Coming for you Sahara

Currently driving through the mountains of Morocco and it is absolutely breathtaking and stunning! We were up at 6:30 this morning to eat breakfast before heading out to the desert! We signed up for two days one night and were with about 6 other people. We walked from our hostel to where the markets are in Marrakech and hopped in our white vans to head off! I'm beyond tired right now but where's the fun in a car ride if all you do is sleep? The mountains are about an hour or so outside Marrakech. Once we started gaining some altitude, we stopped for a cup of coffee at a tiny cafe. The cafe had a balcony in the back of it that overlooked the beginning of the mountains. Since it's so early in the morning, the mountains are covered head to toe in fog. Which, I must say, the fog hugging the mountains is actually beautiful. Our coffee break was quick and now we're back in the van and on the winding roads of the mountains! Excited for what's ahead!!

This drive seems like eternity but the views make up for it. The coolest part, I think, about this drive is that we're driving through all these small mountain Moroccan villages. Morocco is still a developing country so although Marrakech is beautiful, these small villages look almost abandon and run down because they are so poor. Driving through all the villages in the mountains reminds me of how fortunate I am to have the life I do. These villages are small, crappily made, there are kids just hanging out on the side of the road, and their currency is only .10 worth of ours. It's crazy to think $300 to them is only $30 to us. This place is so magical but also so poor and still underdeveloped. I'm so fortunate that I grew up in a great little town, stayed in my beautiful house for my entire childhood and more. My dad coached my youth soccer team and lacrosse team. I attended a great public high school and currently an amazing college thanks to my parents. Beyond lucky to have parents so caring, so inspiring, so loving of me and each other. I'm so grateful to see the different culture of Morocco but it definitely makes me realize how grateful and lucky I am. Never forget that. Five hours later we've stopped in a Berber town for lunch. A man was waiting outside our bus to walk us through the town. Narrow Alleyways and old stone buildings, this place was built in the 1500's. It use to be a Jewish town with a huge synagogue but the guy made it very clear that he was not Jewish. You can see the snowy mountains in the distance although we're still 3 hours or so from the desert. Lunch was good but we definitely got trapped in a tourist trap. Way too pricey for what we got but it was food so we were okay with that!

Back on the road again heading to Zagora and the scenery is just getting better and better. I wasn't too sure what to expect but it definitely wasn't this. Right next to the road is a forest of green grass, palm trees, and a rice blue watered river. Very tropical for a desert. Right behind all the palm trees is a huge red clay plateau. The most magnificent by far. The sediment lines are all completely visible, mixing the red clay with all different shades of brown.

We made it!! After countless hours in the car we arrived at the outskirts of Zagora to hop on our camels!! We sat on them for awhile while they were laying down before they stood up. We had two lines of about 6 camels and we left in a hurry to catch the sunlight. I have to say, riding a camel was much bumpier than I thought! I excepted horse like but this thing was like straight bouncing up and down. My camel was in the back of the line so I had the few of the desert plus the view of the lines of camels. Sometimes the camel at the end of the other line ended up right next to me so I was able to pet his head every now and then! What was definitely weird about the camels was how they walk. Their feet come so close to each other it's a shock they never trip over them!! We were on the camels for about an hour before we arrived at our camp! As we pulled up to the camp, we see a donkey running around and the owner running after it! Turns out the donkey got lose and the owner couldn't catch it, but I must say it was the funniest sight to watch. The donkey weaving in and out of tents before escaping to the open from his owner!

The desert we were at was known as the "little desert", sounded by few plateaus! When we arrived it was sunset and nothing was more beautiful. All the camels were sitting down and the sky was a perfect shade a mango right behind them. The camp was about 10 tents and luckily we got a 5 person tent to ourselves! After a quick cup of mint tea we had some time to roam around before dinner time! We wondered around the sand dunes and sat down for a bit taking in the views. It was starting to cool down with the sun setting but if you dug down in the sand, you could still feel the warmth! Climbing the sand dunes were nearly impossible. The sink kept sinking down and we kept falling. It was all fun and games until we took our shoes off and dumped more sand than we'd like to admit out.

Our dinner took place it a tent, set up with multiple tables and cushions to sit on the ground. We started off bread and soup! It seemed to be the traditional Moroccan soup! Our main course was turkey tangie and it was delicious as always. Steamed potatoes and carrots with a side of nice clementines! Post dinner was a drum show filled with dancing. Definitely not what we expected but was cool for a couple of minutes! Joe and I joined in dancing on a circle with some locals and some other tourist goers. By this time it was dark and we had our interests set on stargazing.

The stars were magnificent! The first you could easily spot was Pleiades! Along with everything else of course. We think we saw Venus along with many other constellations. It was cool to see most the Milky Way and I was fortunate enough to wish upon a shooting star! I hope the wish comes true! No matter what direction you looked, the stars were never ending and it had me thinking how amazing the people were who didn't have light and we're just led by stars. It's amazing that most of the stars we see now, are dead and gone. They're just so far away we see their light. We sat by the fire for a bit before we went toward the camels and sat around talking and sharing stories while enjoying the view of the stars. I am so unbelievably happy I came out to the desert for the night. The car ride was absolutely worth it. The stars were really something else! I wish only that my dad could see this view with me and see how amazing it is!! I know he would love it. I like to think some of the bright stars I saw were Opa, grandma and grandpa, shining their light and their watchful eye over me. Although it's only 10, we've been up since 6am and didn't sleep on the car ride since it was so beautiful. Tomorrow morning we're up at 6am for breakfast and a sunrise camel ride! Excited to see what the sunrise looks like compared to the sunset! Goodnight Sahara:)