We are nearing the end of our time in Morocco. We are currently in the small village of Merzouga. It's about an 8-9 hour trip from Rabat. I was expecting the drive here to be much longer and more difficult than it was. We started off on a train from Rabat to Meknes and from Meknes we took a Bus. The bus ride was long, but absolutely beautiful. Morocco really has some amazing scenery. We passed through quite a bit of snow on the Atlas mountains. I was briefly reminded that it's December.
We are staying at Riad Mamouche It is absolutely lovely! They are setting up the entire camel trek for us making everything very easy. We have a pool - which is way too cold to use right now, but I imagine it's amazing for those who stay here during the summer months. There is a beautiful terrace with a view of the entire village and the food is safe and seriously good. We even were able to take a steamy hot shower...that is somewhat of a luxury around here it seems. It's a good thing, because as far as Merzouga goes, there really isn't much of anything to do. I haven't seen any restaurants - definitely no alcohol and only a select number of tourist shops. The tourist shops in Merzouga are much more expensive than anything at the Medina in Rabat. I'm glad we made most of our purchases there.
We arrived to Merzouga at 5am. A taxi picked us up and brought us to the Riad where we took a 3 hour nap before enjoying breakfast on the terrace. We then walked around the town - noting there was absolutely nothing to do. However, I did stop and take tons of pictures of camels. I'm totally fascinated with them. They seem so kind and gentle, not to mention smart!
At 3:30pm, we met the guide outside by the camels. Their names were Bob Marley and Led Zepplin. I wonder how many other camels have the exact same name. It's clear the camels are very well cared for which makes me very happy. I was pretty nervous that wouldn't be the case. The camels listen to the guide really well. They lay down when he tells them to, and they stand up when he tells them too. I thought that was pretty cool.
We headed out into the Sahara to our camp. It was about a 1.5 hour camel ride - which was plenty. Any longer and I'm sure I would have been very sore. We stopped to take pictures during the sunset which was absolutely breathtaking.
Our camp was pretty nice. It was powered by solar panels, so we had light in our sleeping tent in addition to the dining tent. Our guide started making us dinner and we ran up a sand dune - it's not as easy as it sounds! We stargazed for an hour or so and discussed the Muslim religion. It was very fascinating and I learned a ton.
For dinner we had a wheat berry soup and a chicken tangine. I wasn't feeling the best, so I only had the soup. Aaron and Mohamed enjoyed the tangine.
After dinner we had a small fire with a little drum circle. It was amazing to be underneath the stars in the Sahara desert listening to the drums next to the fire. Firewood is a very limited resource for them, so it was a small fire, but very hot and lovely.
We slept with 7 very heavy blankets on us. We couldn't help but laugh because they were so heavy it was difficult to move while we were under them. Aaron fell asleep right away. Of course I couldn't sleep and had to get up to go to the bathroom at like 1am. I was not excited about getting up from under the covers to go outside in the freezing cold to go to the bathroom. On top of that, I was very afraid of the Sahara desert monster that might try to get me.
I woke up alive. We trekked back to the Riad for breakfast and a day of rest before heading to Fez.
We are staying at Riad Mamouche It is absolutely lovely! They are setting up the entire camel trek for us making everything very easy. We have a pool - which is way too cold to use right now, but I imagine it's amazing for those who stay here during the summer months. There is a beautiful terrace with a view of the entire village and the food is safe and seriously good. We even were able to take a steamy hot shower...that is somewhat of a luxury around here it seems. It's a good thing, because as far as Merzouga goes, there really isn't much of anything to do. I haven't seen any restaurants - definitely no alcohol and only a select number of tourist shops. The tourist shops in Merzouga are much more expensive than anything at the Medina in Rabat. I'm glad we made most of our purchases there.
We arrived to Merzouga at 5am. A taxi picked us up and brought us to the Riad where we took a 3 hour nap before enjoying breakfast on the terrace. We then walked around the town - noting there was absolutely nothing to do. However, I did stop and take tons of pictures of camels. I'm totally fascinated with them. They seem so kind and gentle, not to mention smart!
At 3:30pm, we met the guide outside by the camels. Their names were Bob Marley and Led Zepplin. I wonder how many other camels have the exact same name. It's clear the camels are very well cared for which makes me very happy. I was pretty nervous that wouldn't be the case. The camels listen to the guide really well. They lay down when he tells them to, and they stand up when he tells them too. I thought that was pretty cool.
We headed out into the Sahara to our camp. It was about a 1.5 hour camel ride - which was plenty. Any longer and I'm sure I would have been very sore. We stopped to take pictures during the sunset which was absolutely breathtaking.
Our camp was pretty nice. It was powered by solar panels, so we had light in our sleeping tent in addition to the dining tent. Our guide started making us dinner and we ran up a sand dune - it's not as easy as it sounds! We stargazed for an hour or so and discussed the Muslim religion. It was very fascinating and I learned a ton.
For dinner we had a wheat berry soup and a chicken tangine. I wasn't feeling the best, so I only had the soup. Aaron and Mohamed enjoyed the tangine.
After dinner we had a small fire with a little drum circle. It was amazing to be underneath the stars in the Sahara desert listening to the drums next to the fire. Firewood is a very limited resource for them, so it was a small fire, but very hot and lovely.
We slept with 7 very heavy blankets on us. We couldn't help but laugh because they were so heavy it was difficult to move while we were under them. Aaron fell asleep right away. Of course I couldn't sleep and had to get up to go to the bathroom at like 1am. I was not excited about getting up from under the covers to go outside in the freezing cold to go to the bathroom. On top of that, I was very afraid of the Sahara desert monster that might try to get me.
No comments:
Post a Comment