Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Day Six; Oukaimeden To Aguersioual
We descended for ages on a long, red, gritty undulating path with the usual fantastic views. We wound through stunted juniper trees and crossed a barley ‘meadow’ resplendent with poppies and pretty purple flowers. It was steep going at first- I lagged behind- but became easier.
Views Descending Tizi OukaimedenWe crossed another small pass and had dates and candied nuts, then another undulating descent brought us to the village of Amskere. We walked down through the village accompanied by the usual children, goats and women laden with bunches of long grasses. Down by the river, our cook, Omar, and the muleteers had prepared lunch and taken the packs off the mules so they could rest. We had loads of free time, so I got my book out of my bag and lounged on the cushions by the river whilst the others dozed.
After lunch, it was quite difficult to get going again, and we had another long ascent to Tizi Aguersioual. This was after crossing the river, which was tricky, I needed a hand as I am cursed with short legs and little sense of balance! We could see and hear people on the slopes opposite us, Ali said that they were planting trees. We reached the pass to find one of our muleteers waiting for us. He walked downhill with us for a while, chatting to Assiz, before taking off at a run down a wild and rocky path following the stream; we could hear him making bird calls as he descended!
Prickly Pear Cactus FlowerWe reached the village of Aguersioual, or cactus ville as I dubbed it- there were bushes and bushes of prickly pear cactus everywhere we looked. Me and two others went for a wander and found that the main road to Marrakech ran opposite the river. It was a bit of a culture shock after so many days on rough tracks, and it was a novelty seeing traffic which didn’t bray!
Our gite has a terrace looking out over the village with a disconcerting view of a rubbish dump below complete with dead cat. The loos are the usual squat-and-bucket affair but the shower is adequate. Our route tomorrow takes us over the road and to the other side of the valley.
View of Jebel Toukbal From The TerraceLabels: Aguersioual, Jebel Toukbal, trekking
