour until the new card arrives.

Anyway two good things have happened. I won't ever have to go back and deal with the really unpleasant, idle and inefficient woman in the main Police Commissary and the new guy seems to think that my new card will last for 3 years!

* legalised means that you take the original document and the copies and queue up in the local town hall (or equivalent) where they verify the copy by signing, stamping, stamping and signing. If you have just drawn up a contract you also have to legalise the contract by having it stamped and signed and also noted in two ledgers (which you then also sign). As everyone has to get just about every bit of paper legalised (buying and selling cars, houses, land, certificates of education, employment, copies of id cards etc etc) these offices are always fill of queues of people shuffling along with files of paper to be stamped and signed and stamped.....

ps if you are wondering why I didn't just complain about the woman - I was witness once when someone did try to do just that - after she point blank refused to deal with them when they complained about the fact that she sat and chatted while there were queues of people waiting for her to process their papers. She stormed out and the offices were closed 3 hours early - and everyone had to go back and start queuing again the next day!

Hallo

Been busy with visitors this last week. My neice Katharine and her boyfriend Scott came for a short visit so I have been off round some of the usual haunts. There was water in the cascades at Immouzer and we saw some scorpions and heard the wolves up in the mountains though nobody got up early enough to see any of the wild boar. It was a very hot week so we didn't drive inland to Taroudant but had a few days on the beach.

Meanwhile back at the house, the arches have been finished and fingers crossed we will get the roof on next week. I say fingers crossed as first of all the authorities put a temporary moratorium on all building in the village ... but we have sorted that out.. and we ran out of water in the well and the truck that came to deliver more broke down halfway up the hill. Mohamed spent a fair bit of yesterday and no doubt today and tomorrow planning with the neighbour to lay a pipe from the irrigation channel that has been bringing water to the village from one of the mountain springs and they are off to buy the pump and pipes today. If it works it means we will have a fairly reliable supply of free water to top up our wells. Our neighbour desperately needs the water as they are just starting to build another house.

This little piggie.....

Today's excitement was a sighting of a whole herd of wild pigs.... drinking from the irrigation channel which has now been connected all the way from the spring to the village. As you see, I took photos but they were a long way away. After a while they went back over the road and off up into the hills. It is amazing how quickly they disappear even though the slopes are hardly thickly wooded.

On Monday I took Marmela to the vet who pronounced her ill and gave her some injections and a prescription for antibiotic and baby aspirin (to get her fever down) to be given twice a day for a week ...... needless to say she is hating every mouthful. She does appear to be getting better - only the very occassional sneeze.

All the cats are very flea-ridden at the moment and no amount of frontline seems to be making an impact... I don't know where they are coming from. I think Elvis spends a fair amount of time in the goatshed (from the smell of him) and apparently the goats have loads of fleas so maybe that is where he is picking them up and then passing them on to the others.

Building work has somewhat stalled... we are just about ready to do the roof but the wood that was to be used for shuttering is now being used elsewhere and will not be available for another week - so the workers are starting on the outside walls, "papering" as Mohamed calls it, and I think we will be doing the arches in the patio as well.

We are expecting a visitor later today... he doesn't know yet that we are about a month behind with the building work so I just hope he is not expecting too much in the way of luxury. He has cycled from Tangiers.

still WIP

Well we are now into our second week of building. The patio is completely surrounded and just about all the internal walls are up. I think the next step will be the archways on either side of the patio .... and the then roof and the stairs up to the roof and then the balcony outside the living room. The picture shows the view diagonally across the patio to the kitchen.

I have to stop myself thinking that the work is almost done... we then have to get the electrics sorted, plumbing, "paper" ie render in cement all the walls, windows and doors, paint, think about what we can afford to tile...

We finally have our car back... it died last weekend some issue around the work that was done previously. I hope it is solved now. Mohamed spent half his time last week hitching into Agadir in the hope of getting the car back only to come home around 10pm with no car. I gave him a short shopping list on Thursday - essentials for couscous etc and he came back with no garlic but 2kg of carrots, 2 kg of turnips, 11kg of oranges and an assortment of melon. When I asked what on earth he was thinking of (no car!) he said - but they were really cheap!

It is almost melon season proper now. Pickups filled with watermelons parked at the side of the road selling off melons to passerbys and the men staggering home with their fat friend under their arm. Watermelons are great when they are sweet (and in the summer here they are) and so refreshing - but they take up all the fridge!

