Traditional Berber house in rural Morocco

Monday morning, we walked about 3.5 kms (2.2 miles) over to the village of Oumesnat where there is a traditional Berber house that is now a tourist museum. 

Really interesting visit, and if you are in the area it's not to be missed!

It was another beautiful day! We're in the middle of a stretch of really nice weather.

Scenery along the way.

Ruth, saying hello to some friendly pups.

The newer part of the village cemetery.

And the older part.

The traditional house ruins.

We were met at the entrance by the owner Mustafa. He was just finishing up a tour with a group of three from France and invited us to join them for tea.

Mustafa, pouring the tea.

The room where we had tea.

View out the window.

Mustafa is a friendly guy and we learned a lot about how the locals live, both then and now. Very free with his time, and open to answering any questions. 

Traditional Berber homes were built with stones and mud and they require a lot of maintenance so that they don't deteriorate. Many of the ruins that we see on the sides of these hills were occupied until about 1960 when concrete became available and sturdier homes were built down in the valley where all the locals ended up moving. The concrete homes don't require as much maintenance.

This house has been in Mustafa's family for many generations, and they think it was built about 400 years ago. His father lived in the house until about 1980, when he joined the others down in the valley. A couple of year later, he decided to turn the old house into a museum for tourists, and now Mustafa runs it.

The original kitchen.

Men were typically not allowed in the kitchen.

Mustafa, showing us how they grind the argan nuts for oil.

I took a video for you of how they used to make flour... turn up your volume...

The lower entrance where the stables were located under the house.

Electricity didn't arrive in the valley until 1995. They used to have a small black and white TV that they would run off a solar panel and a car battery. He remembers as a teen when they got their first refrigerator. 

Mustafa at his family home museum.

Cost for the museum and tour (and a glass of tea) is 30 dirham ($4 CAD, $3 USD) per person. 

GPS co-ordinates are 29.764761, -8.943323

We went and did some exploring among the upper ruins.

Mustafa told us that none of these ruins are related to the 1960 Agadir earthquake.

It's simply people moving to more durable concrete homes.

View of the mosque and valley.

I zoomed in on a family of wild pigs in the distance.

Not sure what the 1958 date means.

This looks like an old mosque perhaps?

Back at Max, I had a nap and then finished up the itinerary for when Lindsey and the kids arrive a week from today. They are only here for two and a half weeks, so there's going to be a fair bit of driving involved. But it only seems like a lot because it takes so long the get anywhere here. 

And, we've decided to take them to Marrakesh for two nights. It's not our favorite city in Morocco, but for someone who has never been before it is worth seeing the spectacle. It's such a circus.

We will stay put here until Thursday, which gives us five days to get up to Casablanca airport to pick them up.

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