Meanwhile, I will attempt to tell you about our amazing trip without the aid of photos.
So, after a good rest that first night at Donna's we set out in the morning for our day in Taroudant. The flags were still up and people were still waiting for the King. Taroudant is surrounded by the ancient city wall and we entered via the beautiful Riad Salam, a gorgeous old hotel. The long walkway to it was a beautiful palm lined water feature. Once entering the city centre we walked to another P.C. volunteer's apartment. He is a retired IBM man who works with small business development there. A Moroccan, Abdul Karim joined us and the five of us then took a horse and carriage to the "olive oil man" after stopping for coffee. We entered a very dark old white washed cement cave-like structure and the first thing we saw was tons of olives in a round cement vat to which a horse is tied. The horse goes round and round crushing the olives. Next was the pressing area where a very old five foot tall press extracts the oil and it drains into a tank in the ground. We all purchased some of that day's freshly pressed oil, but not before we did a taste test with fresh bread. This is pure 1st press oil. Out the back was where the remains of the olives were thrown and heaped high. This sludge is what would be used for a second or third pressing, but not in this place. It was quite an amazing experience. Our next stop was for a delicious fruit salad. We shopped a bit and I bought some Moroccan spice mix. Another horse and carriage ride around the city alleys and around the perimeter to see the wall. Taroudant is a real Moroccan city, not a tourist one like Marrakech and it was such a pleasure to go around without being hassled and to see real city life. The weather was perfect with the ever present blue sky and a temperature of about 25C.
We took a taxi back to the village. I was so fortunate to be here at Donna's because her site is a new women's co-operative for making Argan oil. The women were fantastic and they wanted to show me exactly how the nut is cracked with a stoned and then again to get to the "almond". They then press it by hand extracting the oil. It is a very long hands on process. No machinery is used. They wanted their picture taken!!! Two of the younger women were also studying English and spoke at about a level. One young woman lead us to the door of her house where she was the keeper of the oil. I purchased the last bottles of oil and a few bars of Argan soap. All I can say is WOW, what an experience to see this small operation. If you google Argan oil, you will see how the West has taken to it. Very small bottles 50ml can cost up to $99.00 and who knows how pure it is. I have been using it on my skin everyday now in the hopes that it will work it's magic on me. Donna said that if I want to purchase more, just to email her and when they have made more she will post it to me, or my friends Auday and Fatima, from Tan Tan, Morocco, can bring it to Canada.
What a luxury to have been able to see this co-op and the lovely ladies who work so hard to make the oil. This is not a tourist stop with big tour buses stopping. This is the real thing.
We had a late dinner and discussed our plans for our journey the next day.
Very interesting...Love hearing all about this...
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