Morocco Part 2 - The Circle of Life and A Whole New World

The Lion King:

Real life:

Between the long walks in the heat and 8 hour bus rides in cramped buses - Morocco totally felt to me like we were on set of an exotic Disney movie. Like the Lion King or Aladdin. "A whole new world" was definitely broken out in song spontaneously throughout the trip. It's the perfect duet.  And I can promise you that I was singing "the circle of life" on repeat as we cameled (new word) through the Sahara Desert.  It really was a whole new world and everything seemed a little magical and a little bit like you were stepping into ancient times where if you rubbed the golden lamps they sold at the store then a genie would appear ready to grant you a wish!

Well not everything seemed like a Disney movie. The bus stations definitely didn't feel quite like that. To paint you a picture of the one we camped out at for a few hours in Marrakech picture an open air area with flies buzzing all over the place, stray cats wandering at your feet and beggars asking you for money every where you turn. I guess it's probably not too unlike some bus stations in LA.  Except when Robby went to the bathroom he was in for a surprise as he found men in there hosing themselves off from head to toe. I guess it coupled as a rinse down area as well! Haha I didn't end up using the women's bathroom after A) I found out you had to pay B) when I walked in the entire ground was covered in inches in water and some lady was hosing down the place including everyones feet and 3) the actual toilet was a hole in the ground that you squatted down in front of. I'm not saying I never used a bathroom like that while in Morocco, but just not then since it included a rinse down. Which looking back now seems like a good two-for-one!

Here is one of the bus stations pet cats, it was hilarious to see it get comfortable and just chill in the middle of the place

We were down to almost no food and desperately hungry and the snack shack at the bus station didn't look appealing.  One of the only things we had left was a mix and go tuna packet and crackers.  Of all things, tuna. Cat magnet and this place was crawling with them!  

Anyway our plan was to get to Merzouga and although we were presented with multiple offers from tour companies at the bus station to take their small, luxurious air conditioned buses across the country where they included meals and then a camel ride in the desert once you got there, it just didn't seem like the right way to do things.  Anything booked in a "tour" and anything that was too easy was not interesting to us.  We wanted to do things the authentic way.  So we booked a local bus for a city about five hours away called Ouarzazate to stay there the night and then hopefully catch a bus to Merzouga which we had no idea if there were buses from there but we were going with it!

We seemed to be the only tourists In the bus station for a while and when we saw a couple walk In with big back packs we were so excited. They probably thought we were weird because we immediately jumped on them and were like "where are you from!?" Please be our friends! Desperate. But they were awesome and Im glad we did.  They were Mary and Shammuck from Poland and had been in the Atlas Mountains for a few days and on their way to Merzouga cuz they wanted to do a camel ride as well. They said they had tourist companies try to get them to book with them but they weren't interested in the tourist way of things. Bam! We loved them already.  Turns out they had booked a bus to Ouarzazate as well and had no idea either if they could bus from there to Merzouga but were hoping it would work out. so glad we were now in this together and they became our travel buddies for the next three days.  They were newlyweds and on their honeymoon so it was the perfect couple for us. Although now looking back we totally crashed their honeymoon, maybe they hated us for that haha

I'll stop being so detailed but we bused to Ouarzazate, got a hostel with our new friends and then the next morning bused to Merzouga (they did have a bus!) which took eight hours! I always think of time like that in terms of how many movies could be watched in that time or how many church blocks it's equivalent to.  Almost three church sessions back to back.  Atleast not fast Sunday and you better believe I was stocked with snacks!

Bus ride from hell #1 and #2 highlights:

1) pitch dark winding roads up through a mountain range.  Road hardly big enough for one car, but cars coming in both directions. When an opposing car comes in our direction they play "chicken" with the bus. As the beast of the road the bus never backs down. Even til the last minute, luckily the cars finally pulled to the side each time!

2) wheels of the bus on the very edge of the road which leads to 2,000 feet drop offs

3) pouring rain as the bus climbs up and down mountain ranges, speeding up rather than slowing down on turns - these buses were doing up to 80km/hr on the mountain roads!

4) man gets on the bus, sits next to us and immediately starts barfing into this plastic grocery bag.  Continues to barf in the bag throughout the 8 hour ride and wipes his mouth on his shirt each time 

My only escape was to try and fall asleep as fast as I could!

I've seen better days!  

It's so funny because at home the buses are annoyances that cars are quick to pass on the highways.  Here, the biggest of the road rules and the buses are the fastest and craziest on the road! They are always trying to pass up and cut off anyone in their way.  It's kind of funny and impressive even though at times I really really thought that we were going to die on the mountain roads.  Luckily Robby told me after, but he had read about tragic accidents where some night buses fell down the mountainside.  AHhh! We made it though!

