Today was supposed to involve painting by a waterfall, a picnic lunch in an old medrasa and a visit to a granary (agadir) as well as stops along the way between Tata and Igherm to view, photograph and paint the unusual mountains of the Anti-Atlas.

But alas sleepless nights for 14 of us and very queasy tummies called for a late checkout from Foum Zguid and a straight through drive to Taroudant — our last stop on this leg of the tour.

No painting but we did call in to see the waterfall (more of a cascade) which was no longer crystal clear thanks to recent rains so would not have been very picturesque to paint anyway.

Lunch, thanks to Imane, was a pinic in a riad Walid (one of our drivers) found in Tata.  The scenery after lunch was just awesome.  Hopefully I can post a pic or two later.

Closer to Taroudant we saw the goats in the branches of the argan trees that look as if they are cardboard cutouts popped in the branches to amuse the tourists.

Everyone loved the two riads last night (Wednesday, Oct 12).  Needless to say, it was early to bed for most of us.

A day where things did not go according to plan — at least later in the day.

Sunrise, for those who dragged themselves out from under their warm duvets, was quite a sight over the dunes.  The starry sky in the middle of the night (I got up at 3am) was also a sight to behold, although we agreed the Southern Hemisphere sky is better.

Breakfast in the big Berber tent was plentiful, but as we were to learn later, perhaps not prepared to the same hygienic levels of cleanliness as we’ve been used to so far on the trip.

A three hour+ journey to Foum Zguid through the desert via a nomad camp (just amazing — our lead driver, Mustapha, grew up as a nomad, so was able to explain the camp) and a hillside scattered with million year old fossils of sea creatures.

Lunch at Bab Rimal, which is more of a resort than a riad, with a huge swimming pool and individual villas for accommodation.  However, they need to do something about the smell in many of the bathrooms, which was quite overpowering.

The plan for the afternoon was for a dip in the pool, a painting demo from Ev, followed by individual painting in the gardens of the hotel, with its dramatic hills front and back, and date palm groves.

But by late afternoon whatever it was that was in our breakfast had worked its evil, striking down 14 of the 22 of us!  A very bad night for many.  A doctor was called and medication prescribed, which helped a little.

Pam and I were among those who escaped, so I don’t know what it was that we didn’t eat that the others did at breakfast or whether it was that we were served by someone who had washed their hands.

To top things off, when the reduced group sat at our allocated table on the terrace for pre-dinner drinks, an irate very large Frenchman marched over, mistakenly believing we were at his table.  Pointing to a room inside he was yelling “you – go in” then followed a string of abuse in French which said something about a lack of education among the English (mistaking us for British) and then ending with the classic line “like Brexit, get out!”  We didn’t budge!

A very unfortunate end to what began as a wonderful desert experience.

As this day’s report is being posted today (Thursday), I’m pleased to report that we’re all pretty much recovered after a decent sleep in Taroudant.

Hooray – finally got a pic to load.  It’s of sunrise in the Sahara on Tuesday morning.  More to come later.