Thursday was my favorite day of the trip. We woke up and went to see fossils (dundundun *Phineas and Ferb reference)! It was so cool to hear about how the desert used to be underwater. There are cephalopod and fish and jellyfish fossils all over the Erfoud area. We saw how they clean the pieces, how they break them open, and sometimes how they cut partitions to see what the inside looks like. Most of these pieces are in marble, so they showed us fixtures that they make with this material: tables, sinks, and art. They gave us 50% off their store and we went crazy. I was very happy to buy some dishes (not for eating) and decorations made with these fossils.
Spending all that time on the bus we had a DJ playing requests. Rock the Kashbah and Africa were givens. Bohemian Rhapsody and Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen were hits. So were Super Troopers and Mama Mia by ABBA. Other singalongs were Unwritten, Pocketful of Sunshine, Misery Business, Best Damn Thing, I Will Survive, and Dreams. The back of the bus had a great time.
We drove to Rissani and saw the Ksar El Fida. It used to be a palace. We stopped at a desert oasis for pictures. Children were getting out of school and stopped us. They stood with their bikes watching us be silly and then board the bus. It was an interesting reverse tourism experience. We came back to the hotel for lunch and a rest.
We had to rest up for the next experiences. Later afternoon our group left in SUVs to go to the desert. We joked we were in a government caravan. We soon went off road and were racing around and on dunes. We even traveled 90 mph. Our car felt more like an amusement ride than a car. A few times my butt caught air I.e. I lifted off the car seat. Don’t worry; we were all wearing seatbelts. We twisted and turned and we’re thrown against each other. Our car was full of giggles. Meg, Maria, Nadine, and I were in the same car. The driver even put on a playlist called Music for Americans, which included pop songs from the past decade. He didn’t speak English.
We first stopped at a nomad’s tent. This lifestyle is going out because of the modern world. No one is willing to buy things from people that take camels or donkeys to travel. They’d rather have it delivered by car or plane. More and more children leave and live permanently in houses. We looked around their tent and shacks. We were invited inside the big tent for tea. They had such warm hospitality. We were grateful for the experience.
Next desert travel was to see musicians. These played on traditional Berber instruments and sang old songs. We drank tea and danced to the music. We gave them coins and quickly left for our next appointment. Thirty minutes before sunset, we met them: the 30 camels to take us into the Sahara. We each had our own dromedary. I was paired with Nadine. We rode up several dunes with our guide. He stopped often and took pictures with our phones of us and the camels. We settled our camels with others and climbed what felt like a GIANT dune and got close to our group. Nadine and I were huffing at the top. I could only whisper because I was parched. We watched the sunset. More pictures and videos were taken. We got back to the camels and bought tiny jars and filled them with the Sahara. We rode back to our cars. They were parked at a building with a courtyard. There was a bonfire and music (and of course, mint tea). I started dancing and had so much fun. The other Sarah joined the musicians on a drum. More people joined in on the dancing and it was so much fun. We made one last stop on the way home. In the middle of the desert, in the darkness of night, we saw millions of stars. The Big Dipper was huge and near the horizon. We saw Jupiter as well. It was an amazing time feeling so big and so small at the same time.
Now for some real talk. People are human. Humans get sick. Some humans are sick/disabled all the time. These things suck more when you’re in a foreign country, ESPECIALLY when you don’t speak the language(s) spoken there. Some women (~10) got their period on the trip. I got a cold/allergies with each day having a different symptom: sore throat, excess mucus/sneezing, congestion, coughing. Not fun and I felt like I was disturbing people. As you know, I also have mental problems. I had an anxiety attack Thursday night. I was overstimulated and needed to be by myself and I couldn’t. It was bottling up and I was close to exploding. I quickly ate dinner and then excused myself. I started crying on my way to my room and just cried for five minutes getting out all the feelings. It was a long, hot day and I was over it. I could hear a party going on outside. It was Tina and Mochine’s birthday. They had a band, cake, and dancing. I heard the next day that people jumped in the pool. It sounded like fun. But I was inside writing my previous post, enjoying my alone time. I was truly happy for my friends that night and I didn’t have FOMO. That party wasn’t right for me. Spoiler alert: I had an attack in Fes as well, but a small one. Ad helped me there. I was otherwise enjoying myself and the company of fellow travelers.
Friday
We drove to Fes with small stops along the way. We started with a camel farm. There were three mothers and three babies. I got to drink camel’s milk! I liked it more than cow’s milk. Sarah found a drum and played while people took pictures of the farm. We drove through Midelt where apples grow. They have a red apple on the west side and a green apple on the east side. We stopped a a place Ad called Little Switzerland. The buildings were definitely European and it has one of the first ski lifts ever. At lunch I had a Pepsi with an old pop top. I had never seen one before in person. I ate pasta carbonara, but two people at my table had camel tajine. They said it was delicious and comparable to pot roast.
We drove through the Atlas Mountains and started seeing cedar trees. Some of these trees had monkeys! We made a stop to see Macaques. Ad threw fruit near them. There was a decorated Berber horse and Isi rode it like a Queen. As we got closer to Fes, the land reminded me of Italy. How the houses looked, how the fields were lined. The drastic comparison from the day before of the orange Sahara sand. We got to Hotel Escale and checked in. The restaurant was on the roof. We had a buffet. ISI’s and my room was a corner room with a balcony. It was niiiiice.
Side story: Slowly our showers got their walls back. Only one shower had a curtain. The rest have been partially walled off and you’re lucky if there’s a lip keeping the water in. Many bathrooms have been soaked after we showered. These also had removable heads which aren’t as commonly used in the US, or if people have them, they don’t remove them as much. If I hadn’t locked the door, people would’ve walked into the bathroom and immediately seen me in the shower. The following day was they hyped up day: our day in Fes.
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