Tafraoute and the bike adventure

At the weekly Souk, you can buy everything you need, including sheep (alive or dead), reinforcement bars, Berber coats, dates, and vegetables. The whole area travels to the city on donkeys, mopeds, or carpooling. On the way there, these vehicles are loaded reasonably, but on the way back, we see some interesting loads. For example, sheep, goats, calves, building blocks, and so many people that can fit in an old Mercedes Sprinter, and what else is on the roof, let's leave that undescribed... The chaos at the Souk is simply indescribable, there are heaps of people between the stalls, and again animals and all kinds of vehicles. You can buy even cheaper than usual, and our VW bus is filling up with more and more souvenirs and nice things for in-between... but we gladly do without sheep and reinforcement bars!

The Souk in Tafraoute is rather cozy, although the guidebook speaks of it as very lively. Everything else in and around Tafraoute amazes us, and we immediately feel comfortable. Maybe it's the magnificent mountain scenery with thousands of boulders that invite us to go bouldering. Maybe it's the small family campsite where we give our car a tattoo and Martin gets a new haircut. Maybe it's the manageable little town with its many shoemakers who all produce and sell the same traditional slippers. Or maybe it's the memorable day we take a bike tour to the blue rocks:
A 'coincidentally' recurring vendor promises us two bikes with child seats. Putting the pedals to the metal again and leaving the VW bus behind sounds great. So we go to the agreed meeting point and are very curious about what kind of bikes await us there. Unfortunately, he only has one child seat, but as he correctly points out, we can't take just one child and leave the other behind, so he sends us to another bike rental shop, which allegedly has two child seats. When we arrive there, they also only have one child seat. But they are Moroccan and make an effort to change this for us, and after numerous phone calls, three bikes, two luggage racks, Martin's assistance, and 90 minutes later, we are finally ready to go.

Martin is satisfied with the quality of the entire equipment due to his Moroccan eye, but because of his Swiss eye, we drive back to the campsite so he can tighten all the screws and attach a few cable ties for safety.
Now, finally, off we go, but by now it's so late that the kids are ready for their nap, and after 10 minutes, they both fall asleep with their heads hanging. So we look for a spot to have lunch, as we have already conquered 150 meters in altitude.
It's almost evening when we continue to the blue rocks. I see them up ahead and cheer, while Martin curses. What's wrong now? The gears on his bike have broken. Oh dear... Martin has to fix his bike, or rather convert it into a scooter, while I visit the painted rocks from the 80s by Belgian artist Jean Verame with the children. We think they're great! One has to give credit to the hardworking Moroccans for regularly repainting the stones, otherwise, it would have faded long ago, and the tourist hustle and bustle would be gone.

Luckily, it's all downhill from there, so Martin makes good progress, and we return the bikes. The initial enthusiasm has worn off, and from now on, we rely on our VW bus again.