Ride Sally Ride

September 11 - Camel Trek: Part one   

 

            Today we left the hotel at 0700 to head to the Sahara! We had a 7-8 hour bus ride which would be longer if you include the stops. We took a coach bus and were on our way to the outskirts of Marrakech. Jamal, our tour guide, told us we would be traveling through the High Atlas Mountains which are famous in Morocco. They were high alright!! Eddie, our other trip leader kept asking if anyone wanted motion sickness medicine because the roads would be very windy and we would be reaching an altitude of some 2,000 kilometers. Looking out the window at all the mountains ahead of us, I was getting nervous! As soon as we started up the mountain we saw a truck turned over on its side! That didn’t give me a good feeling about this trip through the mountains. Our bus driver was crazy! He would zoom around the corners and up the hills. The roads literally went back and forth as we climbed the mountain. We passed many small towns with the same types of shops selling odds and ends. It looked like people were not very busy because everyone was always sitting down outside near the road. As we got deeper into the mountains we started seeing houses made right out of the mountains. Clothes were strung all over the outside walls to dry and donkeys were all over the place. I couldn’t believe the poverty level. Jamal told us that the majority of these houses rarely had running water. It was sad that so many people live like that. When we passed children in the towns they were always eager to wave to us!! It was exciting to see how happy they were despite the way they lived.

            Small towns and houses came few and far between as the hours passed. For a while at a time all we could see were mountains. There were no guard rails and when I looked down over the cliff I couldn’t believe how steep it was. We were so high up and there wasn’t much holding us back from falling over those cliffs. That’s when I started to get nervous when I bus driver would speed constantly. Surprisingly, there were other trucks and cars on the road. Whenever we got behind one, our driver would pass them at mock 500 speed!!! I think I saw my life flash in front of me a few times. I was petrified we would be going over the cliff and never make it to the camels! We had an extremely close call about half way through the ride. I was sleeping and all of a sudden Lauren puts her arm across me and we jerked to a stop. I woke up and we were about 5 inches away from the rocks on the wall of the mountain. A truck had been coming straight at us around the corner because he was on the wrong side of the road. If we hit him, the truck would have been over the cliff – and I don’t know if we would have been following. I was SO scared!!! Needless to say, I didn’t sleep after that! We pulled over a little way down the road to regroup and everyone was shaken up. We had an amazing view over the cliff that we almost went over so I made sure to get some pictures of that! Once the bus driver settled down we got back on the bus and stopped for lunch.

            The other three buses were already in the restaurant. It was literally in the middle of nowhere because we were somewhere in the High Atlas Mountains. I was surprised a place located her could even stay in business because there was nothing around at all! The day was September 11^th, so before our meal one of our leaders said a few words and we had a moment of silence in memory of the day. It was hard to be away from home on this day because of how important it is in our country’s history but it was also amazing to be so far away from the U.S. and still have such a powerful moment of silence. I was really happy that we all took the time to acknowledge the day and remember. After lunch we headed back on the road to Zagaura (the city right outside the Sahara where we would meet our camels). The ride lasted forever because we were so anxious for the camel trek. When we finally arrived we scrambled to take what we didn’t need out of our backpacks. Lauren and I shared her hiking backpack so we wouldn’t have to worry about two bags. The camels were all sitting down in a huge group waiting for us! We had to go in riding groups because there were so many of us. I walked the first portion which wasn’t bad because I was so excited to be taking pictures of the camels! When it was my turn I chose my camel and named him Fivel! He was great. I was so scared for him to stand up. Fivel leaned down on his knees to get his on his back legs then stood straight up. It was extremely awkward and I thought I was going to fall off him! Once we started riding we formed a group with the other trains of camels so there was a bunch of us. I was having so much fun and everyone knew it because I was just a hootin’ and hollerin’. Throughout our ride some children from a village nearby were standing on the side of our train watching us. We would say “hi” and wave at them and they looked so happy! There were also random herds of sheep on the way which was kinda funny to see. We stopped again and I got on another camel named Sally. This was our final trek to the camp and as we rode I sang “Ride Sally Ride”. Everyone seemed to enjoy the entertainment! Getting off the camel was the most challenging part because it felt like you were on a rollercoaster. First, the camel kneels down and it looks like you’re going head first into the ground, then you lean back really far when the hind legs sit down; it’s quite the process. My butt hurt pretty badly after I got off but I had so much fun!

