Sahara

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July 19th 2008

Published: July 19th 2008

Its been five days since weve been able to write due to the obvious lack of internet connection in the Sahara. The town in the mountains where weve been hiding (I mean relaxing) is not much more technologically advanced so after a couple of attempts we are finally posting this blog. We were unable to post pics due to the painfully slow connection at the internet cafe. Stay tuned for these pics in a couple of days.
Last Monday we finished our time in Marrakech by wandering the medina and Mohammed V Ave. At night we had dinner in the central square sampling the foods at different stands. We started with moroccan style chickpea and lentil soup, kind of like moroccan pasta fazool. Then we made our way to the sausage stand (we included a picture in our last dispatch). The attendants work around a big round flat top that they throw links of what look like breakfast sausages. This is circled by tables and benches (filled to capacity) and clouds of delicous-smelling sausage-smoke. We were served ten sausages a piece with pieces of koobz (moroccan pita) and a mild tomato sauce. They were unbelievable tasty and well seasoned. Then we went to the snail monger and we shared a small bowl of steaming snails which were pretty good. We washed our food down with freshly squeezed orange juice and two bubble gum twist ice creams. All together everything cost 76 dirhams (under $11).
On Tuesday morning we were up bright and early and met up with our tour group at 7 am. Instead of the planned six people, it turned to be 17 people from all over the world in one big van. We were the only two americans, there were two british girls, one belgian girl and her brazilian boyfriend, one french girl, a pregnant danish couple, an australian couple, a japanese girl and her moroccan friend, two french canadians, and two people from Paris who did not socialize ¡Kwe werent surprised ƒº
The road going towards the desert comprised of nauseating twists and turns on narrow precipitous Atlas mountain roads. Our first stop was Ait Benhaddou which is an ancient kasbah (fort) one of the most well maintained ones in the country and, like almost all older buildings in Morocco, is made out of mud and straw which requires frequent mud additions for maintenance. The fort consists of rooms connected by maze-like hallways meant to confound potential intruders (and tourists). We had lunch (tagine and couscous, yet again) in Ouarzazate which is Moroccos movie capital. We passed one of the movie studios in the middle of the desert and read that parts of the movies Sahara and Gladiator among others were filmed there.
The geography of Morocco changed and appeared so different we felt like we were on a movie set or on the moon. At around 7 pm we arrived in Dades Gorge for our first overnight at Hotel Kasbah de la Vallee. We jumped up and down that we had our own bathroom to shower in especially after eight hours of sweating (the driver did not turn the A/C on until after lunch). Youll never guess what we had for dinner¡K chicken couscous again. It was really fascinating to talk to our fellow travellers and find out about their lives and travel experiences. It reminded me just how much travelling europeans and australians do. Noone was really shocked that Aaron and I would be travelling for four months ; especially when many australians take an entire year and backpack all over.
After dinner just when we thought it was time to turn in, we came back from a walk to hear our little hotel was jumping with the sounds of bongo drums. Before we realized what was happening, hot mint tea was being served and everyone was bobbing their heads and clapping to a lively beat as five of the restaurant staff (all of Berber tribe ancestry) were playing in a circle, surrounded by a small handful of guests, on a balcony. After the song was finished, we were handed drums and encouraged to join in. Aaron showed his Berber roots with his soulful playing and amazing capacity for mint tea ƒº. They loved us and one skinny guy started doing a trancelike dance to the music. This went on for about an hour or so, and everything wrapped up by 10 :30 and we hit the bed hard.
After a nice breakfast of crepes, we had some time to photograph the gorgeous gorges surrounding our hotel, as our driver was changing a flat tire. We drove for another few hours until we arrived in Ihartane Tinghir. We met with a guide that took us along some farming land on the way to a local community. Along the way kids of the neighborhood saw us coming and pulled palm leaves off the trees and wove miniature boats and animals with hopes of selling them to us. We couldnt help buying a couple of items from these adorable kids. We were then welcomed into one of the mud buildings and shown a demonstration on how the berbers make the carpets. They poured us mint tea and told us about the difference between nomads and bedouins (nomads migrate between mountains and desert; bedouins between mountain and sea). The carpets are made from sheep and sometimes camel wool. The colors are all natural too : red comes from poppy, green is alfalfa or mint, yellow is from saffron which also keeps the moths away.
We drove on another few hours before reaching Dodra River Gorge, this also happened to be a fantastic place to cool off our aching tootsies. The next few hours the scenery again started changing, the mountains began to disappear giving way to flat sandy desert. Then something totally unexpected happened: it started to rain ¡Kin the sahara¡Kin July. Luckily for us it only lasted 15 minutes and our thoughts of having to sleep in Saharan mud were relieved.
We reached the end of the road in Morocco, literally. Merzouga is the last town before the sand dunes of the Sahara and the border with Algeria. The last place to get water was at a hostel. We stocked up with a couple extra bottles, paired up with a camel and were ready to go. Getting on the camel was easy ¡V they pretty much lay on their stomachs with their legs tucked under them and let you hop on. The tough part is when they stand up you are thrown forward as they get on their back legs first; then backwards as they get their front legs under them to reach their full height. There is no weight limit written anywhere, but I think it might have been reached when Aaron climbed on his camel and it groaned with desperation. The camel trek lasted about two hours and was led by four Berber guides. Their limited english and french with our limited arabic and berber made for a funny interaction.
The dunes appeared just like in postcards but we were actually among them. Once the camp was reached the guides tied the camels leg and the camels remained a short distance from our tents. By the tents, carpets were thrown on the sand surrounded by tents and all of us sat in a circle as dusk was approaching. The wind, although a bit strong earlier, had now vanished and the desert was peaceful and beautiful. The guides got out their drums and put on a little show for us as dinner was cooking ¡K another tagine. Now we know how Moroccans stay so thin ¡V they get tired of eating the same food all the time. Tagine and couscous, while delicious, make up 90 percent of the menus weve seen in Morocco. It only took us a couple of days to crave something else (even McDonalds). After dinner, everyone fell asleep under the stars on blankets and pillows in the sand (although tents were available).
We woke up the next morning and immediately set off on our camels back to Merzouga ¡V another memorable two hour ride. The rest of the group continued back to Marrakech in the van; while we were dropped off at a bus station to take a bus to Fes. About 30 minutes into our bus trip we realized what a bad idea it was. Not only was the bus crowded and non-air conditioned, but it seemed to stop every 15 minutes to let people on and off. What we thought would be a eight hour drive would probably take at least 11 hours. We couldnt take it. Luckily, we were sitting near a French-Canandian couple (the only other non-Morrocans there) who were getting off a couple hours before Fez in a small city called Azrou in the Atlas Mountains. They described it to us, and the idea of relaxing for a few days there before catching our flight to Cairo out of Fez had immediate appeal . We got off the bus gratefully and took a cab to the Hotel Panorama where we took a two-days overdue shower and fell asleep.
There isnt much to Azrou ¡V just several outdoor cafes and restaurants ; perhaps a few shops and the outdoor bazaar ¡V and thats just what we wanted. Weve spent the last couple days sleeping in, avoiding couscous and tagine, and watching the action from our hotel balcony overlooking the bazaar -- the best people-watching there is for only 120 dirham ($18) per night, with shared bath at the Hotel de Beausejour.

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