And the safari begins....

EARLY!
I don't like waking up early. Well. I do. But, that's just not me. If I were that type of person that didn't enjoy my sleep way too much, I would love to be an early bird.
We woke up and had to be ready to leave at 7 a.m. to go to the desert! Our guide for the next 2 days, Ismail, came to pick us up right at 7. We packed our stuff and were off! It ended up being that it was only us 3 that were going to be on the tour we had booked. This made our cheap deal even better! We had our very own private tour guide and van. Wonderful. It was the same way in Egypt. The whole time it reminded me of the tour I did in Egypt. Our driver's name was Ahmed, and he didn't speak much English. After getting out of the city, we headed towards the Atlas Mountains. Once we got into the mountains, I had not realized that there were forests and such in Morocco as well as deserts! It was a really neat road, the mountains were green with plants and there were little Berber villages tucked away in many places along the valleys and mountainsides. We stopped at a cafe on a hill top for breakfast. It was nice and cool in the mountains, not as much of a harsh heat as there was in Marrakesh.  We had omelettes filled with cheese. Yum. What I loved about Morocco was the fact that instead of having a salt and pepper shaker, they had a salt and cumin shaker. What an awesome idea! I am so stealing that idea. We also got hot sauce to put on our omelette!!! I have missed spicy food! That is pretty much non-existent in Spain. Everything is pretty bland, no spice. The olives were delicious as well. Probably grown near by as well. We also had the traditional bread served with it as well along with some tea. Then we started on the long drive awaiting us for the rest of the day.

We stopped at a place where the women who worked there demonstrated how Argan oil is made. The nuts of the tree, which is indigenous to Morocco and only grows there, are broken to get the seed on the inside and then the seeds are placed into a grinder, then put into a press, and pressed until they can extract the oil from it. The rest of the pulp is then made into soaps and other things. Argan oil is used for a lot of things. Most typical uses of it is to protect and gloss hair and skin, but it can also be used in cooking and to make things. We got to taste Argan honey, and a kind of Argan spread used like Nutella. Of course the place we stopped at was extremely expensive, so none of us ended up buying anything. It was 10 Euros for lip balm! I think I'll stick to the stuff I get in the U.S.

We then headed to the "windiest road in Africa" and a huge pass in the Atlas Mountains. Our driver was insane. I mean, he was the man, but he was so gutsy. He would pass people with blind corners up ahead of him and a cliff to one side of him, he drove ridiculously fast even around corners, and he definitely got into his music. We got to listen to traditional Berber music the entire way. Berbers were the original inhabitants of Morocco before the Arabs invaded. Most of them now live outside of the major cities in villages and speak Berber. Man, I got pretty sick though going on that road. I know Mom would not have enjoyed herself on that drive. We stopped to see some beautiful views. The mountains were probably some of the biggest I had seen in my life. Everyone honks here. Not as much as Egypt, but it's a lot different than the U.S. where here they honk not only if they are upset at something, they honk to say hello, or let them know they are passing, etc. The terrain started to change after the pass, many of the mountains reminded me of ones in Utah. Once we got down to lower elevation (I think we were at about 2500m), the landscape started looking more barren and more like a desert.

We took a road off to the famous Ait Benhaddou Kasbah. A kasbah is a type of Islamic city that is usually built on a hilltop, making it easier to defend. The buildings are built out of mud and there is usually a wall surrounding it in order to make it more protected. There are many in Morocco, and the Ait Benhaddou Kashbah is famous because many Hollywood films were filmed here including Gladiator, Lawrence of Arabia, the Prince of Persia, the Mummy, and Kingdom of Heaven. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage site, and in order to protect the inhabitants, they built a new city across the river from the original kasbah for them to live. Only 10 families still live in the original kasbah. It was crazy. We stopped to take pictures of it from afar, and then drove closer. There was so much stuff that had been left and abandoned by Hollywood. Crazy. We went into a man's home, who was actually an extra in many of the films. It's hard to fly in hundreds of extras, so they gave many of the locals jobs doing so. He had kept some of the props from the movies that we got to see; swords, shields, spears, etc. We went into this room that was built into the rock of the hill that was used in jail scenes in some of the movies. It was only lit by a lamp and we were served mint tea and home-grown almonds. They were delicious. Very neat. We then hiked up to the top of the city to the house the leader of the city would have lived in. We made our way back to the van in the new city. As we crossed the bridge we saw a lady cleaning her clothing in the river and some little kids playing in the river. It was cute. The inhabitants must be a little wealthier than most, "they even have a pizzeria" Cortney and I noticed at the same time. On to the next stop!

We stopped for lunch at a city a little ways away. We had kebabs and couscous. Ismail and Ahmed never ate with us, I think that is protocol for most guides though usually.

