Desert Tour

4-23-2009 -- 4-24-2009

Today we left Marrakech to spend the night in the Zagora desert. Caitlin, Romina and I met our tour group at 7 a.m. and headed to Zagora via minibus to sleep in a traditional Berber village. We drove 7 hours before arriving in Zagora. It was fantastic scenery and Morocco is absolutely beautiful. We passed terrain where Babel and The Gladiator were filmed, visited small Moroccan towns and rocked a Casbah. I LOVE MOROCCO.

Finally, after a full day of travel, we arrived in Zagora and rode our camels into the desert. I have to say, the camel ride was not the best experience in the world. It was actually extremely uncomfortable and camels smell REALLY bad, but it was all worth it when we met our final destination. We parked our camels next to beautiful tents made of carpets and gathered to have tea with the Berber people.

A man dressed in purple robes sat us around a table inside the tent and served us tea. He went around the table and asked where everyone was from. Our group was small, but diverse. There was a man from Argentina, a man from England, and a family from Lisbon. The family had two small children who spoke French, Portuguese and English. I thought it was an amazing experience for a child and admired this family immensely. I just can't picture Camilla on a desert excursion sleeping in a tent. LOL. After we all shared where we were from, the man said, "Welcome. Tonight we are all Berber." After the tea we all chatted a bit and waited for dinner. Dinner was served soon after and we were all very hungry. What was for dinner? Tagine chicken of course.

After dinner everyone passed out from complete exhaustion. In the middle of the night strong gusts of wind woke us all up. It was a bit scary, but I loved the sensation. It was like being in the middle of a desert storm. The tent was flapping and you could hear the wind howl. Simply fantastic. I slept surprisingly well for being in a tent. Everyone says the desert is really cold at night, but it just wasn't that cold actually. There was a big change in temperature from day to night, but I was certainly comfortable in a light jacket.

The next morning we all ate bread and cream cheese. They even made us coffee. It's not exactly common to find coffee in Morocco, but the tea is ubiquitous. After breakfast we were all ready to return to civilization. It was a long journey back to Marrakech and I don't think any of us were looking forward to the camel ride.

Hours later we arrived in Marrakech. I immediately hit the souk. I had to find some clean clothes and I just wanted to walk around a bit. Then we headed to the hostel for nice hot shower. SO NICE! Caitlin and Romina ate dinner at the main square and I went carpet shopping. I met up with them after dinner and now the fun begins. Romina was tired and so she headed back to the hostel to sleep. Caitlin and I wanted to enjoy the medina and so we found a cafe with a terrace view and sat drinking orange juice.

I'm not sure how this happened exactly, but at the cafe Caitlin and I were approached by some local boys. The men in Morocco were extremely attracted to Caitlin. She was hounded by them the entire trip. These guys were nice and we struck up a conversation. I never felt threatened or afraid of any of the locals in Morocco. I found the Moroccan people to be very kind. I think the biggest danger in Morocco is getting ripped off in the souk. Anyway, we were sitting and chatting and these guys talked us into going for a ride on their motorbikes. Looking back I just don't see how on Earth we agreed to do such a thing, but I'm glad we did. We ended up riding through the labyrinth streets of Marrakech on the back of motorinos. It was a fantastic way to see the city. After a while, we returned to the main square and walked to our hostel. Mamma mia! What a couple of days?