The Morocco Diaries Part 3: Into the Sahara

Ahh... the expansive Sahara Desert. Before we even booked our tickets to Morocco it was decided: if we were going to go all the way to Northern Africa, we were going to make the extra trek to the Sahara. We started looking into Sahara trips before we left, but only came across private tours that were way out of our budget. So we started asking around about tours on our first day in Marrakech and had something booked by the evening of the second day. We booked a 3 day/2 night trip leaving bright and early Christmas morning. Our trip was to include many stops in the High Atlas Mountains and the highlight of the trip: a camel ride to a Berber tent where we would camp in the desert.

We woke up X-mas morning (which obviously didn't feel any different from any other day at this point) and made our way to meet our ride. We would be spending the next 3 days squashed into a mini-van with 12 other people + driver. Luckily for us, we ended up with a good group and made some great new friends. To get to the area of the Sahara which we were heading to, it is about a 8 hour drive non-stop, through the twisty roads of the High Atlas Mountains. Of course we made plenty of stops, so it took us much more than 8 hours to arrive.

The first day of the trip, Jason and I had the honor of sitting in the front seat next to the driver. This was good because we could see where we were going and got some good pictures out the windshield, but also just a little terrifying in the mountain roads. But thankfully, this guy had nothing on those crazy Thai mini-van drivers. Now that was scary!

Day one we had to brave the rain all day long. But, we still got to see some nice things.

Stopped at the high point of the pass through the Atlas mountains for a great view.

Went to a famous 'kasbah' where several movies, such as Gladiator, have filmed scenes.

Ate a terrific lunch in the mountain town of Ouarzazate.

Enjoyed the night in a small, cold, dirty... yet atmospheric hotel located in the Dades Gorge.

The hotel staff prepared a great dinner of couscous, tajines and Moroccan salads for our group as well as the many other tour groups that were staying in the hotel that evening. After dinner, most people went right back up to their cold rooms and went to bed. But Jason and I and another American couple from our group, Pam and Jose, as well as a Dutch girl, all stayed down to sit by the fire and play cards and chat with our Berber (native Moroccan) hosts. It was a great evening of delicious mint tea and sharing a Shisha pipe. It was a really unusually but great way to spend Christmas, meeting people from other countries and learning about their culture and sharing their traditions. Isn't that what Christmas should be about, anyway?

The next day was another early morning rise. But this day we were pleasantly surprised to see that the rain had stopped and the clouds parted to give us a brilliant blue sky. We had all been so worried that we would arrive in the Sahara and have to turn around because this would be the one day of the year it rained in the sand dunes. But fortunately, that was not the case. The perfect weather made everything that day that much more fantastic.

We stopped to see an amazing oasis of thousands of palms in an otherwise barren landscape.

Visited the Toldra Gorge with it's breath taking vertical cliffs.

We toured the farmlands of a small village and had tea in a carpet shop with a local man.

Okay, so that last one wasn't as good as the others. We spent over an hour at the carpet shop, far longer than any of our other stops. By that time we were all antsy to get to the desert and really none of us were very interested in purchasing carpets at that point, anyway. This is when going on cheap group tours gets annoying.

After another stop for lunch and several more hours in the mini-van, we finally made it to the desert just in time for sundown. We were all a little upset that we didn't make it to the dunes earlier, with time to ride the camels and THEN see the sunset, but it's not like we had any choice in the matter. So we were all ushered on to our respective camels and shot blurry photos of the dunes at sunset from our bumpy ride. Yes, riding camels through the Sahara at sunset is definitely an experience, but about 30 minutes would be experience enough. We rode for about an hour to arrive at our small group of tents nestled between the dunes.

We relaxed in the tents atop piles of blankets, drinking mint tea and listening to our Berber hosts lively up the place with drums and singing. Excellent. Later we all shared some great lemon chicken tajines (are you seeing a trend here yet?) and our numerous travel stories. My favorite part of the whole experience was that there were two adorable cats living in tents, way out in the middle of the desert. As soon as I sat down, one of the kittens came up to me and curled up and rested on my lap for a good hour or so. I need animals in my life.

After dinner, to really enjoy the Sahara Experience, about half of the group opted for a hike up the biggest sand dune around. It proved to only take about 30 minutes or so to hike, but man that was a strenuous 30 minutes. Climbing up steep walls of sand is not an easy task. At the top of the dune we admired the millions of stars, which were unfortunately dulled by the almost full moon. But still, a couple shooting stars were spotted.

Jason and I jumped, ran and laughed our way back down the dunes in about 5 minutes time, and found our tent we would be sharing with Pam and Jose for the night. We went to bed at about 11pm and had been warned that the temperature would drop dramatically in the middle of night, so we all piled as many blankets on ourselves as we could find.

Whoever said it was cold in the desert at night sure wasn't kidding. I was so cold- and uncomfortable- all night that I couldn't move. Waking up at 6am and trying to get back on the camel was pure torture. Even sleeping with all my clothes on and several heavy blankets, I have never felt so cold in my life. Horrible. Take a word from the wise and don't sleep in a tent in the Sahara. A hotel would suit much better.

