By now we’ve got a whole new team working.

Obviously Hamid is part of it and what a good find he is. Then there ‘s Mason Mohammed, Ghalli, father of Yahyaa and brother of Hamid and three young guys I picked up from another chantier/building site.

They live in another village so I’m not sure how long they’ll last but they’re all good lads and the vibe is great. It’s such a different world to working in a city…

As I write we’ve got two more terraces up and they both look stunning. I think the comparable (before and after) images are on the last post but here you can see the second glamping area which is awaiting a series of steps.

We’ve added a longer terrace to the left which will be great for …well just chilling out on a hammock or such like.

This is the third glamp site and includes a gorgeous seat under the olive tree, giving the most glorious views of Xaouen below and the mountains to the side.

It’s been great so far working with MM, he ‘s so gentle and offers lovely intuitive insights in to what might be possible. He’s really getting in to the idea of “camping sites”, the space and views necessary.

I love it when he takes a break, fills up his kiff pipe, has a long drawn smoke and a cheeky little grin covers his gentle face….then off he goes again.

Ghalli and the donkey team can be seen here. It’s a long journey in terms of time and tbh really adds to the price of getting rocks to the land.

I’ve hired two extra donkeys from Ghalli, giving a team of 4 and have ended up paying him 350 – 400 dhs per lorry load of rocks. Combined with a cost for food of approx 140 dhs a week for both animals, this all adds up.

Having said that 20 trucks of rocks (20 x 730 dhs = 14,600 dhs), feed for our donkeys (140 dhs per week), hiring of muleteer and two extra mules (400 per truck load ( x 20 = 8,000 dhs), thus hopefully enough materials for both the build and the terracing should come in at something like 23,720 dhs, or less than £2,000. It would be a lot cheaper with a road, but then with roads come extra houses, higher population, more noise and pollution and end to this idyll!

Oh by the way, if you’ve got the means of zooooming in, or a very good eye, you can just about see the terracing on the land, below the last white building (the old mosque) on the right of the picture…about 03.00 o’clock! It excites me anyway!

And the end result of all that hard donkey work is the wonderful site of materials piling up on the land, awaiting the time when they’ll be put to good use rebuilding the ruin next to them…Ish Allah!

 

Following a visit en famille to Kharfous Retreat..still more of that later…I took Finn up on to the land by donkey…who still has no name, but hey ho!

If I’m honest he loved it and I dreaded that he’d fall off…Think I’ve still got my donkey driver L plates on for a while to come yet!

Of course Finn couldn’t have cared less and before no time was up climbing around in the trees.

I have a secret dream that this place will give him the access to the great outdoors, to enjoying space, nature, beauty and the joy of rural Morocco’s people and countryside.

With so much else going on, I really hope we’ve got the time to see that come to fruition. I’m sure that this will be a wonderful place not just for old hippies like me, but also for kids and families. I’ve no fear with Finn running around here. He gets so much space and freedom and whilst I still love Fez, it’s here that my heart is and that I see him being able to express himself.

Old Hippy !