Blogs from Merzouga, Meknès-Tafilalet, Morocco, Africa - page 5

It has been a whirlwind of activity since the last post. We finished up our Sociology and Arabic courses with a pretty brutal final exam in Arabic, and a quite lax one for Sociology. We spend the previous weekend studying, and making last minute stops to shops, interesting sites, and Marjane—a very large supermarket that gave us a little slice of the huge supermarket scene we were accustomed to at home. In Morocco, most stores are specialized and often quite small, so it was very rare for us to see something this large. If we weren’t making it on foot in the Medina, we were most likely traveling around by Taxi—an experience in which a co-traveler, Monica, documents quite well in this narrative. http://docs.google.com/View?docID=dd4bh73x_1fh66km&revision=_latest In Morocco, I have felt that I have made a stronger connection ... read more

You know when you are at the edge of the Saraha desert. The sand dunes seems to rise up out of nowhere, and there are camels waiting all lined up waiting for you! Getting on a camel is a bıt of a balancing act, but once you are up there, it is a very cool experience. We headed out about an hour before sunset, and as we headed out to the camp, the colors of the sand change from yellow to orange to terracotta and red. Arriving at the camp some of us ran up and down the dunes, some chilling out, recovering from the camel ride. As dinner was being prepared the stars began to come out and I don't ever recall being able to see that many stars ever in my lifetime. After dinner, ... read more

3-13 May Slowly by bus I started to make my way down through the moountains and deserts to the out-of-the-way little town of Merzougha, which doesn't have a lot to offer except that is sits on the edge of the Sahara sand dunes. This took me from the pretty Berber town of Azrou on to another not as pretty Berber town called Midelt, and then to Erfoud and finally to Merzhouga. This travel is all by bus as the train network is concentrated on the north and connecting the major cities. The buses are not too different from any of the other buses I've had in the third world, except on the leg from Azrou to Midelt we stopped at a small town, and passengers getting off collected their baggage and oncoming passengers towed their ... read more

I took a three day organized trip to the edge of the Sahara on the Algerian border. We rode camels into the middle of the desert and spent the night in Berber tents in the dunes. These are a few of the views along the way, the pictures say more than I ever could.... read more