African Adventures, Part 2

We drove through extreme heat, past mountains, and thousands of goats in the roads, but after driving for like 8 hours, we saw the most beautiful sight in the world- sand dunes. They were such a welcome sight after such a looong drive! So we immediately hopped out and ran to the bathroom to wet our turbans, which we were so excited to wear. It wasn’t even that hot out, since it was already like 5:30. It was probably only 90 degrees! But we wet them anyways… Kellie’s and mine bled dye so we thought for sure our heads would be colorful once we got to the camp! After getting our new BFF bus driver to wrap the turbans, we walked out to the back were the camels were. We had hoped for double humped camels, but sadly they were all only single humps. It was perfectly alright because we were just about to ride camels into the Sahara!!! What an amazing experience right?!

Getting on the camels is actually quite tricky. Because they sit on their legs like cats or dogs, once they feel your weight on them, they immediately get up. I can’t remember if the back legs or the front legs get up first, but we all almost flew right off because it was so unexpected. After that, our “guides” tied all the camel together in a line and walked beside us, leading the camels. We were going sooo slow, but it was a ton of fun. We were taking pictures left and right: of us, the camels, the camel’s feet, the dunes, the sun setting, and more dunes. It was tons of fun and the sunset was amazing. Nikki always has the worst luck with animals, so naturally her’s got disconnected from the pack and was getting left behind. Then, after we got the guide’s attention and he was tying her up, she got a charlie horse and I nearly peed my pants it was so funny.

After about an hour and a half of the camel trek, we walked over a huge dune and… voila. Our home for the night. It looked like a big shed from far away, so after we got off the camels (which we had named respectable names- mine was Harold, Nikki’s was Pasquilito, and Kellie’s was Wallie) and took pics with them, we explored our surroundings. We were literally in the middle of the desert, you couldn’t see a single person or road or house over the dunes! It was all sand. There was a massive, and I mean MASSIVE, dune right behind our camp. Our beds were rugs that had been laid out on the sand, so we plopped down and tried to watch the stars. It was cloudy, so it was a tad disappointing, but not much. I spotted a snowboard, so I convinced the girls to hike a tad bit up this massive dune that overshadowed our camp and go down. The Quebec/Aussie guys (we never figured out exactly where they were from) that were with us tried to actually board down, but the bindings were all jacked up and so we decided to sled down. It was so much fun. We squeezed four on and sunk the poor board! But it was a ton of fun riding down super fast on the sand.

Then we noticed that the Berber guides had set tea out, so we went down to our rug. They brought out a low coffee table for each rug and gave us mint tea, which is probably the greatest thing I’ve ever drank. Then, an Italian couple came to sit at our table and we talked to them about Italy until our food came out. It was a strange mix of tajine, rice, onions, and couscous, all thrown into one massive dish. We ate out of a community bowl with our 5 different spoons. It was pretty great.

Then, the Berbers brought out bongos and started jamming out. Everyone started dancing and it was absolutely nuts. The dancing style in Northern Africa is odd, to say the least. What I determined is that it is a mix of clapping, stomping, growling, and Red Rover-style handholding. You’d lock arms with a few people while stomping to the beat and then rush at another group and get right in their faces. Then, here’s the kicker. You growl at them and back away the way you came. It was SO much fun. After our rock out sesh, we sat down only to be pulled right back up again. The Berbers wanted to climb to the huge sand dune (which really only looked to be like 100 feet) to better see the lightning that had begun on the other side. It started sprinkling (more rain, but this time in the SAHARA?! What is wrong with the world?), so everyone at our camp walked over to the dune.

Guess who was the only one to make it to the top? Yup, this girl right here! Everyone made it about a fourth of the way, but the sand was sinking and it was way steep and definitely taller than any of us imagined. So everyone started dropping like flies. I would have too, but a Berber grabbed my hand, jammed it under his armpit, and literally drug me up the dune. It was me and one of the Aussies going up, but at some point he disappeared. I thought we were almost there about 14 times; it’s hard to tell height when it’s like 12 or 12:30am. So after huffing and puffing my way up, I made it. Barely though, I grabbed on to the exact crest of the dune (it was actually a perfect point, like an upside down V!) and caught my breath while looking out. To my right was Algeria, only a few kilometers away, to my back was Mezorga (the Berber village), and just down the slope on either side was my camp and another camp. It was amazing. The lightning was cracking in just the most perfect way to really illuminate the sky. So Hassan (my slave driver) and I sat up there and just hippie-d out. We talked about life in the states and his life in Morocco, his babies, how to live life well (“you got to keep living because everyday it’s gone”), and why he knows 7 languages fluently (Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, Spanish, French, English, Italian, German) when I only know English. It was probably my favorite memory of the trip thus far! We were having a grand old time until the wind started picking up and sand began to hit us at full speed straight in the face. So I got my turban on and completely LOVED how it saved me. I guess I never really thought of what turbans were meant for, besides looking goofy, but they are extremely useful! Hassan had on his full robe with a huge turban… It didn’t seem odd to me to be sitting up on the top of a dune completely alone with a strange African man in traditional garb… It was like it was a normal thing in the life of Amy! Thinking back now, it was pretty damn amazing and incredible.

