Marrakech, Part 4: Of Camels and Men

Bedouin of the Desert

Welcome to the Sahara! All you need to bring with you for a great adventure: A djellabah, a turban (any 2-yard of fabric will do), company (four Italians, two Bengladeshi, three Romanians, one Greek, two Croats, three Canadians, a  sullen driver and a few Berbere Bedouins), and dromedaries for each crew member.

On the day we were supposed to set off for our great desert adventures, Hilary, Urie and I ate our breakfast promptly at 6:30, then waited, and waited, and waited  for our ride to pick us up. By 8:00 a.m., we had all but given up, thinking that our money was long gone and on its way to Florida. The office where we had purchased our tickets seemed to have been put together by a couple of friends in search of gullible tourists. There were a few posters on the wall and brochures available, but other than that, nothing too official to inspire trust. Yet, we had felt that it would not be in the country's best interests to take advantage of innocent people, considering that tourism is the fastest growing economic sector in Morocco. That and Argan oil, fruits, and textiles,

The Valley of Draa

Outisde of Ouarzazate

After placing a couple of phone calls. a taxi driver finally picked us up, then took us to the meeting point location where we met the motley crew listed above. One look made us fear we'd fallen in a "guetapens": our travellers were dressed in dark clothing and did not seem very friendly. Hilary and I whispered to each other, as the "two-hour" ride (read seven!)  started through the mountains. The level of motion sickness was proportionate to the thawing of our little group. The higher we went, the sicker we became, the more we talked. (Eventually, I bought meds to share with three others who were also suffering from car nausea. Hilary traded place with me, and I survived.)

Kingdom of Heaven

Our goal was to make it to Zagora (near the Algerian border), a stronghold of Berberes and the gateway to the Sahara. On our way, we stopped by various little cities or touristic spots (some cinema studios, looking abandonned, where several movies have been filmed, including Jewel of the Nile, all of The Mummy installments, Kingdom of Heaven, Gladiator and a few episodes of Games of Thrones. One such village has a remnant of 8 families with 42 inhabitants total.

Home of one of the 42.

We stopped to take pictures in areas that were pretty much all of the same: mountainside view of the road below, the valley of Draa, Ouarzazate, among others. The sad part: we zoomed by all of sceneries I was interested in, without stopping. I wanted to take pictures of women doing their laundry in an oasis ora rivulet, children playing soccer in a field with makeshift goals, mules carrying stacks of hay; the day-to-day occupations of those living in the mountains. None of these pictures was good enough or clear enough to make it on the blog. Sorry! I tried but the camera could not get into focus and the driver was on a mission: get rid of us ASAP.

Urie and Chocolat

My Dromedary's Name Was Boubou.

We finally arrived to meet the Bedouins in time for our hour-and-a-half dromedary ride in the desert, but too late to see the sun go down (as we had been promised). Upon arrival to our encampment, we were assigned a tent, shown the bathroom, ate a dinner of couscous, beef and vegetables, and sang and danced by the fire as the temperature fell. Urie and Hilary slept well, but I pretty much froze all night (yet too tired to move). Our ride back in the morning was faster (we met the cars in a different location), then faced the seven plus hours in the mountains to get back to our hotel by 7:00 p.m. (not without a last fright, when the driver dropped off everyone else but us, then drove us behind a "sketchy alley" to disappear for five minutes. During that time we were wondering how many people would attack us and sell us on the sex slave market. Urie had his butterfly knife ready to go, but the driver came back to us smiling (having emptied his bladder around the corner). What an adventure IN IMAGINATION|||

Sunrise

Local Entertainment

Urie and Hilary Clapping and Dancing

The next day, we packed our bags, rested by the pool until 3:00 p.m., dropped Hilary in town after goodbyes and promises to get together some day and continued to the airport where we had to wait an extra hour for our flight to take off. This meant arriving in Pisa very late, and almost missing our shuttle connection to Florence. When we arrived around 1:30 a.m., Urie and I had a long walk back to our palazzo, during which time there was an earthquake in Florence (which we didn't feel at all). The only thing quaking was Urie's bladder; he needed to go!!! I guess the wheels on our luggage made enough noise on the cobblestone that we were left unaware of earth's tremors.

Water Fun

The students had made us a "Welcome Home" sign, and Chiara had left a most delicious cake in our refrigerator which we pounced on as if we had not eaten all week long (which we did... a plenty!) It's so nice to be back to Palazzo Capponi. I loved Marrakech but found it to be stressfully busy; a busy-ness that pounces on the unprepared and left me both enchanted but also leary of the place and the pace. It was beautiful, chaotic, crazy, and stressful. Vive le Maroc, ma davvero viva la bell'Italia!

Marrakech Coke

Florence Dessert