            We arrived at the camp and it looked like a little village made of tents. As we walked through the entrance way we were greeted by a singing/chanting Moroccan nomad group in all white – it definitely made the experience. Inside there was a big square with a fire pit in the center. To left were more tents filled with small tables and comfy bench seats where we would eat dinner. To the right were our sleeping tents made out of carpet and rug material. We got our tent assignments and dropped our bags; each tent held six cots with blankets. In the center of our tent village the nomads set up a drink bar for us with soda, water, beer, and wine to purchase. I bought a Moroccan beer and it was pretty good besides the fact that it was warmer than any beer I’ve ever had before! Dinner wasn’t for another two hours so we climbed to the top of the dune and watched the sun go down. It was pretty unbelievable sitting there with a group of new friends, watching the sunset in the middle of the Sahara (kinda).

**On the last summer voyage, Morocco was the last port of call. Three students were on the same camel trek trip that I just went on but were kicked off SAS. Apparently, the three boys got really drunk and started fighting. They ended up destroying the nomads’ tents and were ultimately sent home. To hear a story like that was really embarrassing because when you come into another country you need to be aware that you are in another country. Acting like animals and idiots is not a great way to make a good impression on the people of the country. I was actually surprised that they still served alcohol while we were at the camp. They even had a bottle of hard liquor for 1000 Dirham (about $125) – no one bought that!  Luckily, there were no fights – just one really drunk guy who wouldn’t shut up when everyone was trying to sleep.**

             We went back to camp and sat around waiting for dinner to start. The nomads started singing and dancing again and before I knew it everyone was up dancing and trying to sing with them. We really did more clapping and laughing than actually singing because we had no idea what they were saying. I got pulled up by the woman in the Moroccan group to dance and it was really cool to dance around with her. I had a great time even though we couldn’t even communicate with each other. We ate dinner at 2030 so that everyone could eat at the same time because of Ramadan (Islam religion’s month of fasting). The meal started off with bread and a salsa dish, of course; I’ve never eaten so many carbs in one trip! The main dish was a Moroccan twist of beef stew and it was really good. Dessert was some sort of melon that I’m going to call Nomad Melon. It was delicious and tasted like a mix between cantaloupe and honey dew with an extra flavor of goodness.

            We spent the rest of the night talking, which was occasionally interrupted by more singing, dancing, and clapping. Everyone loved it the first few times but after a while it felt like they were coming out to entertain us every ten minutes. We eventually got a game of Mafia going in one of the dinner tents. I’ve never played the game before and everyone on the ship seems to be playing it all the time. It turned out to be really fun and definitely a great game to play with a huge group of people in the middle of the desert. Each person gets a card which will tell you if you are a townsperson, mafia member, nurse, or sheriff. The narrator leads the game and everyone closes their eyes at certain times for others to find out information about the other players. The mafia chooses who to “kill” and then there is an argument/trial about who killed the person. It gets pretty intense and I got to be the mafia for one round which was awesome! We played a few rounds and then everyone was slowly going to bed. A huge group of us decided to pull our cots out from the tents and put them in the middle of the camp to sleep under the stars. It was quite a process but we eventually had all the beds laid out perfectly. Our sleepover consisted of Lauren, Kristin, Jeremy, Bryan, Kaitlyn, Kim, Rebecca, Laura, Rochelle, and me! For our beds, we were given a mat, two sheets, a pillow, and a thick wool blanket. There was sand all inside the blankets so therefore in all of our beds. No matter how much you brushed off, more appeared. We finally gave up and tucked our pant legs in our socks (to avoid from anything crawling up there like the scorpion that was found a few feet from the camp) and settled into our sandboxes. The sky was so clear and you could see so many stars in the sky. It was one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen. We all fell asleep looking at the stars in our little pow wow of beds. Until tomorrow...