Day 3: Market Day

Tuesday is Market Day in Tahannaout. People travel on donkeys from all the neighbouring towns and villages to sell their wares, ranging from live rabbits to used second hand odd shoes! Words fail me in describing the scene, it has to be seen to be believed! Saïd is coming with us today to introduce us to his friends who will sell us all the veg we can possibly eat before the same time next week, and also his brother-in-law who is a butcher and who he assures us will provide 'best meat in Tahannaout'.

Returning from market

Well, what an experience! We drive there on Saïd's recommendation, even though the market is held only 1km away from our house. Good job we did, all veg and meat is sold in kilos or half kilos - makes for a heavy shopping bag! The parking here is a joke - well, you might laugh if you weren't in an almost brand new hire car! Car upon car is parked facing every direction with seemingly no cohesion - but of course this is Morocco and the lad who minds the cars (at a price naturally) knows exactly what he is doing and directs Mart into a space superbly - only problem is that Mart now can't get out through any door, he's stuck. He rolls the car forward, gets out and the skinny lad gets in to reverse it back again into the same space. His already tiny body appears to shrink by the second  as he manages - just - to squeeze out of the driver's door with millimetres to spare. Only in Morocco!

We begin to walk uphill over stony rubbish-strewn ground, avoiding the old men carrying live chickens whose feet are clinging to their gnarled fingers as they flap their wings ferociously looking for an escape route from their fate. We buy enough veg and fruit to feed an army, paying the princely sum of 36 dirhams (approx £2.80 to you and me),  then we meet the brother-in-law. With some trepidation we approach the butcher's stall. We are confronted by carcasses of cows, goats and sheep hanging on hooks suspended in front of the stall, with the testicles taking pride of place, separate from the body. Apparently, the bigger the testicles the better the quality of meat - I'll take their word for it! Mart has ordered some lamb to make a tajine; I watch in awe at the skill of the butcher with what appears to be a guillotine head and a tree stump for a chopping board! Soon we have all the meat we need for five tajines not one, and the equivalent of £4 is handed over with pleasure. We are assured the lamb has only been killed this morning (I believe that because I can still see a flicker of a heartbeat on the poor cow hanging beside it!) My eyes are suddenly attracted by a movement to my right - the butcher has moved on and now has a heart in his hands and is pumping out the blood all over several livers lying dormant on the front of the stall...well it does make it look instantly more attractive to the buyer...Yuk! As we turn and walk away, a goat's dead eyes stare up at me...I hope he had a good life...

On our way back home after lunch with Mart's boss we find our path barred again, this time by a herd of sheep, several of whom are chomping on berries in the hedgerows. We're loving our everyday new discoveries of country life.

Move over!

Yum yum, lovely berries