Camels and Women's co-op
I'm splitting this day in two because it will just be too long...and it gives me another post to add to my blog! Today's excursion was to the Atlas Mountains and a Berber village. But on the way over we stopped to ride some camels and visited a women's co-op where they produced Argan oil. I don't mean to sound snobbish or ingrateful, but i'm soooo over riding camels. This was the third time I've had to ride one and I'm probably gonna have to ride another one when I go to India (I'm going in September by the way!!!!). But yah. Once is enough. This time was annoying cause they dressed us up in these ridiculous outfits (ridiculous for us, not the locals) which of course isn't very flattering...
The dude threw the thing on my head so fast I couldn't even fix my hair!
Before our next destination we made a quick photo stop along the way. You see those clouds in the far background? Those are COLD rainy clouds!
This is the Berber village. But first across the street from where we were was the women's co-op where they produced Argan oil. Morocco is the one of only 3? places in the world that produces argan oil, but is endemic to Morocco. Up until this trip I thought argan oil was only used for cosmetic purposes. I use it for on my hair, it makes it soft and shiny. You can purchase it at any salon but I think you can only get the pure stuff from Morocco, and even then you have to be careful where you buy it. You can watch the process here. It's pretty interesting. I really should've taken a video myself but I forgot
I actually bought a small jar of almond/honey/argan butter and a small bottle of argan oil for food. It wasn't cheap. The almond butter was about $13 for about 8oz and I forget how much the oil was, there's no price tag on it. I'm thinking it was about $20 for the same amount. But the almond butter was delicious! We actually busted out a jar of each for breakfast everyday after that to eat with all our bread.
Next we're off to the mountains!
7 comments:
I was actually wondering how much it rained there. Cute your outfits. Would you believe when I looked at you riding the camel, the first thing I thought of was where is your camera gear.
I have no idea how much it rains, not much I would thing, although it dumped one night we were there. I hate my outfit! My camera was bouncing up and down with me as I was trotting along on my camel. I was hesitant when the dude motioned to me to give me my camera so he could snap some pics of us.
You all look so cute! I didn’t know you could eat argan oil.
Izsmom
I was curious - since it seems all the ladies have their head covered the didn't expect you to cover yours? -N
I didn't know either Izsmom! You can't cook with it though, it's more like a drizzle over salads and stuff. It tastes pretty good. Kinda nutty.
N- hmmm I don't think so. I read somewhere it's the woman's choice whether to wear the hijab or not so I'm thinking it's not mandatory. I guess it depends on their religious beliefs?
I love the head gear and clothes, awesome!
Bah Michele!!
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