Morocco Day 23: Return to Casablanca
Our last long day of driving. Not going to miss these long overland trips. We began driving up the coast from Essaouira through small villages where horse and donkey carts were the primary mode of transport,
with an occasional motorbike thrown in
and also an occasional camel.
As we approached the first larger city Safi, we began to see the results of progress including a caol-fired power plant,
and a phosphate processing plant. Phosphate production near Safi is one of the country’s key industrial activities and part of Morocco’s massive role in the global phosphate and fertilizer market. OCP Group (Office Chérifien des Phosphates), Morocco’s state-owned phosphate company is the world’s largest exporter of phosphates and phosphate fertilizers. This plant gets raw phosphate from mines that are inland and processes it into phosphoric acid and fertilizer. A new port in Sofi is a convenient way for the final product to get shipped.
Unfortunately, all this comes with a high price. Air pollution here is terrible with the inhabitants sffering from a host of respiratory ailments.
Leaving Safi and the pollution behind, we stopped for lunch in a seaside resort town, Oualidia. Little did we know that Younes had a surprise for us.
Today was Molly's birthday and he had arranged a party for her.
Along with "Happy Birthday" in English and Moroccan.
After lunch we walked across the street over some dunes to see the beach
Another chance to get out of our vehicle came just up the road with a visit to a local oyster farm. Oualidia is often called the “oyster capital of Morocco.” The oysters are farmed in the lagoon of Oualidia, a naturally protected estuary separated from the open Atlantic by a narrow sandbar.
The lagoon’s mix of saltwater and freshwater, its stable temperatures, and clean, plankton-rich waters create ideal oyster-growing conditions.
Suzanne had been waiting for this since we arrived in Morocco
and she was not disappointed!
As we ventured inland toward the main highway, we passes miles and miles of rocky farmland and stone walls. We thought the Granite State was rocky!!!
We finally reached Casablanca just in time for rush hour (not sure when rush hour isn't). Many of the buildings had elaborate murals.
After negotiating the crazy traffic, we reached our hotel, the same hotel where this all started almost a month ago.
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