3 hrs, 6.0 kms



It's the middle of winter but still the sun is beating down pretty hard . Finally I reach another wide riverbed with interesting cliffs on each side. To the right is a road that it seems leads to a village or villages upstream… No…no… we’re sticking to the plan…

Finally the road crosses the riverbed and the signs of the long Toundoute Oasis appear… clusters of houses on both sides of the riverbed which goes from a barren rocky area to almond tree orchards, now white with blossoms. First is the village of Igli, where I opt to do a detour into the orchard to soak in a bit of greenery, but have a hard time navegating among the flooded plots and dense carrizo cane natural walls. I try switching from shoes to flip flops… I ask a farmer for directions

"Well, you can follow the river itself all the way to Toudout. This proves to be quite difficult, so I work my way up to the village and opt to stick to the road instead.

I find a shady spot to play my Igli concert, and suddenly feel inspired to put some lyrics Brahim’s family and I came up with last night . It starts out with a Berber intro—then switches to a Gnawa rif…  As I play, I think of what it would be like to be an endless wanderer, walking this earth, seeing, experiencing—but never really finding a sense of belonging anywhere… Here are the lyrics:

Ten Thousands Towns

Walking through a desert rugged mountain on the peaks there are patches of snow

The valley white with almond blossoms, simple houses of rock and stone eeeeeieeeeeee oooouooo

A old woman back bent with a load of firewood, a life completely different then his own

She’s thinking about the basics of survival, he’s thinking he wishes he had a home eeeeeieeeeeee oooouooo

Eyes looking out through an open doorway, she’s sending a message and he knows

A whole alternate life laid out before him, in which he makes this village his home eeeeeieeeeeee oooouooo

I must go on one more day

You’re just a memory to tuck away

Ten thousand towns up ahead it’s my destiny

I don’t know why I roam

Just a man without a him

Encounters along the road they are testing me

A man with weather face and most teeth missing says “we didn’t have much rain this year

I’m going to your land to feed my family . Can you give me a good reason why you’ve come here?" eeeeeieeeeeee oooouooo

In the middle of the night people are chanting, perhaps someone’s died or someone’s been born

With each other they all have a connection, but he’s just passing by like a ghost

//Should I go on?// or make this my home?

 

 

And with that, I continue on to my next town.