Marmela is still sneezing... though she does seem better she has given me a lot of anxiety this week by disappearing all day (I was convinced one day that she had gone off to die). If she is no better tomorrow I will try the vet. I couldn't take her without the car - we would have had to put her in a bag and maybe walk 5 or 6 km or wait an hour before the minibus came along (the bus service that used to run has been stopped). On top of this our experience with vets in Agadir has not been good. It is typical that we just found a good one in Taroudannt before we moved. The vets here just don't seem that interested in cats... they are either large animal vets or have practices that revolve round the various little pedigree pooches that the french expat residents are so fond of.

Her neck is healing up and I can now see distinct tooth marks where something - probably a dog - has grabbed her by the neck. I am wondering if her infection has anything to do with being bitten.

WIP

We are now on day 4 of building, the pictures show where it stood at the end of day 3. Things are going slower than we hoped... today we are down to just one builder and Mohamed.






















Aretha likes to inspect the work everyday.

Here is a picture of what it is going to look like (sort of)... though the fountain will be in the centre of the patio and the passage will be covered at both ends of the patio and over the entrance.




I spent a good few hours yesterday trying to work out the best layout for the bathroom in my dad's room - bearing in mind that his mobility may get less. I think I have it sussed.... but then who knows what the actual fittings will be.

Oh and I did see the windows that Mohamed had found, while not really what I had in mind they were nice. We have however both agreed on something else from the same carpenter though I think we will shop around a bit to check prices. Really nice carved woodwork.... moorish designs of course and at last Mohamed has stopped talking about massive plate glass vista windows.

There is an arabic saying along the same lines as "no good turn goes unpunished".

We were all set to start work about 2 weeks ago but our neighbour asked if he could borrow our builders and labourers for "a couple of days" so that he could get just a little bit of building done before he had to go and harvest his wheat. So, being good and considerate neighbours we said yes - and of course that couple of days turned into almost two weeks. What our neighbour didn't tell us was that he was also going to pinch our labourers to help him harvesting his wheat. So as previously explained poor Mohamed is having to do all the labouring himself. I did volunteer to help shifting bricks etc but that just is not going to happen.....

We have had another breakdown in the car... something not right with the work that was done before but we are stuck between two different mechanics both saying it was the other person's work that is wrong. We are beginning to wish we had gone back to the Renault dealership to get the work done.

I am also a little worried about Marmela, she has been coughing and I am not sure if she has a bug or just something caught in her throat. I have to say that she is not in the least worried about herself and has disappeared off out after wolfing down breakfast. She has had a horrible set of wounds around her neck - not sure how she got hurt. Seems have got her neck caught in something but I don't know if it was a thing or another creatures mouth! It is all healing up and her hair growing back (I did cut it back to try and get ointment on).

We have also been hosting some huge wasplike creature that was building a very nice little mud house on the light fitting in our spare room. This turned out to be full of green caterpillars ..... It was a very big waspy like insect so I do hope it is not too cross when it finds out we have wiped out the next generation! Oh how I wish I had an insect book.

Building Work has started

Yesterday we restarted the building work, and as I sit here I can hear various scrapings, hammerings, squeaky wheelbarrows and builders whistling (yes they do it in Morocco too) and the unique slushy sound of concrete being thrown around going on overhead.

Here is a photo of what it looked like yesterday evening.


I will post more photos as work progresses. We have not managed to find any labourers at the moment so poor Mohamed is up there carrying bricks and mixing concrete for the two builders.

I have spent a fair part of the last couple of days watching the election results unfolding and feeling very down about it... at the same time very happy that I am not back there struggling to deal with all the cuts in social housing and benefits that are now bound to follow. The North-South divide is so glaring again.... and there must be lots of questions about the role of the Westminster parliament in Scottish affairs now.

Well I must go into town and do some shopping, trying to get back to normal (well as normal as you can be when you live under a building site) now that I have recovered from jetlag and a little tummy upset last week.

btw I saw Elvis (twice) in Las Vegas and an Amish couple when I was in Chicago (they were up the Sears Tower)!

A Tale of Two Cities

Thank you Iceland, I have always wanted to go to Chicago and now I have! For those who have been living on another planet for the past month, a volcano erupted in Iceland (a few times) and the ash from the volcano drifted south and east over Europe, closing most of the airports and so making It impossible for us to get a flight back to Brussels till 21st April.

