Rostom, our driver, felt sorry for us having to spend more than half the day in Erfoud, where there really isn’t much to do or see, so he took us to Rissani, the closest town of significant size to Erg Chebbi, the largest sand desert in Morocco. It certainly wasn’t a tourist attraction, but it was actually an interesting place to walk around.

Our tour guide, Ishan, really seemed to like to have his picture taken. But he also knew that locals didn’t want to be photographed, so it seemed OK with them if I appeared to be taking a picture of him, not them. This merchant insisted that we sample some of his delicious dates.

A market scene at the souk in Rissani, posted earlier: