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.