Let me just say, I'm in no way an out doorsy type of person, but I loved it!!!
So it started with a 9 hour bus ride that was spilt on the first day. We stopped at what is known as one of the nicest hotels in Morocco on the first night. It was nice, it had air conditioning so home girl ain't complaining!
The next morning we left bright and early and went to the different tours around the Sahara.
We stopped in a small city for a small walk through of old burbur neighborhoods and saw the most adorable kids. That is until one of the little girls ran up on me, grabbed my braids, and yelled "Rastafarian!"
Then we talked to them for a whole; actually more like listened since I had no idea what they were saying, but I know it was mean and degrading because the guys were too embarrassed to translate for us.
After leaving there we headed to the Gnagua performance which was do amazing it has it's own post!
Then we finally reached the Sahara! It was nothing but sand on sand on sand for miles! Before we actually arrived it rained for all of 3-4 minutes, which was actually a blessing in disguise but we didn't realize at the time. It was a blessing because since the sand was a little compacted, when the wind was blowing all crazy (which it did for most of the night) the sand didn't blow in our faces or my hair :)
We got to pick our camels, and mine was a beautiful caramel mocha latte color (also the drink I was craving at the time) so that's what I named him. I just called him mocha for short, and good thing for it because too many times I had to yell his name to tell him to slow down (which he had no intentions of doing).
After the fairly painful ride of screams, we arrived at our camp site which was beautifully set up. We had tea (yea, even the Moroccans in the desert drink tea!) and climbed the tallest dune in sight. It took me about 23 minutes (the average was probably 5 without my time included!) but that's irrelevant because mama didn't raise no quitter so I made it up!
The pain in my calves and shortness of breath was not worth the sight ONLY because it was so dark nothing was visible.
You're probably wondering, couldn't the stars and moon light the sky. And you're right, if the stars and moon were visible through the smug clouds, which they weren't.
I star gazed (actually just imagined more than 3 visible stars in the sky) until about 4am then took a quick nap before waking up at 5 to see the sun rise.
My thighs were so sore from the first ride that the second time they went half numb, which was fine until I had to get down to watch an imaginary sun rise.
You guessed it! It was so cloudy less that 12 hours later that the sun never actually rose, but the sky magically became lit. At this point, I really didn't care because I was so tired I just wanted to get in the car and sleep.
We got back to the camp and ate breakfast. Then headed out back to the city to pick up our van and go back home! I really enjoyed the trip even with all the flies on everything, sand in the food, and nearly broken femur!
Next weekend is Tangier which should be awesome! Can't wait to use a few of my Spanish skills, notice I said few! ;)
سلام
Deveney
FAQs
Q: Did you pee in the Sahara?
A: Yes I did, twice in fact!
Q: How did they prepare the food?
A: Your guess is as good as mine though I'm sure it has something to do with aluminum burners.
Q: What did you do until 4 am?
A: Other than imagining stars, played drums and tried to sing Arabic songs, huge fail.
Q: Was there really sand in the food?
A: You stop recognizing the small things when you're trying to avoid scorpions or thinking about how bad you're legs hurt
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Q: Was it worth it?
A: If I could do it again tomorrow, I would be on a 9 hour bus ride!!!
This is a pic of me in my turban! More to come, really though!
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