I needed to try maakouda before I left, and I had been told that Azrou had the best maakouda, so it was only logical that I go. The small town is about a half hour grand taxi ride from Ifrane, and though it took us a few restaurants, the fried mashed potato we found was worth it.
Maakouda is literally that–potatoes mashed with some herbs and spices and then coated in a thin layer of batter and fried. They were super greasy and I had drops of orange running down my hand, but oh so good, and at a dirham a piece, we couldn’t go wrong.
On our way back, we stopped by the Azrou forest again to see the monkeys. I was delighted to spend a good two hours sitting and feeding them sunflower seeds as my previous two encounters had been rather rushed. They are ridiculously friendly, and we had a lot of fun hanging out with them.