We continued our journey west and stopped at the town of Tiznit, situated on the western side of the Anti Atlas mountains, not far from the Atlantic coast. There were just three other vans (French) staying on the camp site – when we were last there the site was so full we struggled to find a place to park. Morocco was most definitely suffering from lack of tourists.
The Tiznit camp site was just outside the city walls and it was a five minute walk into the souk where the busy streets were lined with little shops. We shuddered when we passed cages of live animals for sale – turkeys, rabbits, pigeons and chickens. The streets were dirty and smelly. We didn’t stay long in Tiznit.
We continued our journey to Agadir where there was a Carrefour supermarket and we were able to stock up with alcoholic supplies for Christmas. We had known the municipal camp site at Agadir would be closed but we were eager to spend a night in the town in order to have a meal at one of the European style restaurants at the Marina. We found a parking spot beside the fish market next to the Marina and offered an unofficial parking fee to the guardian who agreed we could stay overnight. We were confident our truck would be safe whilst we were at the restaurant. The meal was wonderful and, including a bottle of wine, cost ten times the amount we would normally pay for a meal in Morocco.
Our overnight parking spot was pretty noisy and there was a strong smell of fish in the air. Several dogs slept under the truck and occasionally barked loudly into the dark night. The following morning we noticed a woman and a baby sleeping under a blanket near the truck. Moroccans were used to beggars and regularly gave them a few coins. Someone had given the mother milk for the baby. Tony gave her some money and I gave her a tin of Nivea creme. She was awake and sitting on the wall when we drove away. She gave us a cheery wave goodbye.
We realised that the fish market seagulls had left a bit of a mess on our roof so we had to stop at a fuel station to get a truck wash (£4.50). Our stay at the fish market was proving to be far more expensive than had we stayed at a camp site!
