Trip to Merzouga

The independent group at AALIM decided that we wanted to make the trek to the desert before the beginning of Ramadan. So, in the course of two days, we booked a hotel, chartered a bus, and organized a group field trip! (Hint: I did most of the organizing.) 

The bus left at 9pm on Friday night. It's an eight hour ride from Meknes to Merzouga, so we figured "why not get it out of the while sleeping?" What we did not account for was the fact that nobody can sleep on a bus driving through the Atlas mountains. 

We arrived at our hotel at about 5am, divided up the rooms, and promptly passed out. We were woken up by our Berber hosts, Mohamed and Hassan, at around noon for Berber breakfast. This was a lot like Meknes breakfast, but it included a tomato omelet (I'm definitely not complaining about that delicious omelet!) Then we took a walk to the "desert garden" where we got to see some really interesting plants and their irrigation system.

Next we headed to the gift shop. I should add here that we are walking around the sand with the sun beating down on us. Hot is an understatement. At the gift shop I scored some goodies for my family back home and got to experience haggling for the first time! 

About an hour before sunset, we set out on our camels into the Sahara. Camel riding is a little bit more bumpy and grueling than I was anticipating, but I was so caught up in the moment that it didn’t bother me. I temporarily named my camel Fred. He was a good camel. The glamorous part of the trip: we were in a caravan trekking through the Sahara surrounded by enormous dunes and desert sky. The less than glamorous part: camels poop a lot more than you would think. 

 

We arrived at little encampment, complete with tables set for tea. We watched the sun go down from atop a sand mountain and used a snowboard to dune surf. Unfortunately, our dune surfing was interrupted by a small-scale sandstorm. Even more unfortunately, the winds continued throughout the night. However, nothing could dampen our spirits. We ran back to the tents and tucked into an authentic Berber dinner complete with fresh fruit for dinner. At the time, everybody loved the food…the feeling did not last (more on this later). After dinner, we all pulled our mattresses out of the tents to stargaze. I witnessed nine shooting stars. It was a magical night. 

The magical night came to an abrupt end as Hassan and Mohamed walked through camp clapping to wake up the tourists for the sunrise. My roommate had her period though, so I had to watch the sunrise over my shoulder as we rode two camels back to the hotel. Upon arrival I slept again, until sleeping more on the bus ride home. 

All in all, this trip was one of the highlights of my life.