The Sahara

We left Fes for a 10-hour bus ride to the Sahara. We stopped around lunch at a view overlooking an oasis where we would be dining. You can tell it was once a river channel, huh? It was definitely interesting to see. The trees looked just ike a river of green. At the mirador, little boys came running us with little camels woven from grass. I bought one, and it is one of my favote purchases. The oasis was such a different landscape than we had been seeing. It went from dirt with scattered bushes, small trees, and trash, to a plethora of grass, plants, creeks, and palm trees. We walked through the oasis to a restaurants, which was a madhouse with students. But the food was good, and the bathrooms were clean, so I was more than happy. Yet, I am always amazed at how rude and ungrateful people can be...even next to others who you know have much less that you do. Students were complaining about the chicken, that they had to pay for water, that the service wasn't fast enough, etc. And we wonder why the world has such a negative view of Americans.

After lunch we stopped once near a spot were a sheep herder and his two young boys were with their sheep. People were literally chasing the sheep and scattering them out for nearly 20 minutes just for their own entertainment, and without any regard to the fact that this man and his children were going to have to gather his herd together again. Some people truly are idiots.

After a few movies in the bus and a few more desert potty breaks, we were ready to get into the SUV's that would take us to our campsite in the desert. In the picture below, we are all loaded into our SUV. We drove out of town and across a road with a river running across it - literally. And before long, we were driving through the desert. It was night, so we weren't able to see much more than a faint outline of the dunes, but the ride was intense. The SUV's spread out across the desert's zigzaging dirt trails. We drove and bumped along for close to 45 minutes. And believe it or not, there is washboard roads in the desert too. Our driver drove fast over bumps and dunes, literally throwing us from our seats. To be honest, without being able to see, it was similar to riding with Jimbob on a minimum maintenance road.

Finally, we could see the ligh of our campsite. It was a series of big tents - a bar tent, meal tent, bathroom tent, and the sleeping tents. The tents were made out of thick blankets with rugs on the floors.

The bar tent.

The supper tent

This pic is a little out of order, but this is our friend we met on the first night. A very fun guy - very full of energy.

Our first stop (after we'd dropped off our bags in our sleeping tent) was the bar for some Moroccan tea, which let me tell you, I have been missing out on my entire life. It's a sweet mint tea, and it's fantastic. Next, we went out to the dunes to play in the sand. The sand was almost as fine as flour and a lot more orange that I expected it to be. We wrestled and rolled ourselves down the dunes, and when we were tired out, we laid and looked at the stars. I couldn't believe I was actually in the Sahara desert.

In the morning, we were woken up at 5:45 am by the berbers - the people that live in the desert and ran our campsite. We walked to a high dune to watch the sunrise. And let me tell you, walking uphill in the sand is killer - it's like a stair stepper from hell. But it was worth it. It was a mix of blues, reds, and oranges raising over the sand. It was almost magical.

After the sunset was breakfast and then the camels! To be honest, at first it is terrifying. These animals are soo much larger than horses. When the camel stands it's hard to stay on because he stands with his back legs first and then his front. And it's a bouncy ride, but it didn't take long because I was happy as a lark and completely stoked to be riding a camel in the Sahara! Unbelievable. And it was hot, even with our turbans on, which are used to keep you cool. Not an inch of shade as far as the eye could see.

We rode all the way to a huge dune...that we had to walk up. It was a job, and I thought I was going to die of exhaustion half way through, but I made it. At the top we took pictures, like the one below, and watched people slide down the dune with Noelia's snowboard. We walked back down while we watched the berber guys race down the dune. I was shocked that they didn't fall - they were going soo fast! We hopped back on our camels and continued to the berber desert town. While we were on our way, we met Adi - the guy that was the boss of the camel rides.

Adi walked with us to the town trying to teach me Arabic and Berber without much sucess - my brain can't handle any more languages. We had a great time talking. He also took Mel and I into a room and showed us how they make the bread that they eat here, which is what he is doing in the picture. He invited us to hang out later back at the campsite.