Oh on the bus ride we made friends with this guy Marcos who was playing the ukulele which was our saving grace to the sounds of throwing up.  Marcos was from Barcelona and was going to Merzouga to try and film a documentary. He spoke really good English but was happy to find that Robby spoke Spanish too.  Marcos was rad and saved us from the piranhas of locals waiting at the bus station for tourists to get off.  They are immediately in your face wanting you to go with them and will follow you for a while even if you say no. We didn't have a hostel booked but Marcos said just follow me to mine and us and Mary and Shattuck all joined him at the hostel "The Petit Prince". It was super cute and on the edge of the Sahara Desert, the dunes were right in the backyard of the hostel!

Our hostel was just past this building.  I love how the sand dunes jump out at you with this beautifully different colored sand! 

We found out it was Marcos' 22nd birthday that day so we had to celebrate! We gave him our most prized possesion, a delcious half eaten box of hazlenut cookies.  We all hung out in the common area for a while and Marcos was our entertainer for the evening on the ukulele when he wasn't performing magic tricks for us.  We talked about different stereotypes people have of America and the differences between our countries: Spain, the states, and Poland and it was funny to hear what they were.  Marcos loves country music and so from listening to those lyrics his view of America was that we are all gun loving hicks! He didnt know the word hick but the way he described his image that is exactly it Hahah and Mary and Shattuck said most people in Poland view America as full of fat people who will order huge hamburgers and fries and then get a "diet" coke....(guilty!!!!) 

Mary, Marcos, some random blonde girl, a chef from the hostel, and Shattuck

Yes this is part of the magic trick...really it was 

The next day was go time to the desert!! I cannot even explain how cool this was.  Hopefully the pictures will help, but I know it doesn't quite do it justice.  In the morning we roamed around and played In the dunes that stretched for miles and miles as far as we could see.  It's a never ending playground! That night we started the camel trek a little further into the Sahara where we would watch the sunset and sleep in Berber tents!  It was just us five: Mary, Shattuck, Marcos, Robby and I who went out together and we had a real Berber who spoke zero English as our guide.  Completely trusting he would take us somewhere good :)

At the campsite they had snowboards we could take down the dunes! 

Yeah it was a glamour shot photo shoot in the desert- plenty more where these babies come from! 

At the tents we met up with other guides and a couple other guys who had trekked out there - Greg and Ian.  Greg was from Quebec and had been in Morocco for a few months traveling with a band and Ian was from France.  They had just met on the trek.  We all had dinner together which was this amazing Tangene meal.  Tangene is the traditional meal in Morocco which is meat and vegetables cooked in a ceramic pot.  Reminds me of crock pot meals just like mom makes! This meal was seriously the best we had had since we started traveling!! Yum!!! It was all under candlelight and super serene.  It was crazy to think we were in this huge desert - just a few of us hanging out with nothing but sand for miles and miles, a very cool feeling.

Tangene!! There's carrots, potatoes, rice and chicken hiding under it 

It was so fun to talk with everyone and so interesting how we all came from different places with different languages but were all able to find common ground and even a common language.  For instance,  Greg spoke French and english, but Ian only spoke French.  Most the Berbers spoke French and a little English and one spoke Spanish.  Mary and Shattuck spoke polish and english,  Marcos spoke Spanish and English, Robby spoke Spanish and English and as an underachiever I came in with just English (will be purchasing Rosetta stone soon).  So Greg translated to Ian anything in English and translated anything French from the Berbers to us and Robby talked to the Berber in Spanish and translated anything to Marcos that he didn't get (but he was pretty good), and I sat there and listened and spoke English as I stuffed my face with great food.  It was cool to see the diversities in just a small room and see how all of us from around the world could find a connection :). I loved it!

All of us!

After dinner the Berber guides jammed out on some hand made instruments.  It was so much fun we sang and danced to the music and things got pretty crazy.  At one point someone almost lit the tent on fire and people were dancing on tables!  Ok maybe there were no fires but Robby was dancing on tables and banging glasses and plates to create some beautiful music!

Jam session!

Just minutes before things escalated to the table

The next morning we watched the sunrise as we rode the camels back to the city.  It was amazing, lots of bonding with nature, soul searching, and excruciating pain due to being saddle sore.  Contrary to popular belief riding a camel is NOT comfortable so never trade your car in for a camel, you would regret it.  We wished we had more time in the Sahara but it was time to go! Our next plan was to head north to Fes, but there weren't any buses going to Fes for 12 hours! plan B was to take the next bus as far north as we could go and then hopefully take a bus from there to Fes or figure something out.  It was a risk but we did not want to waste any precious time!  Did the risk pay off? To be continued...dun dun dun!