27.4.2009.
The sun comes up very early in the desert. I woke up at 5:45 am and it was already mostly up. Some people had gotten up to climb the dune and watch it ride but I just woke up because I had to pee. After, I thought now that I was awake, I might as well go take a look. You only had to climb up the dune about halfway to get a good view. It was cold and I had a sweatshirt on. The sun rose on the side with the Algerian border. It was gorgeous. The shadows help to show the shapes of the dunes. There were two other groups of tents on either side of us and so some of the other people staying out had woken up to watch the sunrise too. Below me, there were people on their own personal dunes. It was very quiet and cool with little wind. I dug my feet underneath the sand to keep them warm. After watching, I climbed back down as the camp began to wake up and come to life. Andrea and Angela were still sleeping but the berbers had prepared us some warm tea to drink. I stood around outside and talked to some people as more and more of them emerged from their tents. We were supposed to catch breakfast at the hotel and so had to jump on the camels pretty quick. We were all out of there before 7 am.
The camel ride back was a little more uncomfortable because our butts already hurt from the day before. However, I had a smaller camel this time and put my legs against him to warm up a little. The dunes in the morning were so beautiful. Half of them were already orange with the sun and the other sides were dark from the shade. There was almost no wind and most everyone was quiet, enjoying the scenery. The sun rose up higher and warmed us as we went. The going was easy and we made it back in good time. Everyone was starving and raced to go get breakfast. We ate as much as we could quickly in order to run and grab a quick shower before leaving again on the 4x4s. Since we had already checked out, we used the showers outside. With so many girls, we wanted to make sure we had time to shower before leaving and so left breakfast pretty quickly. The showers outside were actually very nice and we had plenty of time. After, we grabbed our bags and went to wait in the lobby so we could split up into the 4x4s again.
Today was another long day of driving because we had to go all the way back to Fez. We got back into the 4x4s and could actually see where we were going in the desert this time. It's all very flat and dry with little bits of grass until the dunes start. There was a lake off to one side where I guess some of the berber people live. We saw some camels grazing and also some shepherds tending to goats. Most of us were fairly tired from waking up so early and dozed a little on the car ride back to the first hotel. When we arrived there, everyone immediately claimed a spot beside the pool to lay out in the sun and get drinks from the bar. We had a good two hours to lounge around before lunch and so everyone hung out and socialized. The desert sun was very hot and there were no clods in the sky so we made sure to use sunscreen. Lunch proved to be another fantastic buffet. They made the couscous there with sugar, cinnamon, and almonds like a dessert. There was pasta as well. I was very surprised at the strange mixtures of spices and herbs paired with things you normally would not put them with, like cinnamon but it was all so delicious. I have to find some of the recipes. A lot of Spanish food can be bland sometimes (at least, my senora's sometimes, but don't tell her that), but the Moroccan food was full of flavor.
After lunch, we had the long long ride back to Fez. To keep out of the heat, we closed the curtains on the bus and turned on the air on full blast. There were plenty of rest stops to get out and stretch our legs and they played movies to keep us entertained. We did not arrive in Fez until nearly 10 pm. Everyone was pretty exhausted from being cooped up in the bus all day and so we made a quick dinner before getting to sleep.
Sorry this one is so short. We spent most of the day in the bus, but tomorrow's will be longer.
love you and miss you all
Elle
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