I forget who it was who totalled our amount of travel time yesterday at around 15 hours, but the reasoning was sound. Between climbing sand dunes, riding camels, frequent stops followed by surprising amounts of traffic, if felt like we did nothing but move from place to place yesterday. Good thing I aim to be more nomadic, I suppose. I was surprised that I enjoyed the camel riding as much as I did, but I definitely preferred my camel to the van.
Two nights ago, after we arrived in camp, I wandered out during the drum circle to lay under the stars and listen from the dark. I don't think I've ever seen so many stars out at night. The milky way was gorgeous, the moon was too small to be seen, and there were even a few shooting stars. The wind (which my ALIF roommate said kept her group in tents almost the whole time last week) was just a low whistle in the distance. It was magic. Once I'd been out there for a while I began to drift off. A few times I woke myself up or other students' voices in the distance woke me up, and eventually some of the Amazigh guides found me. One sat down and we began talking in a mix of English, Arabic, Darija and Spanish. He asked me about my life in Seattle and when I told him it was beautiful in the desert he said it was his job. He does it every day, so he is used to it. He said he likes it sometimes, but also that he was sick of the types of tourists who came out to drink and do drugs and party all night long. I'm still having a hard time imagining how any one could get used to the beauty of the Sahara. Tourists must be really, really awful.
The next morning we woke up at 4 (the plan was 5 but I'm actually kind of OK with the ALIF jerk who decided to shout to all of his friends at 4 am) and climbed the biggest dune around. I thought I was going to give up at several points, but Kristi and Ryan kept me going. Getting to the top (almost 45 minutes later) was so worth it. The sunrise was incredible (I'll post pictures but my iphone can't do it justice.)
I hope this wasn't my last trip to the Sahara. It feels like the kind of thing that might be logistically difficult to pull off twice in one lifetime, but I'm going to try my hardest to go back one day, إن شاء الله
Photos:
Two nights ago, after we arrived in camp, I wandered out during the drum circle to lay under the stars and listen from the dark. I don't think I've ever seen so many stars out at night. The milky way was gorgeous, the moon was too small to be seen, and there were even a few shooting stars. The wind (which my ALIF roommate said kept her group in tents almost the whole time last week) was just a low whistle in the distance. It was magic. Once I'd been out there for a while I began to drift off. A few times I woke myself up or other students' voices in the distance woke me up, and eventually some of the Amazigh guides found me. One sat down and we began talking in a mix of English, Arabic, Darija and Spanish. He asked me about my life in Seattle and when I told him it was beautiful in the desert he said it was his job. He does it every day, so he is used to it. He said he likes it sometimes, but also that he was sick of the types of tourists who came out to drink and do drugs and party all night long. I'm still having a hard time imagining how any one could get used to the beauty of the Sahara. Tourists must be really, really awful.
The next morning we woke up at 4 (the plan was 5 but I'm actually kind of OK with the ALIF jerk who decided to shout to all of his friends at 4 am) and climbed the biggest dune around. I thought I was going to give up at several points, but Kristi and Ryan kept me going. Getting to the top (almost 45 minutes later) was so worth it. The sunrise was incredible (I'll post pictures but my iphone can't do it justice.)
I hope this wasn't my last trip to the Sahara. It feels like the kind of thing that might be logistically difficult to pull off twice in one lifetime, but I'm going to try my hardest to go back one day, إن شاء الله
Photos:
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