Southern Morocco

From Fez, the group headed south to the dunes of Erg Chebbi in the Sahara desert. We stayed in the town of Marzuka (I think) in an Auberge, which falls somewhere between a hostel, a hotel, and a trailer. The auberge sat right on the edge of the sand dunes: the front of the place was all rocky with some palm trees, and the sand dunes came right up to the back of the place. We wandered around the dunes in bare feet for a bit, looking at the mountains of sand. We arrived in the evening so the hottest part of the day had past, but it was still in the high 30's. After dinner, we were treated to some traditional Berber music, from a bunch of Berber brothers (Berbers are the native people of Morocco). One of the guys asked me to play with them (so cool) and then he spent some time teaching me some different rhythms.

The following day, after a small amount of sleep (it is too hot to sleep well), we saddled up our camels and headed straight into the desert. Let me tell you, camels are not comfy - you sit right on top of the hump. OH, and by the way, we actually didn't ride camels at all, we rode dromedaries. The difference? Camel - two humps; dromedary - one hump. Nevertheless, we called them camels, they are just the Arabian type. SO, we headed straight into the dunes. As far as you could see there were mountains of sand, some up to 300m high! We went up and down, over and around the sand dunes on our camels for about an hour and a half before reaching our desert camp for the night. The camp consisted of a couple Berber tents and a cooking shack. I decided before I left that nature would not call me while out there, and luckily it did not. We ate dinner under the stars, then curled up on a mat in the sand. There was really no need for flashlights (or torches that is, if you're from Austrailia) because the moon was so bright. I was generally comfortable, but a little concerned about the desert creatures. We saw some sand bettles on the way in - they were huge. I didn't know what other types of huge creatures were around, so I tucked my pants into my socks to protect myself. We rose with the sun and rode our camels out of the desert very early in the morning.

We spent two nights in the Torda Gorge - a beautiful oasis compared to the desert. We learned how the very precious fertile land is divided and shared amoung the local families. The land in the valley is good for growing crops because it is irrigated by the Torda river. Growing crops otherwise is near impossible - too hot and dry. Our hotel here sat right on the river and we ate breakfast and dinner on the patio by the pool while listening to the river flow by. Our entire group made a special effort to obtain beer and wine - we had to send our driver into town on a special trip. I had two local Moroccan beers.

Leaving the green valley behind, we headed back into desert territory to Ait Ben Haddou - a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The old Kasbah (fortress) is sits on a the side of a hill next to a dried up river. There is still no power or water (and likely never will be) but people still live in this fortress just as their ancestors have for the last 1000 years. I may or may not have bought myself some cool dishes here...

Now we are in Essaouira which is on the Atlantic coast. The temperature here is much nicer - it was 25 when we arrived. This is a real typical coast town - there is a fortified, old section of city with a big wall built to protect the place during times of war. There is a port with tons of fresh fish, boats, and shady people. And of course the long stretch of beach. We've had some time off, and I have just found myself wandering around the old medina (city) in awe of the way of life here. Within one block you can find, chickens dead or alive, butchers, fruit stands, shoes, clothes, restaurants, drug stores (kind of), spice shops, etc... you should see the electronic stores!! There are people right in the middle of the street selling anything and everything - remote controls, mint leaves, pants, little packs of tissue, drugs, cookies, melons, cactus fruit...

Thats a small taste of what I've been up to. Tomorrow to Marakesch!