After we had enough of the hard wind, I asked him how we were supposed to get down, since it had been pretty steep getting up. I tried to roll down, but sand can still knock your breath outta you. Ouch haha. So that failed. I got up and asked Hassan how we would get down without eating it, which he replied by grabbing my hand and taking off in a full sprint. I caught up from behind him and we were both laughing hysterically while running in a full sprint down this massive sand dune in the middle of the Sahara… talk about an experience! We were about half way down when there was a small cliff-ish thing that we didn’t see and ran off it… so we were airborne, flipping around in the air (while still laughing), and landed flat on our stomachs. We ate it, but were still laughing with gallons of sand in our teeth! It was so much freaking fun! We hopped back up and ran the rest of the way… Best few minutes of my life. My favorite memory of my life so far? It may be!

I got down and went to Kellie and Nikki who were on the rug stargazing. I laid down and tried to get some shut eye, but it failed. The Berbers were playing bongos and having a grand old time a few dunes over, so I got up and walked over with this 14 year old Berber boy who was working at the camp. We sat down and EVERYONE was speaking Spanish because it was the group of Spaniards that was in our tour group. They were all playing and laughing and joking, but the best part was I could understand about 95% of everything they were saying! I was so pumped that my skillzz were so great! Then the little boy taught me a few beats on the drums and we hung out by the camels for a while. Then I laid down on my rug and fell asleep with stars in my eyes.

After a much too short sleep, we woke up much too early. At 4:15am, to be exact. So we were pushed off our bed pads to inside the Berber tents to eat a breakfast of bread, jam, and butter. In the middle of eating, Nikki and Kellie both got up and basically ran outside the tent. I was mid-bite of my bread slice, so I was confused as to why they were leaving when I was still eating…rude! It wasn’t until later that I learned a massive “4 inch” bug had crawled under our table while we were sitting on the ground (no chairs, low table). So thanks for warning me guys! Hahah, twas fun.

Anyways, we then gathered our things, hopped on Pascuelito, Harold, and Wallie, and went back to camp. The sunrise was just as beautiful as the sunset, the only thing that was a slight bummer is that we were all sore from riding the camels the night before… ouch. But it was still great. Once we got back to civilization, we were told we could have showers… but nope! So we tried to shake the sand from our hair/pants/bras, but it was stuck to the sweat that had accumulated from the camel ride and the day before. So besides having beautiful hair from sleeping in a turban all night, we probably smelled like death.

We piled in the AC-less van and sat. And sat. And sat. For close to 11 hours. 7am to 6pm, with only a few stops for lunch and peeing. So that was really fun! We tried to sleep, but we were all pretty pumped still from the night before! When we finally got back to Marrakesh, we grabbed our bags and hit up the henna ladies. We all got our hands done for 50 dirham, which is like $6.20. Dirt cheap. Kellie made her lady mad by wanting it cheaper, so her lady gave her brown henna, which isn’t supposed to be as good as black, instead of the black Nikki and I got. Then we did last minute shopping and went back to our hostel. When we got there, Kemal asked us how it was (AMAZING!) and then told us Nikki’s mom had called and seemed really worried. So Nikki called her and when she didn’t answer, left a voice message to let her know we were alright and headed back to Casablanca. Kemal said his email had been hacked and that was probably why she was so nervous.

So we left, got a taxi outside the medina (only 10 dirhams each, like $1.20!!! Cheap) to the train station, got a ticket, and sat down in the McDonald’s with everyone else. The McD’s abroad are borderline amazing. It is like real food, not crap! So we got fountain sodas and snackies when Nikki face timed her brother on her iPhone using wifi. She started being like “Oh my gosh, no way!” and “yeah were in McDonald’s, no one is holding us!” So Kellie and I were quite confused as to what was going on. Turns out, Kemal really downplayed the hacking scenario.

