More "after the rain"

So on Saturday morning, when I woke up and found the electricity was off, we headed for the hills - well a day trip to Immouzer. I remembered my camera and have taken a fair number of pictures which I will post on the blog (though it will be a slow job!).

We went in the reverse direction of the trip I took Eileen et al and Caroline and Ian and took the Marakech road north and then turned off into the mountains where we had a good view of the works on the new road and snow in the high peaks.

All along the road there were signs of damage due to the heavy rain, clearly the road must have been closed for some time after the rain fall.

We also saw loads of little chipmunk critters running across the road as we drove through the pine woods - actually they are striped ground squirrels.

For the first time (that I have seen) the cascades at Immouzer had water... which actually meant that (unless like Mohamed you have no regard for personal safety, dry feet or frostbite) you can't see the falls when you trek up the path to the base... too much water. This is also the first time that we didn't have to endure the gauntlet of souvenir sellers (that man who makes the wooden boxes has a heck of a lot of nephews!) - which was nice! For those who have visited - it turns out that the carpark REALLY is the dry river bed....

We had a little walk away from the falls and found the local olive mill in use, with the spent, crushed olives being taken away by the donkey load for drying and then to be used as fuel for the hamman.

We had some wonderful tefernet bread (cooked in clay ovens on hot stones) with the usual eating companions but decided to go to Immouzer proper for lunch. This turned out to be a bad decision as the tagine was not properly cooked - I don't think it was cooked in the tagine at all but when we complained the guy just said that we had come too early and it hadn't finished cooking yet.

Just as we left Immouzer we were stopped by a Sherrif who demanded to see our marriage contract - sure that Mohamed was working as a false guide. Usually Mohamed does carry a copy with him but he had given it to some other petty official so we just had to bluff it out... which was easy since we knew we were in the right. It is the first time that has happened for a long time. We gave a lift to some young boys heading home after a week at school in Immouzer who told us about the taxi that had driven off the side of the hill in the night just after the Eid. Apparently the one passenger leapt out and is still recovering in hospital but the driver (because of his seatbelt)didn't escape and died!

We came back into Agadir through the Paradise Valley. There was lots of evidence that the whole of the gorge had been flooded leaving debris on the trees at the side of the road about 1m off the ground. It must have been something to see - though I am glad not to have been caught in it.

Mohamed had his first Russian class to get to so we didn't hang around too long but it was a nice day out.

Yesterday I went to Taroudant for my monthly visit to the Police Commissary and this time my Carte de Sejour was there! Only another 4 months till I have to start thinking about applying again. I have to start reminding Mohamed now to get his changed so that when I apply we both have the same address... and that is all my news.

I will try and get some pictures posted... but the internet is a bit slow tonight so I might wait for a while