Friday, August 1, 2008

Sidi Ifni Gallery 2 (January 2007)



The Spanish Consulate survived the departure of the Spanish State from this Moroccan enclave for a number of years. Its main function being the issuing of work permits to local Moroccans for employment in Spain and the Canary Islands. Now the performance of this function has been reduced to the annual arrival of a bureaucrat at the "Hotel de Ville" in Laayoune and then Sidi Ifni.
17th January 2007.



Corroded detail from the front of the Spanish Consulate in Sidi Ifni.
17th January 2007.



The backstreets of Sidi Ifni, around the corner from Bank Populaire, on Avenue Mohammed V, are completely dug up. Trenches and pipes leave the narrow streets resembling 1st World War defensive emplacements.
17th January 2007.



A lazy start to a lazy day on Avenue Moulay Youssef, just up the hill from the hotel Suerte Loca in Sidi Ifni.
18th January 2007.



A cactus forest, approximately 50 km’s northwards along the coast from Sidi Ifni, at Aglou Plage. The journey from Sidi Ifni is beautiful despite the countryside being arid. The coastal plateau and hillsides that we passed through brought us into a World criss-crossed with dry stone walls and prickly pear cactus groves. The hills were burnt brownish tan with a hint of pink.
Occasional shrike, swallow, and kestrels patrol through the sky, and it seems as if only birds could extract a living from such a sparse environment.
18th January 2007.



The view of the seaward pylon and dock from the cliffs above the port.
17th January 2007.



Sprats, seen within the port near Sidi Ifni, they will often appear on your menu in Morocco as "Merlin".
17th January 2007.




Click upon the above video clip to view mysterious movements by shoals of sprats within Sidi Ifni harbour.

They favour the areas of shadow beneath pontoons, and under the hulls of small boats. They swim in a lugubrious manner, with proportionally large heads tapering away into slender bodies, which move through the water in a sinuous fashion.

This location is endowed with the peaceful Mediterranean calm that can sometimes be encountered at such latitudes ... south from the rage of industrial civilisation, and north of tropical chaos.

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