I suppose I had better start with Las Vegas. Well now I can say that I have been there. It is not my kind of town – and it does seem more of a town than a city. We stayed in a really beautiful hotel…. My room was huge, bathroom with everything I could wish for – mind you at the moment all I wish for is hot and cold running water, but you know what I mean, and a view over the golf course complete with fake waterfall (I asked and you are not allowed onto the golf course unless you are playing golf).

Most of my time was spent in the Convention Centre – big aircraft hangar type building – trying to smile winningly at passers-by so they would stop and sample our wares. Pretty quickly learnt to identify the “cameramen” (khakis, lots of pockets, bags over every shoulder and always a hat of some description), the “film lovies” and the “I am completely knackered and just walking in a zombie like fashion to the nearest exit”.

I also helped build a house – Habitat for Humanity was there in the carpark building a house with volunteers from the show to help boost their profile. The house was dismantled at the end and moved to a site where it will be completed and handed over to a family. They aim to provide housing for families who would struggle to meet a standard mortgage so they get an interest free loan on a low cost home plus they have to volunteer for 300 hours – helping build other people’s homes. They were a bit sniffy about the fact their houses were NOT for homeless people but “decent hard working types” as the shirt who formally handed the house over at the end said (OK he was not from Habitat for Humanity). So I did try and spread the word that homelessness is not just about rooflessness but that there is a continuum from not being able to afford a basic mortgage through living in insecure and unsuitable housing then sofa surfing to living on the street and it is very, very easy for anyone (except the very wealthy) to find themselves slipping down the slope, ie the wrong way. Anyway off the soapbox, I had great fun working with a couple of guys in taping out a patio area (after putting in a couple of windows). I have to say we got a bit carried away with ourselves and attempted a Moroccan tile design using only electrical tape in red, white, blue and black…. If only we had had more colours.

I did spend one evening going down the Strip and took photos of the lights… and another evening downtown. This area although tackier did have a bit more of a real feel, and a really exciting light-roof screen where on the hour they showcased some animation to a popular tune. We had “American Pie” and “We are the Champions” (so I was able to join in the singing and swaying).

So I may be one of the few people to spend a week in Vegas and not even touch a casino chip… but I know my luck, have an elementary understanding of the theory of probability and absolutely no understanding of poker. I would rather stand in the street and give cash to strangers walking by. As for the people who sit for hours with the one arm bandits – it seems a bit dull to me and I can’t help thinking (in a totally non-judgemental way of course :)!) that they all looked very lonely and slightly desperate.

I should add here that, with one notable exception, everyone I met was lovely, friendly, interesting – and that includes at least one native Las Vegan whose grandfather came to the area as a explosives consultant for the Hoover Dam.

I think Vegas is like a big shopping mall (oops centre) for the rich, and I do dislike big shopping centres. Expensive, artificial and uninteresting.

On the other hand I loved Chicago. Fresh air, trees (lovely spring trees), exciting skyline, loads of green areas in the city, rivers running through…… and I didn’t even get to see any of my initial reason for wanting to go to Chicago, the electric blues. Maybe another time! I did go to the Art Institute – American Gothic and a Matisse exhibition (and yes I bought another view through a window … I can’t help myself), and I went up the Sears (now Willis) Tower and even stepped out onto the glass platform (not for very long though), travelled on the “L”… I would definitely recommend Chicago as a good place to visit.

I must say that it was wonderful to get back home, sleep in my own bed and see my dear little cats – and Mohamed of course. I have caught up on my sleep and got my body clock back in the right time zone and pretty soon we will start building. We were going to start last week but our neighbour asked if he could borrow the workers we had lined up to start working for us. It was supposed to be for a couple of days… which turned into a week. We now have all the iron, cement, bricks, sand and gravel necessary so it will be quick work to throw up the walls and pour the roof. Mohamed has also found a joiner who can make us some nice doors and windows… though I haven’t seen them and sometimes Mohamed’s idea of nice is spot on and sometimes way off (for me anyway) so I shall wait and see.

I will post some pictures but the small rodent who normally powers my internet connection is evidently having a slow day.

And that is all my news… well all I can think of just now… and in case you were wondering it is SCORCHIO!