The Hat of Napoleon

14.02. Tafraout Rain. Partially pouring like buckets. All day long. And the whole night before. I told you how Berndt told me about what heavy rains can do in Morocco. He saw entire campsites washed into the sea. There is practically no soil here, only rocks and sand, and they can't absorb water. I lie there at night, it drumming on the roof of the car and I realize that we are standing in a valley surrounded by mountains of rocks, cliffs that rise into the sky like polished glass. Are we safe here? I look out the window. No chance, everything is dark. Hmmm? Why worry? Start a survey now, just before 2 a.m., whether we should move to another place - I'm not suicidal. So I'm going to spend the night here, come what may. With worries and without worries. But I'd rather be without worries. But that doesn't bring me back to sleep.

At 8 o'clock I make breakfast. Tea, baguette and looots of Nutella - it was a long night after all. There's a knock on the door, and as if on cue, a man with a bicycle is standing outside selling fresh bread. He looks like he just climbed out of a swimming pool. Soaking wet. I'm happy about the crispy baguette. Great service here on this huge pitch. Different vendors came right after our arrival yesterday. Gas, laundry, solar system, bread, sweets - everything the heart desires. The laundry lady was eagerly awaited, not just by me. When she left, she was almost lost among the seven or eight big bags on her little moped.

Ricci had already told me about the solar service. Three years ago, someone in his travel group had two solar panels installed on their roof at a much cheaper price than in Germany. "He had good experiences with it," says Ricci, and so I'm also considering it. I just had a new lithium battery installed this year. With that, I can go without electricity for three or four days. But in situations like now here in Tafraoute, it's getting tight: We wanted to stay here for four days without electricity. If the heating has to run, the MacBook, iPad, and mobile phone have to be charged, and different light sources have to be used, it's getting tight. Fouhami's offer was unbeatable: 400 euros for a 200 watt solar panel including controller and installation. In Germany, I would have to pay almost four times as much!

I didn't hesitate long and made the deal. While Fouhami and a colleague worked on the roof of my motorhome, I tried to fill my Alugas bottle with the help of an expert. The expert cannot be named because it is illegal, at least the way we tried it. We hung a Moroccan gas bottle on a ladder so that the liquid gas could flow down into my Alugas bottle. What an action it was! First, the Alugas bottle into which the new gas was supposed to flow had to be completely empty. We let the gas flow out. It flowed, flowed, and flowed. When finally nothing flowed anymore, the new gas was supposed to flow in. But it didn't. No matter what we tried: it didn't flow. Eventually, we had to give up. My expert had another appointment and I didn't have a jacket to change into anymore. Four pieces were soaked through by the rain, and I was soaked to the skin. The result of the action: I gave away the remaining gas from one bottle. Now the second bottle is running. It's the last one...

By the way: I promised to mention Garage Chez Moihamed Farih (Tel.: 0662252649) and Ibrahim, who arranged the solar installation. He was very nice and extremely helpful.