Walked on after muesli breakfast, a fair way on a road through a small village. Chatted with a Moroccan whose English was on a par with my French, so an interesting but fun communication. Hawk passed me, plugged into his Walkman. Shortly after the truck picked us up, we drove from sunshine into dense seaside fog that forced the crow’s nest crew inside. But we reached Rabat, Morocco’s capital, in bright sunshine.
Free to get our own lunch, we walked through multicoloured, aromatic food markets. I devoured a pomegranate, getting it all over my face, hands and camera, and helped Julie and Bill buy three chickens, feet still attached, by showing the seller that they should cost 64.4 dirham as per the price board not the 800 he was asking.
Wandered through fruit and vegetable stalls, displays of meat and fish, all the store people smiling and friendly, especially some of the older fishmongers. Wasps fought to get at piled sweets and crawled over otherwise yummy-looking cakes. Photographed Bob with a lovely old Moroccan man with a ceramic bottle beside his bread display.
Sat in the crow’s nest for our afternoon drive, enjoying a bird's-eye view of eucalypts, olive trees and sugarcane. Late in the afternoon we drove through rounded hills rolling towards the horizon. New sunglasses protected my eyes from the wind but it gave all of us brushed-back rocker hairdos and ripped the lens cap off my camera.
Having passed some handsome camels on the roadside, we pulled into rubbly hills to make camp in a natural amphitheatre overlooking a cathedral-type rocky valley and rolling hills. The moon rose early, and we soon had an audience of local children, shepherds and sheep from the hillside behind the tents. I found a spectacular loo spot and recent experiences of toileting in India enabled me to complete my ablutions under the gaze of six wide eyes.
After a delicious dinner of sweet and sour chicken with rice and chocolate biscuits, we talked round the fire before going to bed. I fell asleep overlooking the valley.
Caption below: The moon rose early, and we soon had an audience of local children, shepherds and sheep from the hillside behind the tents.
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