Hindu Kush La Via del Profumo

First trip to Morocco several years ago. Heavy thunderstorms over the entire Atlas region. After three attempts to land in Marrakech in heavy turbulence and three attempts to take off again immediately before landing, we are informed that there is only enough fuel for one more landing attempt, and that will be on the coast in Agadir. Most of the passengers just want to get down, no matter where... By now it is late evening. We disembark, the air is balmy and mild. After a while, we are loaded onto a bus that takes us through the coastal foothills of the Atlas Mountains. It's dark, I'm tired, I nod off... In the dead of night, the bus stops in Chichaoua, where important overland roads intersect, and we sleepily get off at the Moroccan version of a highway service station: It smells of forest and incense. A large sandy square, lit by small lamps and wood fires, lined with many small food stalls where small and large tajines are cooking on the fire. I marvel, look and enjoy the aromas. I don't speak Arabic yet, I can't make myself understood here. My gaze meets the gaze of a man in a djellabah with a brown, very wrinkled face and open, kind, infinitely deep eyes. I can't tell his age, but I have the feeling that he sees exactly who I am, that he sees ME... I choose a tajine. It's potatoes, well seasoned and with a small piece of fatty mutton on top. It tastes good. Somewhere, someone is sprinkling fresh green incense on the embers...

I have never forgotten the look on the man's face at the wayside cross in Chichaoua. And Hindu Kush evokes that night with its scents.
Geographically, of course, this is a complete misnomer, because I've never been to the Hindu Kush. On the Via del Profumo website, AbdesSalaam Attar (Dominique Dubrana) explains that the Hindu Kush mountain range was the natural border between ancient India, Persia and Central Asia. This is also the source of the holy river Indus. In the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, travelers may find themselves in a state of mind where they become part of the mountains, where people of different dress, practices and religions have always come together. With its scent of forests, wood fires, spices and food, the perfume is intended to bring together the sacred and the profane, the joys of life and spirituality, busyness and inner peace.

The fragrance does not so much transport me to an Indian or Afghan market, but to this very special place in Morocco, and into the eyes of the (old?) man. At the very beginning, I smell very fresh green incense with a hint of pine resin, then it gradually gets warmer and the other notes come in: nice earthy patchouli and then something green and fresh, yes, ginger comes in, as well as moss, incense, incense sticks. Later also cumin, pepper, nutmeg (but definitely no wood smoke and no bacon :-).
After 3.5 hours, it becomes very close and quiet, but lasts a long time:
This journey through my memories of wood fire, forest, incense and also the mountain passes of the High Atlas takes about six hours.