in which liz rides a camel (dromadir)

we left for the sahara first thing friday morning. the drive to azrou took only 3 hours and we arrived by noon. azrou is a small town in the middle atlas mountains bordering a forest. in this forest are some monkeys who love tourists and the food they provide. we spent the afternoon hiking in the snow and taking pictures of the monkeys. very cute and very grabby.


next up was a walk through azrou to find some batteries for my camera. i was told that the town was accustomed to tourists because they do peace corps training at the hotel we were staying at, but i only found one friendly person and she sold me batteries. the rest were young guys who hooted and yelled 'hey baby,' and one charming young man who walked up to me, burped in my face, and walked away chuckling with his friends. so very charming.

the next morning we woke up even earlier for the 6 hour drive to the desert. we drove through the rest of the middle atlas mountains, then across a plain, then through the high atlas mountains, and then down towards the desert.


we arrived in merzouga around 4 in the afternoon and had tea at the place where we got the camels. the we each got our own camel (all 18 of us) and there were several berber guides to take us into the desert. with the 7 dwarfs theme apparent in everyones camel names, i dubbed mine doc.

first of all, we had to tie our scarves in berber fashion to keep the sand out of our faces.



the very worst part about camel rides is when they stand up and sit down. their legs are very long and they pitch you violently forward and backward. also, the ride feels pretty smooth, but when you get off, your ass is really sore. but in all, the hour and a half long camel ride was amazing, especially when we got out of view of the city. you are surrounded by golden glowing sand and the sun was setting.





our campsite was directly behind the huge sand mountain in the picture above. before dinner we hiked up to see the stars. it is rather difficult to hike up sand mountains, let me tell you. every time you take a step you slide backwards. but the view from the top was amazing. getting down is much easier. mostly you slide into the dark with the distant light of the fire guiding you to the campsite.


then we had dinner in one of the tents. surprisingly good for camping fare.


when dinner was all cleaned up, out guides brought out their drums. there was drumming and dancing for hours under the stars!
(i tried to upload a video here, but it clearly didnt work.)

then we went to sleep, since we had to get up at 5:30 am. i slept until about 3 am and woke up freezing beyond freezing cold. i have literally never been so cold in my life. i was wearing a tank top, a long sleeved shirt, a sweatshirt, a hoodie, a scarf, my pajama pants and my jeans. and i had a mattress and a blanket. not a pleasant 2 and a half hours until i could get up and get moving. but finally we got back on the camels and headed back to the van.


we ate breakfast and got on the road for our 9 hour drive home.

the best part about driving home for 9 hours was not the girl behind me kicking me in the bac for 9 hours. it was seeing every different kind of scenery imaginable. we drove through the desert. then up into the high atlas mountains.


then we came down into a large plain.




then we drove into the middle atlas mountains, smack into the middle of a snow storm.


as we headed down the mountain the rain turned into snow, and then stopped altogether. the land was green and full of orchards and fields.

we had a beautiful sunset and arrived home in time for dinner.

this country is so freaking cool.

essaouira

essaouira is like chefchaouen except on the beach instead of the mountains. nicole, lindsey, and i left right after work on friday, nearly missing our train. the trip takes 8 hours, a 5 hour train ride to marrakech and then a 3 hour bus ride to essaouira. the driver managed not to hit anything. we arrived late at night and managed to negotiate the windy streets of the medina to find our hotel. the next morning we woke up to have breakfast on the terrace on the hotel roof. it was clear that a storm was brewing when the crazy gusts of wind pushed a potted 4 foot cactus onto my arm. attack cactus!

we went out to wander the streets before the storm broke. found some great shopping, mostly jewelery and managed to get some lunch. then we decided to go back to the hotel when it started pouring buckets.

all of us headed up to the roof to watch the storm from the covered porch on the roof. i made some very nice british friends with rum and we spent the afternoon watching the torrential downpour. for about 2 minutes around sunset the rain stopped and the sun came out.



then it started raining again and we went to dinner. some of the best seafood i've ever had.


the next morning we woke up early hoping to see some more of the city. luckily the weather was good and we walked around the walls of the city by the ocean.






we had a beautiful walk on the beach, ate breakfast, and went home.

all in all, a relaxing weekend with some nice shopping and a nice walk by the beach. i'd love to go back some weekend when its not raining!

chefchaouen

chaouen is a gorgeous little town in the mountains; a 5 hour bus ride from rabat. a perilous 5 hours. we left in the late afternoon and were supposed to arrive around 9 pm. we would have made it early too, given the 'skills' of our bus driver. imagine windy mountain roads at night. imagine a maniac bus driver from hell who is on a schedule. imagine passing every bus, car, and truck on the windy mountain roads on on the left, when on either side you just see darkness and imagine cliff edges.

but we were almost there. 10 kilometers from chefchaouen. that was when we hit the hay truck. the hay truck was fine; a few bales fell off of the back. but the side mirror of the bus folded in half and the front window cracked pretty badly. then they had to call the police and we all proceeded to wait in the freezing cold on the side of the road for 2 hours. we probably could have walked the 10 kilometers in that time, despite our bags and walking up a mountain.
we finally arrived around 11 pm and made it to our hotel.

the next morning we woke up and went out to explore.




the streets are all blue and picturesque. it reminded me of greece.

we spent the morning walking around, going to the casbah museum, and going in circles in the medina streets. the casbah museum has an old tower with great views of the mountains.



in the afternoon we decided to hike up to the abandoned mosque on a hill overlooking the city. so, up we went, passing pot fields and the boys who guard them from tourists. when we finally got up we were amazed with the view of the whole valley. we were also amused by the spanish tourists smoking hash in the tower of the abandoned mosque.



last, we went up to the atlas hotel to watch sunset. the hotel is horribly ugly on the mountainside, but has a great view and overpriced drinks.




it was an amazing day. unfortunately, we had to leave at 7 am sunday morning as it was the only but back to rabat. but its such an incredible little mountain town! amazingly beautiful weekend!