Waking up at six, we pulled our dreary eyes open and curled up atop the camels for the ride back to civilization. So after two full days of driving, we arrived in the desert late in the evening and left again early the next morning before we really even had a chance to think about where we were. Yes, it was a great and memorable experience. But if I could do it all over again, I think I would pay the extra whatever amount and get a private tour where I could take my time and make sure I got everything out of the experience that I wanted. But, you get what you pay for. And for $100 for 3 days, including transport (van and camel), 2 nights lodging and 4 meals, it was still great.

That third day we drove almost all the way straight through to Marrakech, only stopping for lunch and bathroom breaks. It was about a ten hour day and after not sleeping well in the tent and not showering or so much as looking in a mirror, we were exhausted and disgusting by the time we reached Marrakech. We said our goodbyes to Pam and Jose (who were heading back to Spain the next day and then on to Belgium where they will continue working- they're cooks!) and found our home for the next two nights. The beautiful, warm and peaceful Dar Darma. Just in time.

The Morocco Diaries Part 2: First Impressions

Ok, so I've taken a little longer to continue writing about Morocco than I had planned. January was busy (as was December... and November...). But anyway, I have some time now. So to continue where I left off:

We arrived in Marrakech, Morocco early in the morning on Wednesday Dec. 23. After going through customs and marveling at the beautiful airport terminal, we met back up with David and Mike to share a taxi into town. We did our best to haggle a decent price and headed off toward the medina. The taxi driver stopped in some tiny alleyway and told Mike and David that it was their hostel. We didn't see anything that looked right, but they said ok and got out to try and find their place. The taxi driver did the same with us, pointed down a long alley and said we would find our hotel in that direction. Luckily for us, there just so happened to be a teenage boy who was more than happy to show us the way to our hotel for a small fee. We quickly learned that this is common practice here and the kids have learned a great way to make a quick buck. The streets are so small and winding, if you don't know where you are going it is almost impossible to find your way. So of course the poor, confused tourists are glad to have someone show them the way.

The boy took us down the dark and dirty alley, making several turns, and left us at a very plain, old and door with no markings. This was our hotel. Hmmm... We were unsure what to make of it, but knocked on the door to see what would happen. A woman opened the door and showed us into a beautiful, white immaculate courtyard. It was completely quiet inside except for the chirping of the two small birds that fly around the courtyard. The decorations were amazing and the whole are was so light and airy, it felt just like a slice of heaven. We were shown to our room, which was just as beautiful as the courtyard, and immediately fell into the big fluffy bed for an overdue nap.

After a few hours of relaxing and washing the dirt of the airport floor off, we decided to head out to explore the city. We found some delicious couscous at a small restaurant on the main square, Djemna el Fna. The square is really amazing. It has been declared a UNESCO world heritage site, and rightfully so. It is constantly bustling with activity, late into the night. There are dozens of snake charmers, playing their flutes for the cobras standing on guard. Henna artists that grab any limb they can reach to do their drawings. Men walk around carrying monkeys to pose with tourists, people put on short plays for whoever will listen, play guitar, make games, dress up in costumes, etc. The fresh orange juice stands that line the square are one of my favorite things there. Only about $0.40 for a glass of delicious fresh squeezed juice any time of day.

And in the evening is when things really get going. At sun down, around 100 vendors pull in their donkey carts and set up tents that are turned into restaurants. It is amazing just how many things they cart in, and the fact that they do it day after day. Tables and benches, stoves, all the cooking equipment and pounds and pounds of food are all brought in and prepared to make dinner for tourists and locals alike. It's an incredible sight to see, and another thing that makes Marrakech such a special place.

So anyway, after having lunch we met back up with Mike and Dave to do some exploring. We wandered around through the souks (markets). In the souks you can find pretty much anything you can imagine. From American style clothing to traditional head scarfs to butchered meat to live chameleons. Plus there are great handmade leather bags and shoes, beautiful tea sets, rugs galore, hookahs, wood carvings, pricey ceramics, Moroccan clothing, etc. The souks are, of course, in alleyways and are so twisty once you get in it's nearly impossible to find your way back out (I think this is the idea..). So that first day with Mike and David, we didn't buy anything but just marveled at all the wonders. After walking around for some time we all got a little tired and decided to head back to Mike and David's hostel to relax and ready ourselves for "the feast" the hostel was preparing. We had a great time hanging out drinking Moroccan beer, sharing a hookah with new friends and listening to the rain (by the way, it had been raining all day and we were all soaked. My favorite boots soaked through and drenched my feet. I had to toss those boots after that because they were too destroyed by the rain. RIP brown Spain boots). Anyway, we met relaxed in the candlelit room and met new travelers (Belgian, French, Dutch...) and enjoyed the wonderful feast. The hostel staff made giant dishes of vegetable couscous, chicken tajines, lamb, etc. Later that night we waited for the rain to slow and wandered home through the alleys. It was a perfect first day of our trip.