The desert town was very, very brown, for lack of a better word. The buildings were made of straw and mud blocks. There were children weaving among us here too, and Mel and I gave them some of the bubbles we brought. I wish we would have brought more. We took a tour of the little town. In the middle of the town was a garden with plants to feed the animals and people. It was irrigated by water found under the sand dunes. Who knew, right? We walked to a berber rug shop, and it was so interesting to learn about all the different types of rugs. Berber women traditionally make four rugs in their lives. First, they make a rug for their fiance when they become engaged. At this point, the couple hasn't seen eachother because marriages are arranged, so the bride puts her personality into this rug. The next rug is made when the bride moves in with the groom and his family. Fun, huh? This rug is to show the woman's worth and competency. And these rugs have so much symbolism - protection from the evil eye, zigzags to show wandering life in the desert, etc. It was fascinating. The next rug she makes is a travel rug - this is more of a tradition now to remember the life the berber people lived as nomads. The last rug they make after they are forty, and it is a reflection of their life. These rugs are absolutely stunning.

After the rug shop, we were able to visit a school. When we got these, the kids were lined up against the wall holding their chalkboards with words to welcome us. After this, they were told to go to their seats. The school had only one room and close to 20-30 kids - girls on one side and boys on the other. We had brought toys, candy, and school supplies for the kids, and they were all very excited! I was excited too, to be honest. I've missed my time with kids since I've been here. Once again, I had wished that I'd brought more things.

These two liked having their picture taken, so they could look at it afterwards.

The kids that weren't in school, like these guys, followed us back to our campsite. Mel, Jill, Ellen, and I lagged behind the rest of the group because we were still playing.

Many people told us how grateful we would be after we saw how these people lived, and while I would say this trip did make me understand how much we take for granted, I also realized that just because we have more money and material things doesn't mean we live in a happier, better world. These people in the desert don't have much. The kids don't have playgrounds or ice cream or a room full of toys; but they are full, well-clothed, and happy. The desert is their playground. These people take care of eachother - they had plenty of food, they are warm, they have homes - and they aren't caught up in this materialistic rat race always needing more, more, more. The berber people are, I believe, happy. Once again, our way isn't necessarily the better way.

We got back to the campsite, and women from the village were doing henna (not sure on the spelling). We paided our dirham, and they painted designs on our hands. In their culture, a woman paints these designs on her hands to signify she is ready for marriage, and I suppose I need all the help I can get. jk, jk. But it was very fun and lasted about a week!

After henna, we went up to a sand dune where Adi and his friends were playing music and dancing. Mel and I danced with them for awhile and had a great time learning all of their dances. Then Adi asked us if we wanted to hang out with his and his friends for awhile.

Us girls went with them to another dune, and I had one of the best nights of my life. We sat under the Sahara stars while they taught us more arabic and berber words. These guys are so intelligent! They speak arabic, berber, french, spanish, and limited english. They learned french at school, and they learned spanish and english from the tourists because they had too. They speak less english because they had fewer english-speaking tourists. We talked and talked and laughed and laughed. It's funny - people are still people no matter where you are.

After awhile, they taught us a new song while playing their guitar and recorder. "Vamos a la playa, vamos a la playa. Aqui no hay playa. Solo hay arena, solo hay arena, y las estrellas!" There are more verses but this was the jist of it. I was amazed by how much energy these guys had. They ran our campsite and had lead our camels through the desert by foot. I would have been exhausted by the end of the day, and they were so full of life! And speaking of music - these guys could play absolutely anything. And by anything, I mean even a pan and a table. They even played a tin trash can and made it sound fantastic. I wish I would've had a tape recorder to record all beats and rhythms they would pull our of random objects.

They asked us if we had ever had a berber sand massage - obviously the answer was no. They said that during the off season, many Moroccan people come out for these massages. It usually involved the whole body, but they just showed us on our calves. They buried our legs in the sand, and then pushed down and massaged through the sand. You may think this sounds crazy, but it was the most relaxing, exfoliating things ever.

After awhile, we all had to head down to supper. After eating, we had musicians in the supper tent for our last night in the desert. We danced for awhile and had a great time, but in all honesty, we were a little too exhausted from the day to do much dancing. Us girls headed outside and sat down to watch the stars. What we turned out watching was Adi and Hassan doing the traditional berber camel dance. They were dancing before we came outside just for their own enjoyment. It may sound ridiculous, but the dance was mesmerizing. The entire dance tells a story of a camel and his master. I could have stayed and watched them all night.

Needless to say, I was very sad to leave these people, this culture, and the desert the next morning.