Last night, after the Berber drumming, we had magic tricks and puzzles. I managed to solve one (and almost solved another) so that this morning at breakfast a young father pointed me out to his children in awed tones as the man who had divined the solution.

Which was nice.

Last night we went for a stroll in search of supper, having said we might come back in half an hour or so. That was a mistake, because this morning Farid the manager said that he had waited for us, and that the custodian had told him that we hadn’t returned until 11.30. Supper was not a mistake. The...

The alone-in-a-crowd bit doesn’t work for The Squeeze if there are local children around. They are too curious and she is too generous and the end result is expensive water colours being daubed on expensive paper to the amusement of all concerned. Yesterday it was Mohamed and his pal Moustafa at the...

How to do in words the changing of the light as the sun sets on the kasbah? Can’t really be done, so why try? Only to attempt to set down one aspect of it, and that is the paradoxical speed with which it happens. You stare and stare at the rich red-brown of the walls, ornamentation and jutting beams...

On the way here to the Gorges du Dadés we had two good stops and a detour. At the first stop, the Cafe du Pont on the way in to El-Kelaa M'Gouna, The Squeeze ordered saffron tea. There was a moment’s consternation, then off went the young man to prepare it. While we waited a stream of sheep flowed a...