The van was not air conditioned. It was so warm in there! We downed water like it was no one's business. We got into the van after lunch and saw another famous Kasbah next to the restaurant we ate at and some famous Moroccan movie studios.

Our next stop was an overlooking of the largest valley in Morocco, and it was FILLED with palm trees. I had never seen so many palm trees in my entire life. It was like a pine forest replaced with palm trees. It was amazing and it spanned for MILES. Very impressive. That would have been a very nice site to see if you had been traveling in the desert for weeks.

We finally got to the desert to get on our camels!!! Ismail dropped us off and we got on our little camel train. Not as scary getting on this time as I remember it being when I first rode a camel in Cairo. I am really glad I decided to drag my clunker of a camera all the way down to Morocco. I think I got some really nice pictures from it. We totally sang "Walk Like an Egyptian" and many Arabic songs along the way. The beginning of the ride wasn't in sand dunes or anything, it was next to some palm trees and it was more of a dirt terrain at first. We saw a goat herder! He was fun with his cute little goats. We got into the sand dunes and saw in the distance the circle of tents that would be our camp for the night. The guy who was guiding us there was a nomad! He is a Berber and his name is Mustafa. He stopped our camels and we headed over to put our stuff in our tent. There were a few tents in the circle, and he led us to our tent. We came out and he made us Moroccan mint tea as usual and chatted with us. He had been working doing this for a few weeks and he said that once he had worked in Marrakesh for 2 years, but he didn't like the life of living in the city so he went back to his family. He said they had moved because of the rain though, so he had to go find them. They move depending on the rain and seasons, and they mostly rotate between certain spots. He was funny. He knew Spanish better than English he said. Another group of people on camels came in, and we found out we were sharing our camp with a group of about 20 South Americans. When the arrived and joined us for tea, a very loud Venezuelan dude asked us if we spoke Spanish, but we decided since Cortney can't speak Spanish, we weren't going to speak Spanish with them, so we said no. It was kind of nice just listening to what they were talking about. And I realized it was SO easy to understand what they were saying. I must still be very used to Latin American Spanish more than Castellano. We went and sat on the sand and just enjoyed the quiet of being in the desert with so much space. I miss that so much. It's such a change living in a big city where you never see the stars at night or hear silence.
We were summoned to dinner and headed to the main tent. We sat at our own table and Ismail came and joined us for once! The nomads of our camp had prepared Tagine, a Berber dish consisting of chicken and vegetables. It is named for the clay pot that it is cooked in with a base that is round and with a sort of coned top with a hole for steam to escape. Honestly, I think it was the tastiest chicken I had ever eaten. It was perfectly moist and delicious. They cook the meat in the middle of all the vegetables, which is an excellent idea. We had a heap of bread to eat it with as well, and for dinner we had juicy melon! Oh man, it was such a good dinner. We left afterwards and sat on a dune again just looking at the ridiculous amount of stars that were out. It was so beautiful. There was just a small glow of the small towns that were near. I just could not believe how surreal it felt, being in the Sahara with nomads and my best friend. What more could a girl ask for if she wants adventure? Ismail taught me some more Arabic words, which I am always willing to learn. He also said he does this tour at least 1 or 2 times a week along with other longer tours. I bet he gets extremely tired of that long drive.

The nomads then built a bonfire and started playing their traditional music on drums that they had made themselves out of camel hides and skins!!! It was neat!!! So neat. We just danced around the fire and enjoyed the atmosphere of the whole experience. Mustafa came over to me and started trying to teach me how to play the drums. I am really bad at rhythm obviously. It was hard for me to get it down. He was amazing at it though and he sang along with it as well in Berber. I asked him what they usually sing about, and he said usually it's things about how peaceful life is in the desert, about how loud it is to live in a city and how it is better to live in nature, or about the history of their ancestors and their adventures, or of course about love. He was also joking around trying to think of western songs he knew of. He said the other night him and his friends made a version of Bob Marley's song "No Woman No Cry" entitled "No Camel No Cry" instead. He was hilarious. I really enjoyed talking with someone with such a different lifestyle than my own. It would be so neat to live with nomads for a few months just to see how they function, without cell phones and everything. All that you own and all that you value is with you. Not so dependent on technology and to be with your family all the time. The only drawback was how extremely loud and annoying the South Americans were being. It was a little irritating. They kept trying to make this experience more like a party on the beach instead and it got old really fast. We decided to hit the sack after a while since we had yet another long day ahead of us in which we probably couldn't get much sleep on the drive since it was so windy and Ahmed was such a crazy driver. It was super hot inside the tent and I kept thinking there's no way I was going to need the blanket they had provided for me on my little mattress.

I climbed into bed listening to the music of the nomads on the dunes behind our tent thinking, this is the life.