Desert Solitaire

My first encounter with some camels.

Caravan into the desert.

The camp where we spent the night.

Quality bonding time with my camel, who I somehow forgot to name...

Sahara!

Sahara!

 

 

 

 

 

This weekend I had the great opportunity to spend the weekend traveling down south and into the Sahara. After another long week of Darija class, we left directly from school and boarded two small buses for a seven hour ride.  Now, as unenjoyable as  a seven hour bus ride sounds, imagine a seven hour bus ride where air conditioning consisted of a few puffs of air and a mix CD composed of Celine Dion, Johnny Hallyday and Hotel California being blasted the entire time.  The one consolation was getting the chance to observe the diversity that lies within Morocco's geography.  As we left Fez, we passed through the beautiful forests and mountains of Ifrane, before heading further south to what felt exactly like driving through Arizona or New Mexico, with high mountains and sparse terrain.  The windy and steep roads can only be described as beautifully terrifying, as our driver seemed to think that the best way to traverse them was in the center of the lane going what felt like a hundred miles an hour.  Through the blasting music, the curving roads and the terrifying driving, we finally arrived at the hotel. We were greeted with men playing Berber music as well as delicious dates. The hotel itself, which was decorated to look exactly how people would picture Morocco, was in reality, nothing like the Morocco I have come to know and love.  Stepping into the hotel, I immidiately realized that this hotel was designed with tourists in mind, and although beautiful, I had never felt so far away from Morocco. 

Now, all this aside, the hotel had great rooms and two amazing swimming pools.  After four weeks in the heat and congestion of Fez, a swimming pool was a welcome relief.  We were so eager to swim, we immidiately changed into swim suits, ate dinner and headed straight for the pool before collapsing into our comfortable beds around 11.

Saturday morning we woke up with quite a bit of free time, so once again I went swimming.  Afterwards we boarded back on the bus, and immediately the same mix CD began to play, leaving Celine Dion songs I had never heard stuck in my head for the next two hours.  We arrived at another hotel, where we dropped off our stuff and prepared for our excursion into the Sahara.  I have never road a camel before in my life and I was expecting at least same kind of instruction before we left.  Instead, one of the guides pointed at me, pointed at a camel, and said 'get on'.  So, putting on my bravest face I climbed onto the camel.  It was sitting down, and really did not look that big.  Immediately after I got on, the camel began to rock and I clenched the small, metal handle, and held on for dear life as the camel first lurched forward, lifting up his back legs, then sharply threw me backwards as the front legs followed.  A little warning might have been nice, but I was up and I was staying up there for the next two hours.  Everyone warned me that camels were mean and smelled bad, I experienced neither of those, however they are extremely uncomfortable to ride.  After the first five minutes, the excitement of riding a camel began to wear off, and my legs and butt began to fell the pain.  The other thing about camels is they don't move fast and the Sahara although beautiful, is just sand after sand after sand...Truth be told, I was extremely happy to arrive at the camp and get off the camel.

The camp where we were staying is at an oasis, so there is a well for drinking water.  There was no electricity and the bathroom (which did have actual toilets, just no means to flush them) was located outside the camp and slightly difficult (actually impossible) to find without a flash light.  We all immediately settled in and took in the beauty of the night sky. I have never seen so many stars in all my life.  The rest of the night consisted of table discussions over tea, a nice dinner, and music performed by the guides.  We then pulled out our little mattresses from the 'tents' and spent the night sleeping under the stars.

The next morning we awoke around 5:30 to watch the sunrise.  Conversations were pretty much at a minimum, as we were all without breakfast and it was 5:30 in the morning...After the beautiful sunrise, I realized it was time to get back on the camel for another two hour ride back to the hotel.  It somehow seemed to go faster, and it was fun hearing all of the names of the camels (from Barack Obama to Michael Jackson).  We got back to the hotel around 8:30 and had a buffet breakfast waiting for us (which included cereal, a welcomed change from my usual bread, butter and jam that I have every morning). After breakfast was a quick shower (to get all the sand and camel stench out) and we boarded the bus for the ten hour bus ride back to Fez. 

This bus ride too seemed to go by quicker than the ride out.  There were a lot of different trivia games played, ranging from twenty questions to naming capital cities.  It became apparent that the bus was full of nerds when the answers to the 20 question game consisted of Rangoon,Venus Flytrap and Stephen Hawking...

As soon as the bus arrived in Fez, I went straight home and went straight to bed.  I don't think I have ever been so exhausted in my entire life. The experience though, was truly once in a lifetime, and was well worth the lack of air conditioning, Celine Dion play lists and the fact that I am still sore (3 days later).  It was also a good reminder that my time in Fez here is ticking away, as I will be moving to Rabat in two weeks to finish the rest of my language study.  Oddly enough, Fez has started to feel like home.  I am finally getting to know my way around, speak enough of Darija to communicate at the most basic level, and even now believe that no meal is complete without bread and coffee must have at least two sugar cubes and be 3/4 milk.  Although I am ready to start the next chapter of this adventure in Fez (and hopefully start working with some immigrants) there is still a lot I need to see and do in Fez and will use my next two weeks wisely.