Tafraoute

We hopped aboard an early morning bus after another delicious crepe breakfast and looked forward to turning the page on Marrakesh. All we knew of our next destination, Tafraoute, was that it was set in a beautiful stretch of the Anti-Atlas mountain range with oases nearby and good mountain biking opportunities.

We decided given our previous good luck in hotel hunting that we would walk the town on arrival and choose a nice base for our latest adventures. We arrived after sunset, making us a bit apprehensive. Suddenly around the corner we saw a familiar face from Hicham’s extended family. He connected us on the spot with a friendly local named Hamid, who we would see from then on at least twice a day. As Hamid directed us around town to the various hotel options, another friendly stranger, Mustafa, appeared on the scene to recommend his brand new hotel, Hotel Argana. After stopping by and hearing the amazing price, we quickly agreed. As we unravelled our travel story to our new friends, we quickly realized that we actually had friends in common! All of these fantastic people seemed to have been transplanted from the Sahara desert in search of work and were helping each other out. It wasn’t long before we were connected with their friend who rented bicycles – another Hicham.

Morocco is very literally all about connections. And as we had been discovering, this simple fact can make or break your experience in this closely knit country. We now had Mustafa the hotel owner, Hamid the restaurant chef, Hisham the sports equipment owner and we soon met Mohammed the friendly carpet salesman. Although Tafraoute is a fairly small town, we frequented our friends businesses on one end of town during our visit and had friendly interactions each time we passed by.

On our first day we got organized to do a 40km bike ride from Tafraoute through the nearby Ameln valley. Due to our snail-like morning speed, we set out just after lunch during the hottest part of the day. We later found out that the temperature hit 35C in the shade that day! The surroundings were very fantastical with crumbling granite mountains, an oasis filled with palm and other exotic trees and beautiful old mud brick homes set into the hillsides.

As we did each night, we retired for dinner at the Kasbah Restaurant where Hamid cooks up the most delicious Tagine in Morocco. We tried a different variety each visit and would be hard pressed to choose a favourite among them – Kalia (small roast surrounded by veggies and topped with fried eggs), Beef with prunes and almonds and Kefta (homemade meatballs in tomatoes and spices). He also had the best Moroccan salad and Harira soup we had tasted.

From the front terrace of our hotel we had a delicious breakfast and watched the local traffic on its way into town.

The ladies of the area had a unique type of flowing black robe with different colours of fringe that seemed to be a single piece of material wrapped all the way up the body and around the head. They also typically carried supplies from woven baskets with straps around their foreheads. Not sure about black in this climate where locals say that in summer the temperatures easily reach the mid 40’s.

On our second day of mountain biking we set out to see the famous painted rocks created in the 1980’s by some whacky Belgian artist. It was a nice dirt track bike ride in the late afternoon sun through a small village and then out into a small valley between strangely shaped rocks. Patricia was clearly inspired by the landscape.

As we rounded the next corner, we could see the dramatically coloured stones come alive. The effect was quite amazing and it was surreal to climb through the boulders only to find other coloured shapes in the distance.

Lest you think that the friendly Mohammed played no part in the story, we must reveal that we were finally inspired to bring home our very own piece of Moroccan artwork. It’s a very happy piece done in the uniquely Moroccan Glaoui style. It incorporates three traditional methods of carpet creation – knots, weave and embroidery. This amazing type of carpet making tradition arose when the Berber Pasha Glaoui (a Marrakesh viceroy) married women from three different tribes who decided to work together, each in their own traditional style, to bestow upon their husband a unique and collaborative carpet. We were able to put our new-found bargaining skills to the test, and had a wonderfully satisfying experience that left us with a gorgeous carpet – now we just have to figure out what to do with it! Thankfully shipping was included. ;)

Our time in Tafraoute was up, but it had completely restored our faith in Morocco by showing us up close the amazing personal experiences that are possible. The landscape and exercise had also rejuvenated our traveling spirit and it was with newfound energy that we boarded our bus for the coast.

Answers to the previous Moroccan jokes:

For the camel: 1. Open the door 2. Put the camel inside 3. Close the door

..The elephant: 1. Open the door 2. Take out the camel 3. Put in the elephant 4. Close the door

...wahh wahhh wahhhhhhhhhhhhh ;)