Today was an epic day. Hassan took us to the oceanside resort city of Agadir. We left Taroudant by the back road, and stopped along the way to grab a quick photo op with a herd of goats in an Argan grove. The symbiosis among goats, argan trees, and humans is amazing... the goats climb the trees to eat the raw fruit, and then swallow the pits. Later at night, back in the fold, the goats regurgitate the seeds to chew their cud, and spit out the pits conveniently for the farmers. The pits are gathered, hulled, roasted (if to be used for cooking, and left raw if to be used for cosmetics), and ground by hand into a paste. The paste is then kneaded by hand until the oil separates from the solid matter, and once the oil is drained off the solids are formed into balls which are then fed back to the goats.
I never realized until I picked one up today how snuggly kids are. That's kids as in baby goats of course. The little thing just went totally limp when I picked it up and carried it around.
After about a 90 minute drive we arrived in Agadir, a totally modern resort city (the old city was destroyed by an earthquake in the 1960s). After a taking in the beach area, marina, and bird sanctuary, we drove up the coast a bit to the town of Tagazhout, where we found camels on the beach just beggin for us to ride them Naturally we obliged, and we have the video to prove it! My advice to travelers-- when you'rea tourist, just be a tourist. Don't try to blend in like the Rhode Islanders who come to Camden, Maine, wearing pink polo shirts and carrying canvas bags with whale logos.
Lunch, by the way, was remarkably familiar-- deep friend seafood in the open air. Different varieties than on our side of the Atlantic, but otherwise it was remarkably like sitting outdoors at the lobster pound.
We ended the day with a visit to the souk in Agadir, where I made some of my big purchases for the trip-- a lambskin jacket and a cowhide courier bag. My haggling skills, refined through my adventures in Beijing pearl markets, were employed with Jedi-like focus. In all honesty-- I did quite well-- even Hassan was really impressed. He did help considerably, though, when he said to the leather merchant, "Look, these aren't tourists, they're friends. And they're teachers like me. When he says that's the most he can afford to pay, he's not giving you a hard time-- just being honest." In the final estimation, it was fairly successful to decide how much I could pay and simply say, "This jacket is beautiful and I love it-- I really just can't afford it at that price. I'm really sorry." And then start to leave. I Must have been called back a dozen times for each purchase and finally got very close to my original offer. Firm but respectful seems to do the trick. Kind of like teaching.
I never realized until I picked one up today how snuggly kids are. That's kids as in baby goats of course. The little thing just went totally limp when I picked it up and carried it around.
After about a 90 minute drive we arrived in Agadir, a totally modern resort city (the old city was destroyed by an earthquake in the 1960s). After a taking in the beach area, marina, and bird sanctuary, we drove up the coast a bit to the town of Tagazhout, where we found camels on the beach just beggin for us to ride them Naturally we obliged, and we have the video to prove it! My advice to travelers-- when you'rea tourist, just be a tourist. Don't try to blend in like the Rhode Islanders who come to Camden, Maine, wearing pink polo shirts and carrying canvas bags with whale logos.
Lunch, by the way, was remarkably familiar-- deep friend seafood in the open air. Different varieties than on our side of the Atlantic, but otherwise it was remarkably like sitting outdoors at the lobster pound.
We ended the day with a visit to the souk in Agadir, where I made some of my big purchases for the trip-- a lambskin jacket and a cowhide courier bag. My haggling skills, refined through my adventures in Beijing pearl markets, were employed with Jedi-like focus. In all honesty-- I did quite well-- even Hassan was really impressed. He did help considerably, though, when he said to the leather merchant, "Look, these aren't tourists, they're friends. And they're teachers like me. When he says that's the most he can afford to pay, he's not giving you a hard time-- just being honest." In the final estimation, it was fairly successful to decide how much I could pay and simply say, "This jacket is beautiful and I love it-- I really just can't afford it at that price. I'm really sorry." And then start to leave. I Must have been called back a dozen times for each purchase and finally got very close to my original offer. Firm but respectful seems to do the trick. Kind of like teaching.
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