Chapter Three: The Sahara Desert and Why Morocco Moved Me

When I imagined all the amazing experiences I’d have while studying abroad in Spain, riding on the back of a camel and snowboarding down sand dunes weren’t exactly on my list. That being said, by the time we’d left Fez and headed to the edge of the great Sahara, I was so culture shocked by this whole excursion that I wouldn’t expect anything less.

Day or night, the Sahara Desert is captivatingly beautiful in a strange and extraterrestrial kind of way. Just imagine thousands and thousands of miles worth of piled sand, untouched by human footprints, which changes colors and patterns with the wind and the sunlight throughout the day. When we first arrived it was several hours past sunset, and the sand was glowing a dark red beneath the full moon and a deep blue sky. Immediately after putting our stuff inside the tents, the girls and I went to explore – running up hills of sand and cartwheeling down, then hiking up to the top of the biggest dunes, and burying our feet beneath the sand where the temperature was still warm from the midday sun.

Sitting on the edge of a steep dune, the six of us buried ourselves in sand, and gazed up at the bright stars, which looked so much closer and brighter than any of the stars I’ve ever seen on my continent. Something about the simplicity, and emptiness of this place was incredibly peaceful. How interesting that a vast desert could be a kind of natural haven from the complexity of the rest of the world.

The next morning, we woke up at dusk, and hiked into the desert with the bereberes (the people who live in the desert and run the tourist camp – pronounced “berry berries” by the Spanish) where we found a good view from the top of a sand dune to watch the sun rise. The formerly red sand turned a bright gold, then faded into yellow and orange as the sun rose higher into the early morning sky. Everyone tried to capture it in pictures, but quickly realized that it was futile. A 4 x 6 in. photo couldn’t even begin to touch the beauty that our eyes and senses were taking in.

After the sun had officially risen, we headed back to camp and “befriended” one of the Berbers named Ouhana Mohamed, who was very outgoing, and immediately started conversation with us as we were walking. Most of the Berbers get less than a middle school education, but speak five to six different languages, which they pick up from tourists that visit the area. Ouhana was no exception – he spoke Arabic, Italian, some German, some Chineese, and pretty good Spanish, which was our language of choice. So after pulling us feet first down a few sand dunes, he brought us to a larger dune, let us try on his traditional dress and took our pictures… then pulled out a backpack full of jewelry and fossil rocks that he said he would sell to us for “muy buen precio” (“very good price.”)

Once we returned to camp, the day became all kinds of eventful, with a camel ride through the desert, hiking up giant dunes, visiting a Saharan village, and an evening dance party with the Berbers. A lot of these experiences I got on film – so here’s a few tidbits for you to enjoy:

First, introducing my camel, Bob Marley. (He came pre-named.)



Lucky for us, Bob was a trooper and didn’t throw a fit when we tried to get up on him. (Unlike some of the others, who dealt with pissy and bucking camels. Not a fun experience, from what it looked like.)



While riding the camel, Cecily and I decided that it was necessary to do a rendition of Aladdin’s “Arabian Nights” song. We might have made up half the words, and missed the correct key by several notes… but for memories sake, I suppose it’s still worth posting :p

VIDEO

After riding Bob out into the dunes, we began our big and very challenging hike up to the top of the largest sand dunes, where we could see the border between Morocco and Algeria. If you’ve ever walked or ran on the beach, you have some idea as to how this hike must have felt – except instead of walking flat on several feet of sand, we hiked straight up a good quarter mile high sandcastle that would occasionally avalanche if you got the footing wrong. Needless to say, reaching the very top was a true accomplishment.



…And then of course Noele our program guide brought a snowboard, which I quickly pounced on the opportunity to try out from the top of the dune. There wasn’t much time to do anything fancy, so I just found the highest part of the dune that I could, strapped in, and went for it. Sadly, the video doesn’t do it much justice – but let me tell you. Snowboarding down a sand dune in the Sahara Desert is at the very top of the “life accomplishments” list in my book. :)



By the time we did our village tour everyone was absolutely exhausted, dehydrated (they didn’t tell us we’d be leaving all day, so almost no one brought water) and very ready to head back to camp. That being said, the two hour long tour of the village was incredibly sad and eye opening, and really gave us a view into the reality of life in a developing country. I didn’t get many pictures, but the few I have are very telling – skinny little kids with mismatched clothing, a school house with cracked walls and bare, exposed light bulbs, big Coca Cola signs at the village hub, which was clearly designed for tourists to buy cheap candy and soda for 10 durhams a piece. (10 durhams = 1 euro = roughly $1.50.)

At the end of our tour we walked a mile and a half back to camp, listening to the midday prayer over blaring speakers that echoed it hauntingly through the desert.

In my first in these series of posts, I mentioned that Morocco was hard to describe – it both moved, and deeply bothered me in ways that I didn’t expect, and am still trying to find words to explain. My friend Kevin is a fellow aspiring journalist, and did an EXCELLENT job capturing some of these feelings by interviewing people on our program, and taking video throughout our trip. Watch his video, (made much more professionally than my vlogs :) ) and hopefully you’ll get a better sense of our whole experience.