The Saharan Weekend in the Red Dunes...

Hello Friends and Family.
This weekend I spent four days traveling and visiting the Sahara desert. It was great!

After an 8 hour day of traveling on a bus, we arrived at a beautiful resort in the middle of nowhere. It reminded me of the Moroccan exhibit at Epcot, with lush gardens, Moroccan music, two pools, and everything else for a palace-esque Moroccan paradise. We arrived Thursday night, had a great buffet style meal, complete with couscous, lamb, cow hooves, and who knows what else.. There was dancing and Berber (native Moroccan) music after dinner. Of course I joined in and felt compelled to dance. They brought out some of the sparkly hip belts and tried to teach us to shake our hips like they did. Most of us failed miserably. But we failed together at least.

Friday we woke up bright and early, ready to leave the comfort of the hotel for a day of museums and ruins. We had a little rundown of the area and the historic significance; there was a wall of sultan portraits that was a little surreal to look at. We have our history of presidents, some wearing wigs. They have a history of sultans, bearing swords.

We had lunch and visited a few shops. I bought a black berber scarf for the camel ride, even though the traditional color is blue. But really, I just have so many blue things. Scarfs in hand, or on head, we were ready for the desert.

I rode a camel (the Arabic word is Jamal) that I named Xavier, although he had a real name that I could not pronounce nor remember correctly. Dahabeena...? X was easier. My camel was old and short, not the cutest of the bunch, but trusty and pretty chill. We were tied up in lines of 5, each led by a guide. Initially, hearing that you are led by someone doesn't seem as exciting when riding an already very slow camel. However, since the dunes are actually very difficult to maneuver, since you sink down into them a bit, it was nice having a professional Berber show our camels the safest paths to take. Camel riding gets a bit sore after a while and scary when you are going downhill. All I can compare it to is a continual process of falling, very bumpy. But I survived.

It was a breathtaking trip as we rode across the dunes as the sun was setting. After the two-hour camel ride, we arrived at camp. A huge sand mountain was behind our tents and a few of the students decided to climb it. It's not that high, right? A couple guys started running. I, evidently never one to be outdone, started to run too. This put me (and the guys) out of breath within five minutes. Then we started to realize how freakishly high this mountain was. Half of it I legitimately climbed by crawling up... on my hands and knees since the sand sunk so much that walking was futile. A few of us made it to the top (well after dark at this point) and we forgot the pain and reveled in our success. It was really windy up there and I believe that I conquered the mountain merely by collecting it in my hair. Of course, I ran down.

Back at our circle of tents, we enjoyed a meal together and then dancing broke out again. This time more people joined in, rocking out to the Berber drum beats. We took the dancing outside and under the stars. We had 5 or 6 Berber guys that were our guides and musicians, each willing to show us some move they enjoyed. A couple people tried pounding out a beat on their drums. I refrained from drumming, compelled instead to dance on the sand in the destitute darkness.
Watch out USA, I might be bringing some of the berber moves back to the states...



P.S. Evidently the politically correct thing to call Berbers is the Amazigh, but most just go by Berber. There has been a sort of mini-revolution in Morocco, where the Berber language used to be against the law and the people were labelled as second-class citizens. Now the culture and heritage is increasingly more valued and the government is attempting to right old wrongs.

After a lot of people went to bed, I stayed for a little just chatting with the Berbers and some other students. We left camp and went out past where the camels were sleeping, and told jokes and riddles. The riddles, as tricky as they already are, were even harder from the Berbers when their English was only so/so. If you got an answer wrong, they would yell, MAAA, or BAAA, I couldn't really tell.

In the morning, I awoke to catch the sunrise over the dunes, but unfortunately it was cloudy and hard to see much, plus we had to leave and ride the camels back. :( However, this only inspires me to someday return to watch the sunrise again over the Sahara. I am left with hope instead of disappointment. It was beautifully serene.

Saturday we went to a self-sustaining women's center, where the rural community creates their own goods, grows their food and educates the children. Then we headed back to the first hotel, where we had a free day to eat, swim, and do whatever. I swam in both the outdoor pool and then, as a result of a sandstorm (it is the desert after all) swam inside. I haven't swam in a long time and it felt wonderful. I relaxed the rest of the day, taking a much needed nap and getting some reading in.

Sunday we headed back and passed by one mountain area where there were wild monkeys!!! Well, I guess they were apes. Tourists where feeding them and taking pictures; one was eating the Yami Yogurt that we all like so much. Cute AND smart little guys.

I am comfortably back and listening to traffic and honking horns in Rabat, missing the quiet of the desert. I love you all friends and family!