Tiznit and Mirleft

Finding the hotel in Tiznit that I read about in the Lonely Planet Guide was easy, and once I settled into my room, I had time to start getting the lay of the land. It was still early in the afternoon and a very pleasant temperature - not too hot, not too cool. As usual, it seemed impossible at first to make sense of the street plan, but after getting myself lost and found once or twice, it all started to come together. As usual too, what seemed to be yet another grubby Moroccan town, quickly became less intimidating, a little more interesting.

It turned out to be a bit of a celebratory day for Muslims in Morocco, a day for visiting with friends and family and strolling about town in their “Friday Best”. I found a nice tiny café where I grabbed a bite to eat and watched the local throngs pass by. It was a good vantage point, being situated across the street from the main mosque. Everyone seemed to be involved and many were dressed to the nines. Young mothers and fathers with their youngsters in beautiful caftans with fine embroidery, the elderly, and groups of teens. There was a group of three or four young men next to where I was sitting. They were obviously the local “boys in the ‘hood” who set themselves apart by sporting slick western clothing and hairstyles that would draw attention in NYC. They were loud and boisterous, having a fine time at the expense of pretty girls passing by. In an instant they targeted an pious, elderly man, snatching his skull cap and playing catch and taunting him with it. All in good fun, if you weren’t the victim - right out of Shakespeare or Dickens!

It was in Tiznit that I really started to notice an ever increasing number of - how shall I say? - used-up looking folks from France. By this, I mean what appear to me to be ex-hippy travellers who never stopped coming to Morocco for cheap kif and a cheap holiday in the sun. Maybe they never left, since the ‘70’s. Anyways, I didn‘t get a warm fuzzy feeling from them, and they appear to have spent ‘way too much time in the sun.

There two other groups of ex-pat French and Spanish in fairly large numbers in Morocco. One group is the motor home travellers. Just like in North America there are convoys of motor homes travelling up and down the Atlantic Coast. There are many sites for them to park en masse, and I didn’t see a single one where I would want to spend even 10 minutes! For the most part the trailer parks are just an empty piece of earth filled with potholes, mud, and debris. Sometimes they have a view of the ocean (big deal!), sometimes they are enclosed by a mud wall. It’s really unbelievably bad, yet there must be something about it that appeals to this group of retirees. Beats me!

The other group is comprised of wealthy French, who have started building villas next to each other, along the coast but away from the actual nearby town. I doubt if they have much of a positive impact on the local economy once they have finished with construction, due to their privileged isolation. The villas seemed to be completely unoccupied during the winter. I can’t imagine how hot it must get in the summer months, but I guess you have the cooling gale force winds off the Atlantic providing a moderating effect to the African summer sun.

One of the great things about my accommodation in Tiznit was that it had the best internet connection I had in all of Morocco. The fellow who runs this place is really savvy to the needs of travellers, understanding that internet access is pretty damned important these days, in planning for the next destination, booking airline tickets, on-line banking, and keeping in touch with friends and family back home. The other great thing about it was the price. Super simple accommodation, but super cheap. And it was clean!!! I wish there were more of the same throughout Morocco.

Internet is rarely available at budget and mid-price accommodation in Morocco, even though the management has a computer for their own use. Somehow, they can’t get their heads around the idea of providing wireless signal for the guests. Sometimes there is one computer available for guest use, but usually the bored staff is using it. There are several “cyber café” establishments in towns and cities, but it is still advisable to use your own lap-top because the keyboards are usually filthy, and almost impossible to use because they are in Arabic and our alphabet (but not qwerty), and each key has up to four options. It can take forever just to figure out how to sign in to your email account! Often the wired connection to the internet is of dubious integrity - everything is old and half broken - so it’s not always a certainty that you are actually connected. And connection speed seems to be variable, from fast to dead slow - you just never know.

After a couple of days of poking around Tiznit, I took a shared taxi south to the town of Mirleft, right on the coast. There is only one beach in Mirleft where the “river” flows into the ocean. Other than that it’s impressive, high rock cliffs against which the waves crash heavily with a mighty back-spray. Apparently one of the “fun” things to do there is to go “surf-casting” for fish from the cliffs above. I saw a few locals at it. Mostly, I think it is just a way to wile away the hours, but give the appearance of being productive. How any fish would survive the power of those waves, I can’t guess. Come to think of it, I didn’t see that any of the fishermen had any bounty to show for their efforts.

The aforementioned beach is a surfing destination, of which there are many along the Atlantic coast of Morocco. There were a few surfer types in town, looking ever so cool in their tight wet suits, just back from a day in the waves. They definitely boost the local economy by spending on groceries, staying in cheap hotels, eating in cafés and buying silver jewellery, scarves and trinkets from the local craftsmen. The season was just beginning, and I understand that it is becoming a more and more popular destination each year, for nearby Euro surfers. Climbing, mountaineering, surfing, mountain biking, hiking, and bicycle and motorcycle touring are all potentially great tourism opportunities for Morocco. Now, if the can just get internet access figured out…

High above the town of Mirleft is the crumbling Kasbah, which looked really cool from down below. I decided to take a walk up to it, and see what I could see. Glad I did, because the views from up there were fabulous. There was a couple of boys just hanging out, who decided to guide me through the ruins. I guess they were interested to speak to a foreigner and show off their home turf, and I didn’t repel their offer. I was certain that they would be asking for money, and lots of it, to pay for their “expertise”, and was very surprised when I turned to go they simply bid me farewell.

From Mirleft I wanted to continue south to the town of Sidi Ifni, which has a distinctly Spanish influence, rather than French. The problem was transportation. Again. There are some dramatic cliff formations about 10kms from Sidi, but one can really only get there if one has a car. I decided that the best thing for me to do for the next stage of my travels would be to rent a car. I met a Canadian woman who is married to a Moroccan and living in Mirleft, who agreed that that would be a good idea, and gave me the business card of the local car rental agency which happened to be right next door to my hotel. In fact, renting a car was not a lot of money, but unfortunately all her cars were rented. So, I would have to go back to Tiznit and pick up a car there. Which I did, the next day.