Nikki’s mom, who booked our hostel, got an email saying we were traveling with Kemal when we were robbed of all our money, cameras, and belongings at gunpoint and needed money ASAP. So she flipped, frantically called the ship, and everyone had been looking for us! Of course, her dad and brother could tell it was a scam, but as any momma would do, she overreacted. She had apparently decided if she hadn’t gotten a hold of us by 7am the next morning, she would’ve been on her way to Casablanca to look for us! Hahah, such a good momma! So that was funny.

Anyways, so we got on our train and were about to die of tiredness and delirium, since it was another 3 hours on top of a whole day of traveling. Our pockets, faces, and ears were still full of sand, so we were roughing it big time. We were in a cabin (with AC!!!! Halleighluia) with 3 other Moroccan old guys who thought we were hilarious. Well, the 2 who could speak English haha. They were asking about our henna and told us that Kellie’s brown was right and they didn’t know what our black henna was! So they were sniffing it and stuff, saying it was chemicals, so we went to the bathroom to wash our hands of the excess dye. When we went to the bathroom, the train’s door was open. Naturally, we grabbed the handrails and poked our heads out while we were going full speed. Then, a girl walked up behind us so Nikki and I jumped backwards and screamed because we were so startled! It was really funny, but I think only because we were so exhausted hahah. So then Kellie came out and asked what happened cause she could hear our screams! Then the conductor (?) dude came out, shut the door, and sternly told us “no.” So we went back to our seats and told jokes back and forth with the old guys. They bought us sodas and showed us pics of their kiddos. We talked forever until we got to Casablanca, FINALLY. We got a taxi for less than $3 total back to the ship, told the ship people we were alive and not being held at gunpoint, and passed out.

For our last day in a foreign country, we woke up at 8:15 to get breakfast and were out of the ship by 9. We were going to hit up the huge Hassan II mosque with a glass floor that shows the ocean currents, but we learned that it was about 120DH to get in… like $15! So we said no way and headed to the souks to shop and meander in the twists and turns of Moroccan streets. We ended up meeting this old guy named Omar who was taking us all over and showing us stuff. I thought he was the nicest guy ever for showing us everything for an hour or so, until when we wanted lunch and he wanted money. The strange thing about Moroccans is that they can be the nicest person in the world, but they want your money and not your friendship. So sad. We didn’t give him any and headed to Rick’s Café from “Casablanca.”

On the way, we got lost, saw the King of Morocco’s entourage, and saw the midafternoon prayer. Rick’s was a pretty cool place, full of old antique things. It really makes me want to watch the movie! After that, we shopped a tad bit more, I nearly got a 4 foot wide painting (but I did not!), and tried to find a post office for Kellie and Miranda to send their hookahs home. The post office that took us an hour to find (streets are not easy to decipher!) was closed, so we split into 2 groups. Nikki and I went to find snackies and coke lights to spend our remaining dirhams on while they went to another post office.

We got back to the ship and just about broke down in tears. When we stepped onto the gangway… it’s rough to think the adventure part of this trip is over and the next solid ground we step on will be on US soil. I hate it. So that was rough. Nikki and I then bunkered down on the deck and wrote a blog article about the camel trek for the SAS blog, so we shall be famous any day now!! Sailing away that night was pretty hard too… I just am not ready to be home yet. I don’t think any of us are.


Today was a rough day at sea. We had massive swells so all my classes were empty. Global studies is usually a class of about 200 people, but there were probably 50 total. In geohazards, since it is in the front of the ship, Nikki and I almost vommed. Everyone pretty much slept the day away and tried to not get sick… the staff even put out barf bags everywhere on the ship! So it was pretty bad. Thankfully it is calmer now, so everyone is getting a tad more lively. We procrastinated on homework and just chilled and talked and hung out, like normal. We tried to research what to do in Boston, since we usually do it for the next country we visit as a sort of tradition, but Boston seems like it sucks. It was built in 1629, so it’s NEW! Yuckkkk, let’s go back to 11th century cities or 125 BC buildings! It sucks to think that in less than a week, I will be half way across the US from some of the people I’ve shared the most amazing experiences with. It sucks SO hard. I don’t ever want to be more than a few doors down the hall from them :(