Arabian Nights (Written by Maria!)

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Our Sahara Expedition

The three day tour that Matt and I signed up for was cheap, efficient, and we got exactly what such price deserved - transportation. Over the three days, we covered over 1000 km in total, travelling from Marrakech to Ouarzazate to Draa River, through Todra Gorge to a base camp near Zagora, an oasis town surrounded by palm tree plantations, and the traditional departure point for camel tracks through Sahara, and, finally, to Fes.

First day:
Driving, picture stop, some more driving, then some more picture stops. Our driver communicated to us in a very simple language- “Stop, 10 minutes, restaurant, café, river, toilet”, then it was “Stop, 1 hour, lunch, picture, toilet”. After spending only one hour that was allocated to us by the driver in Ouarzazate, we found ourselves helpless in trying to negotiate more time for exploring the inside of the city. Our driver was ruthless, and his ''Yala,'' Arabic for ''Let's go,'' was a staple of our trip chatter from then onwards. As for Ouarzazate, one girl from our group later noted that at present, Ouarzazate hosts one of the largest movie studios (Atlas Studios). Several historical movies were shot on those studios including the recent ones - Gladiator, Alexander, Mummy 2, and Babel.

Second day:
With a couple more photo-stops, we successfully made it through our first tourist “trap” - a carpet presentation. Our host, a Berber family, was incredibly welcoming and unassuming, which we would later come to find a powerful sales tactic. We learned about various traditional techniques of carpet making, the process itself, the fine quality of workmanship, and the women who work sometimes as long as six months to make one special carpet (with hidden “for you” indication). During this time carpets were unfolded and placed in front of our group... it was the time for the grand finale, "So how do you like my family's carpets?" At which time a struggle for silence began, who would be the first to allow words to escape, thereby becoming a victim...uh, customer. The pleasantries were over, there was no more mint tea to drink, nothing to do except to stare again at the carpets and try to keep your mouth shut. Needless to say, I was happy for the tour, but also happy to leave this place and proud of our group - everyone made it without a purchase.

Desert camel trekking camp:
After a stop at a beautiful Todra Gorge (the entrance to which we could only enjoy because the night before heavy rains razed a bridge we needed to cross to actually get to the Todra Gorge), we finally arrived to our desert base camp. The landscape was stunning. I was particularly surprised with the brevity in transition from a mere boring desert to beautiful sand dunes that occured within about 200 meters - nothing like I imagined before.

Camel ride:
Exciting at first, but in reality it is really quite uncomfortable.So, after the initial "Yahooooo", you Bum starts saying to you, "What the heck is going on?!?!" And, as I found out, camels can be grumpy, and when they are grumpy, they are loud. We nicknamed one of the camels "Grumps."

Climbing the sand dunes:
Climbing a dune is undeniably tiring.. The distances may not look big, but this is an optical illusion. The dunes are in fact quite high, and climbing on soft sand can be a strenuous exercise as with every step up a small avalanche of sand carries you down almost as far.

Sleeping in a Berber tent:
The night we spent in the desert was warmer than expected. We arrived at the camp around 6 pm and stayed up until 11 pm or so. While all of us were afraid of the sudden drop in temperature, it did not happen. I think the coldest it got was about 60 degrees. Sleeping in an open air was exhilarating and with a camel cover, I felt warm and cozy all night long.

Third day:
400 km (or about that) to Fes….no photo stops!

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Photos

The expedition begins
The Moroccan mountains

Maria learns carpet weaving with local berbers
I tried to sell Maria to a berber man for 27 camels, but he refused on the grounds of her lack of carpet weaving potential.

A night in the open desert
Tents are for wimps, we slept in the open air where we saw a few beatles scurring around - anyone see Mummy 2?