DAY 221

Friday 17 February 2012

Today would be the day we finally reached out southernmost destination: El Ouatia (chosen because of its natural beauty and its temperate weather). We said goodbye to Sabine and Jocham, hoping we would see them again in Sabine’s town, Jimena de la Frontera, Spain.

We stopped in Tiznit for a lunch of deviled eggs Nicole made in the van. Bachir called while we were stopped, just wanting to say hello and check up on how we were doing. We missed the opportunity, after telling him what we were eating, to razz him about the egg-riddle he still had not solved, but it was just nice to hear his voice and know we had friends watching out for us. Far outside of Tiznit we had to stop the car on the side of the highway to take in the site before us: camels. Over 60 of them! All striding single file across the desert (with a lone herdsman at the rear). We knew we would not get to the Sahara desert on this trip so we really drank in the scene.

At around 6 PM we arrived in El Ouatia, but skipped going into town to search for a free-camping spot, which we found way off the side of the highway where about 14 other other French campers were staked. There were sweet wild dogs roaming the area, three natural springs that trickled into the ocean, and a spot for our van so close to the water you could hear waves crashing.

With no bathrooms for miles, however, Nicole was quite anxious to christen the porta potty. It worked great and we were glad to have it. That evening Nicole made a couscous dinner, then we went to bed.