I spent my two weeks mostly swanning about. Most days presented a clear blue sky with a hot sun and cold nights. During the day I wandered around, often walking over 10km a day, taking pictures, doing some filming and trying to cook food without anybody seeing me (as it was still Ramadan)

At night I would sometimes go to the small internet cafe and then sit around watching tv from Iraq, Libya, Algeria or France with the young guy who worked in the hotel. He had a liking for the music of Neil Young and I had a few of his cd's so we also spent quite a few evenings enjoying the music and attempting conversation even though we didn't share a common language. His uncle owned the hotel and him and his sister worked there. They were really nice gentle people, as are all people in Figuig it seemed.

This hasn't always been the case. The seven ksars have traditionally fought over water and during the 60's and 70's there were clashes between the Moroccan and Algerian armies. It seemed very relaxed when I as there, with smoking hash being a pleasent enough way to pass the time for many.