Back in Tiznit

Aisha's friend Abdellatif Jhilal picked me up from the Tildi Hotel at exactly 10 o'clock. He drove me in an upmarket gleaming black Volkswagen sedan in around two hours to Tiznit. The Tildi is situated in a narrow quiet street that runs down hill to the beach. Just before the beach it is cut short by the main traffic artery that runs north-south parallel to the coast. This wide street took us first to Inzegane past the huge Marijane supermarket, the bus station and the Grand Taxi station. Next it crosses the Sous River that gives the region its name. March should be the time of the year that abundant water is passing under the bridge. It wasn't bad actually. Morocco also had had a miserable and cold month just like in Ireland. Next we drove through Ait Melloul. In this town is the turn off for the N1 to Tiznit and beyond. The other route goes to the airport. It was the route I had come that morning. By that time I knew that Abdellatif was courtious, somewhere in his forties, unmarried and from Taza. He taught theoretical mathematics at Agadir university and had been taken once by Aisha to Iligh to meet her family. After having established his antecedents without giving mine away we could proceed over the N1. First through the string of villages from one roundabout to another and than on to the new fast road. We passed the turn off to Sidi Rabat on the right and hit an empty stretch. Abdellatif had the address where we would meet the others and stay: the Tiznit Hotel. I knew where it was: on the major roundabout. Who would have thought that Tiznit would become such an important part of my Moroccan experiences? At the end of my stay I would finally get the chance to make a sketch of this roundabout from another hotel: the Idou Hotel. On the sketch you look from the west side of the five exit roundabout towards the east. The road to the east is towards Tafroute and is the traditional way to get to Iligh. From left to right is the N1 north to Agadir and south to Guelmim and beyond. That is the new or alternative way to Iligh. The two roads towards the west of which only one is visible go into the town.

Tiznit

Is Tiznit on the N1 or is the N1 there because of Tiznit? It must be the latter because the French occupiers made Tiznit into a garrison town. It's famous for its silver smiths. That means that in the past it had a Jewish population. But those thing don't make an attractive town. Better drive through quickly in search of better places to visit or stay. But for some strange reason I always got stuck even though the same old man on the same old moped is on the look out for any car with foreign or car hire license plate. He attaches himself to the car like a leach as soon as we enter the walled city by its main entrance. He will offer his assistance and when we decline he will annoy us till he's bought off. By then we are on the main square ready to park the car. But Tiznit also is the centre of a whole province or 'departement' and has a great covered food market and in the outskirts a real Supermarkt. It turned out, Tiznit isn't as bad as the first impression warrants. During our discovery trip to Iligh Tiznit became a very important link and even a fun place to come to. It also has a comfortable Riad with a roomy and leafy garden inside the city walls. What sold me was the kiosk on the main square that not only sold cigarettes, bottled water, biscuits, batteries and other important items, but also books in French and Arabic. There was a whole collection of fiction and non-fiction on the 'leaden years', the years of cruel oppression during the reign of Hassan II. There were also books in French on Feminism and books with a feminist intent. The books in French were published by Fennec Press a Moroccan publisher of quality paperbacks for a very good price.