If you have been keeping up, you will know that Coco (my wife) and I was in Marrakesh in May. where we found and appointed a young guy as our agent and started to put feelers out as to what Morocco can offer the customers of AW.

This time I took Tomas, we flew from Manchester and checked into the same hotel we stayed at before. All the staff were overjoyed to see me again. It was hot in May, but since then it's gone from stinking hot to OMG! it's Sooooo HOT!  - In the day 40c plus and at night it's hot in a different way.

So Aymen our budding new agent took us to meet the Argon family, they owned a farm and Argon press outside of Marrakesh, would we like to see? Yes of course.. so jumped in Aymen's car and soon found ourselves in the desert, driving along a straight road toward the horizon the heat rising, man-sized cactus here and there, scrub-land and the occasional palm tree.  If Hotel California had been on the radio it would have been so apt. The factory - when we found it was in a walled compound, like an oasis in the desert, almost the middle of nowhere. But inside was a small perfectly clean and modern factory, Japanese equipment, staff with hairnets, and in mixed French and English a lady who was the manager explained the whole process of turning argon nuts into oil. 

It was really quite surprising how smart and organised a place could be, and this kind of sums up our experience of Morocco so far. 

The souk and Medina are totally mad, head in there and it's so easy to get lost.. there are no cars because all the passageways are narrow, but motor bikes, barrows and a mass of people flood them. Especially in the evening as people flow through the streets and alleyways heading to the main square - our hotel was tucked away behind a big silver door in the corner of Jema al Fna Square.  After dark, the square explodes into a kind of madness. Snake charmers, guys with monkeys, stalls loudly selling fruit juice, everyone making a racket, but the Berber music troupes are the loudest by far.. sat around in groups, drums and chants with dancers grabbing people to join.. almost trance like. Rumour has it that in the 70's the Rolling Stones came to get inspiration, Keith Richards sitting jamming with the tribal music. Instagram has been a god-send for the locals.. every pose is Instagram ready.. and that's 10  Dirham or about £1 a time.  

We managed to do a couple of big deals.. soon; if all goes according to plan - lots of lovely Moroccan items coming to delight your customers. 

David