Humps, bumps and my second bipolar affair with Morocco

                        

 I came back from my first weekend in Morocco (Fes) absolutely exhausted and complaining to my host family about how rude the men were, how uncomfortable some of the practices made me... etc. I am sure they were surprised when I announced that I was heading back for another week after I left France. But really one weekend in morocco was not enough. Not in a country that is so different, so interesting and so affordable to travel in. And especially not when I didn't get to ride a camel the first time. Plus I liked the challenge that Morocco presented as a traveler being just a little outside my comfort zone.

It is hard to decide whether I love morocco or hate morocco more after my second trip there. In fact that opinion changed daily, often every five minutes. Generally I ping ponged between the two after different interactions and experiences throughout the day.  I stumbled across this blog "I hate it, I love it - how Morocco makes me Bipolar" which really sums up how I feel about Morocco after two trips there. It really hits on how you can be enthralled standing knee deep in the middle of immenseness in the Sahara Desert but then left with a bad taste in your mouth by the creepy way a guy says hello to you and the route his eyes take across your body. Or how you can be elated by finding what seems like the only women running a hotel in all of Morocco but then later that night  begrudgingly pay four times the price of something because you just don't have the energy to spend 30 minutes bartering to avoid the inflated "tourist price".

I knew the ropes a little better the second time around. Had a airport pick up scheduled instead of attempting to find our hostel in the dark and windy streets. Paid a bit more for a nice riad with a owner who very competently took care of organizing our pickup and tours. Everything went off with out a hitch and it made for a more enjoyable entry into morocco and stay in Marrakesh.

We didn't spend a whole lot of time in Marrakech. But it was enough to know that it was a little bit more laid back  and less traditional than Fes. You could pass women in the streets in jeans and even some with their heads uncovered. There were also some more modern touches like cars and lights inside the Medina and a couple big malls and modern apartment buildings outside the city center.



We headed out the next day for our 3 day excursion out to the Sahara and back. The highlight of this trip was obviously the Sahara desert. It was what all of us paid our $120 or so dollars to see (incredible value for a tour by the way - transport/food/accomodation/activities for 3 days). But it was a really enjoyable (albeit exhausting) three days full of stops in small interesting Moroccan villages/shops as well as beautiful and vastly changing scenery.

 




For example we stopped in Ait Ben Haddou  and Ourzazate (aka Moroccan Hollywood) two villages that have been used for filming many different movies and TV series. They have been featured in films such as Cleopatra, Indiana Jones, Gladiator, Lawrence of Arabia and even Game of thrones. The list went on and on.

We of course got dropped off at different shops to do some shopping and get small presentations from the shop owners. I am sure they were in no way affiliated with the tour company at all ;) but Leanne did get a free massage out of  one of them.

What none of us were prepared for was the driving. We knew it was a road intensive tour. That we were going to spend a large chunk of the time on the road. The driving distance to the Sahara  was at least 8 hours, but I guess we all pictured driving on a long flat road in the desert for that 8 hours. Mom and Dad you should probably stop reading now and we will just leave it at it was a long but pleasant journey and I never once feared for my life.

In actuality though we sped through some scarily high and windy mountains for what felt like an eternity and succeeded in causing multiple people to revisit their couscous.  We also had a lead footed driver who seemed to feel the need to pass every other car on the road which didn't really help. Plus Moroccan roads also leave a little something to desire in terms of a general feeling of safety. There is a suspicious lack of guard rails on some very high roads (don't look down, don't look down).

 

And when construction was needed the "detour path" was just to go off road over some cacti and through small rivers.
 

However you cannot fault their signage as it was very proficient in alerting you to all the possible hazards that were looming ahead. You couldn't go more than 3 meters without passing a sign telling you to watch out for something. 

Slippery Roads 

Cattle
Rocks           

  People                 

Inclined roads         \

Sharp turns        

Windy roads     

Just everything.  

However it was definitely worth the adventure. Even if I did have to shut my eyes, hang on and say a prayer occasionally, to get to see all the small villages and people just going about their daily lives as we drove through. 

Sand bag bridge

 And the Sahara was absolutely unreal. Endless sand dunes.

The camels were... Well about what you expect .. Like trying to ride a horse with a giant, hard, hump. The novelty wore off quickly. 

Especially since my camel had an "interesting" quirk. Our leader was apparently in a hurry to get to dinner so he sped us past other tour groups. At which point my camel would try and drink the pee of other camels and then would twist his head back to look at me with a big toothy grin.... Don't you dare spit. Don't you dare. 

We arrived in camp,a sight for sore legs, just as the sun was setting. Our guide pointed to a very large dune and suggested we climb it for the best view. Surprisingly, or perhaps not so much, it is really hard to climb a sand dune. For every step you take you slide back half the distance. Plus your feet end up weighing about 10 pounds more because they are full of sand. 

         

We spent a fun night camping out under the stars. More stars then I have ever seen in my life. And then slept in some Berber tents for the "full effect". While I am not much of a camper I chalked it up as part of the experience and toughed out the lack of toilets for the night. Did have to bring my own pillow though. Thankfully I also had ear plugs in and slept through the wild animal that apparently tried to savage our tents during the night. 

We were woken up at the awful hour of 5:30 in the morning to trek back on the camels but man was it worth it to see the sun rise over the desert. Absolutely incredible. From there we all piled back into the mini van for the "fun" drive back to Marrakech with a little rain and hail added in for added effect. But I am still here typing this so we did survive. :)

After another day in Marrakech, Leanne and I took a bus further south in Morocco to Agadir and then headed to a small seaside Moroccan town called Taghazoute. This is a really interesting town as everyone, including us goes there to surf. It is California coast/Tofino meets Morocco as you stroll through the streets and pass more imported Surfers than actual Moroccans. 

We tested out our surf skills against some impressive waves. Or at least the wussy first time surfer (me) thought they were really big and powerful. And while I think it is safe to say the waves won, we did manage to stand up a few times...it was just usually right in time to glide onto the beach and get stuck in the sand. However it was a very addictive challenge and definitely something I would like to try again. 

Surfer chicks :)

And of course, the icing on the cake... I found the much talked about GOATS IN TREES!!!! Thank you to Leanne for her patience as I hunted around for them.

Unfortunately we also found lots of stray dogs on our travels. Such a sad sight seeing all the emaciated dogs and little puppies. They are not well accepted by the culture there and are even beaten and poisoned in some areas in Morocco. Heartbreaking sight for the dog lover in me.  If only I could put them in my backpack and bring them all home with me. Maybe sometime in the future.           

There were many stray cats too, who liked to scavenge around quite persistently at the restaurants. One restaurant in particular had a creative and thankfully humane approach to scaring them away, a supersoaker water gun.This server took his job very seriously and we spent our last night in Morocco laughing at his antics as he waged war against the sneaky cats with all the stealth and intensity of a marine sniper.