My Adventures Anikamel? (Part 2 of 2)

Annnnnd ages later- part 2 of 2- continuation of my travel story: Morocco

So after an amazing time in Paris with Mom and Dad, I head to Marrakesh, Morocco. Without a phone or internet and little prior communication with my friends, there was a solid 20 minutes in the Marrakesh airport where I was pretty sure I was going to be Taken. Just as I was about to call the authorities for no reason, my friends find me. They bring me to a van where I learn we have a driver (named Hussein) and many adventures planned for the next 4 days.

Our first adventure began with the 7 of us driving south of Marrakesh for 4 hours through the curvy High Atlas Mountains. It was beautiful, but slightly bumpy in the back of the van. We arrived at our destination for lunch: Ait Benhaddou. This place is famous for being the set for many a-film like Gladiator, Game of Thrones, and my personal favorite- Prince of Persia. We took a tour of the kasbah and explored a little bit. Then we got to drive more!

Rachel and Anika at Ait Benhaddou

4-5 more hours of driving we arrived at our next destination: Todra Gorge. We stayed in a little hostel thing and our new buddy Mohammad took good care of us, lots of delicious food and mint tea. The next day we went to visit the gorge with Mohammad as our fearless guide. He then took us to visit his good friend that would give us a good price on carpets. "Carpets?!" we laughed, "Ha! What are we going to do with carpets??" And then we bought three.

Todra Gorge

After our visit to the gorge we had be on our way for our next adventure: driving! We drove 4 or so hours north, destination: The Sahara. We stopped in Erfoud where we ate lunch and I found out I had food poisoning! (Funny part is that it was from food in Paris not Morocco #actualfirstworldproblems?) An upset stomach? Nothing that a little optimism, more driving, and knowing I was about to be on a camel for 2 hours couldn't cure! With a few hours of driving the sickness was gone and I was ready for yet another adventure: camel-back riding in the Sahara.

Camel shadows and the rising moon

I'm not too sure what I was expecting, but riding a camel for 2 hours is not very comfortable. BUT when you're riding through the Sahara Desert, watching the sun set and the moon rise, there's not too much to complain about. By the time we got to our camp, it was dark and very cold. The Berbers who awaited us at the camp showed us our tents and welcomed us with mint tea. There wasn't much to do, nor was there much light/heat/plumbing (it's the desert, idiots). They quickly provided us with bongos. Their mistake. Let's just say, they may not have known Whitney Houston before that night, but now "I Will Always Love You" to the nonrhythmic beat of bongos will haunt their dreams. They made us dinner and then we all sat around a camp fire and attempted to talk to one another. We didn't bring any wine. Our mistake. We woke up at 5 and were back on the camels. We rode 2 hours back as the sun rose and it was, yet again, incredible.

Fes Tanneries

Then guess what we did.... 7 more hours of driving! North again, through the mountains to the city of Fes. We arrived to the welcoming arms of 3 of our other friends at a beautiful Riad (hotel) that offered us the nectar of the gods: beer. A night of good fun and many stories was followed by a morning in the colorful city center with very pushy people. The experience would have been much more enjoyable if we weren't consistently harassed by locals trying to show us where to go, what to buy, or offer us any sort of assistance in exchange for a little money. But we did get to see on of the oldest tanneries (where people make leather) in the world (I think). I've never smelled anything so terrible.


To get back to Marrakesh, instead of driving for many more hours, we decided on a different type of adventure: the Train! We thought that this would not only be more economical but maybe even a little easier. Wrong-o. The 9 hour train ride was certainly an experience- it was hot, it was crowded, at least 3 fights broke out in our car, the train's emergency break lever was pulled (we think) and we had to sit for about an hour in the middle of very hot nowhere. Eventually, we made it back to Marrakesh where we ended our adventures with some food and wine at our Riad. My time in Morocco was certainly a once in lifetime experience.

Next entry: another (yet very opposite) once in lifetime experience- A Viennese Ball