Life's a Stitch

I never thought I'd hear myself say that I'm going to spend a night in a Berber camp on the Sahara and we'd be riding camels to get there. Today's the day, it looks like it's really going to happen.

We were picked up by a driver at 7:00 am, dropped off at the staging area for mini buses, a modern caravanserais. Off we went with another dozen fellow campers from Argentina, Italy, England, France, Spain and Morocco, for a ten hour trip to Zagora, one of the Moriccan gateway cities to the Sahara Desert.

Ten hours, 34 degree heat, no air conditioning, we were all so excited it didn't matter. 80% of the ride was on twisty mountain roads with a driver who felt he could straighten out some of the curves by driving in the left lane. As I said we were all so excited it didn't matter. He also passed every vehicle we encountered on those roads, including semis and full sized buses, paying no attention to the solid line in the middle of the road. It's a good thing we were so excited. 

Who knew there were so many mountains between Marakech and the Sahara? Good thing for Dramamine.

There were many stops scheduled for photo opportunities and washroom breaks. We had a mediocre lunch in the town of  Ouarzazate, Morocco's film capitol. Any desert film you've ever seen pribably had a bit of its filming and production here: The Bible, the Prince of Persia, Gladiator, Game of Thrones…

Another three hours hours and we were most happy to meet our camels.

Chuck instructs my camel not to even think about spitting:

Hey, how do you start this thing?

Ever wonder how a camel stands up? it's a four stage process.

Or how it scratches itself?

Riding a camel is nothing like riding a horse. First off, they are much wider. Then there is a constant rolling motion. Flat ground is fine, uphills are ok, but those downhills are downright painful.

More dromedary fun tomorrow.