Boumaine Dades, Morocco - November 7, 2025

Tonight we're staying at the Dades Xaluca Hotel in Boumaine Dades.  It is a gorgeous resort hotel - several pictures below.  This a short video of the sunset during the evening call for prayer.  You may need to turn your volume up to hear it well (with the sound of kids playing in the background) - HERE.  We had a full day of riding and some tourist visits.  

Last night we stayed at Hotel Bab Rimal in Foum Zguid.  It was a gathering place for touring the desert in 4-wheel drives and dirt bikes. It is located close to where the Dakar race used to run before it moved to Saudi Arabia.  

One of the stops yesterday was at a nonprofit organization for the production and sales of argan oil that is used for cosmetics and cooking.  It is the Coopérative Agricole Féminine Taitmatine.  Only women work there shelling the argan bean by hand and processing them into products they sell on site.  They also have a school/day care center on-site.  HERE is a short video Susie took of a very experienced woman showing the proper technique of shelling the nuts.  They use a small rock to break open the shell while holding it between their fingers on the flat surface of a larger rock.  I tried for a pretty long time and only had a sore thumb and 2 shelled nuts.

Some of the African art work from tonight's hotel

A beautiful celebration/meeting room in the hotel

Pool area at the hotel

Our intrepid guide showing where we were going to ride yesterday.  My main goal was to stay close to the rider in front of me.

The argan oil female cooperative plaque

The bathroom at the argan cooperative

An experienced argan nut sheller

An inexperienced and confused argan nut sheller

Susie trying to decide which argan oil product to buy.

If you click on the photo and zoom in, you might be able to see the goat in the tree and one on his hind legs stretching to get something to eat

Baked goods at the place we stopped for lunch yesterday

This bread is really good and can cure an upset stomach

Entrance to the inauspicious restaurant/bakery.  

Sooz took this from the back of the bike yesterday

This is in a family's home where we stopped for lunch yesterday

Part of the lunch from yesterday

Sooz took this today from the back of the bike

More from today

The location where the Dawn of the Dead movie was filmed in the middle of nowhere Morocco

Typical town street

A famous casbah in the distance

One of our favorite lunch stops from today.  Strictly locals, except for us