Blogs from Morocco, Africa - page 218

I left off as our journey into the Sahara began. Half an hour into the desert our 4x4 broke down. It took about 20 minutes to fix, do to the magical appearance of two dirt bike riders who helped us out. We travelled through Dra'a towards the Algerian border. The desert is large and sweeping, but not all of it is like the orange sand dunes you see on tv. A lot of it is flat dry land with small shrubs and scattered volcanic rocks. Though I asked everywhere, no one could tell me where the rocks came from. There is also evidence of life- tracksin the ground from birds, snakes, lizards, the remains of goat bones and food waste frol human camps; camel droppings. Anyways, an hour of driving later brought us the what could ... read more

24 t/m 26 Jan Ik hou het kort deze keer, ten eerste is er weinig te belven in Fes, ten tweede is het scherm van mijn laptop kapot en moet ik in een internet café op een azerty-toetsenbord tikken, ik wordt er nu al gek van. Ik neem de bus vanaf m'n hotel in Melilla naar de grens, het heeft geregend vannacht en het is vresselijk smerig en modderig, overal modderige plassen enkeldiep en een drukte van belang, de straat wordt onderbroken door een groot hek, met wat Spaanse douane die zo nu en dat een Marokaan uit de gigantische stroom mensen pikt die moet één of ander kooi in en daar zullen ze dan wel gecheckt worden, ze slepen ook echt letterlijk alles mee de grens over, van groenten en fruit tot wasmachines en drogers, ... read more

For the New Year (by the Islamic calendar) I went to visit another volunteer who lives in the Marrakech region. She had planned a hike with some of her students and we left town, headed for the Atlas foothills. Her town is right at the base of the mountains, though at low enough elevation that it was still warm in the afternoon sun. We didn't have to worry about the new snow they got up at higher elevations. We had a good dozen kids when we started out, though some dropped off and others joined on as we walked along. It was fun for me to get out of town and hike out in the hills. I have been in the Atlas far less than I had hoped when I arrived here. After going uphill for ... read more

Agadir, what a beautiful drive for 7 hours of perfect panoramas, and endless breaking waves of the Atlantic Ocean. It was so mesmerizing no one said many words at all. We stopped in Safi and Essouara, where we dropped of an English guy we had met in Casa. The land was flatter than I had expected, too flat. Salt flats littered the ride from to Safi and the strong spelled of potassium filled the air around the city. Agadir is a tourist town. One that has long been trapped in the spell of vacation packages and sun burnt Europeans that travel a thousand miles to sit in French cafés and look at a vista no different than those of the North Mediterranean, or for that matter, Florida or the Caribbean. Its a place over run with ... read more

Shortly after we left Ouarzazate, I started to get a chilling feeling in my gut. My head began to spin and the road was bumpy. I started to think that a late night trek into the Sahara might not be the best idea ever conceived. I open the window, clawing for fresh air. I was nauseated and weak, but not wanting to be a baby, sat in the back seat staring out at the darkness and wondering where the sand dunes were. I didn't see any and I worried about how long we would drive into the night. We passed Zagora and veered away from civilization. I kept quiet, with my eyes out the window looking for a nice, quiet, dark place to die alone. I started to think, what have we done? I am dying ... read more