The Eagles sang about a peaceful, easy feeling and referred to a desert. I keep singing that song over and over. Here are a few more memories of the Sahara…the place I can’t get out of my mind…

The sand can be as cold as snow in the evening or the morning. The sky is a deep, dark blue with a million stars all around. Seeing the Milky Way in such intensity was a first for me. I have never seen so many stars nor have I ever been so impacted by a sky as the Moroccan sky. Truly amazing and something to behold! The sky in Tibet was amazing: a bluer blue than I’ve ever seen. But this was different. Maybe it’s just knowing that I was out in truly the middle of nowhere that caused me to be so impacted by it; maybe it was the state of mind I was in or the happiness I was experiencing. It doesn’t matter. It was absolutely amazing to experience the desert and the sky.

Its vastness is amazing! The word ‘Sahara’ means desert in Arabic. So its name is a literal translation. Twenty years ago, researchers using radar technology discovered in the depths of the rocks of the wide valleys, a web of “channels”, some small, others wider, as broad as the Nile, which represent the dry riverbeds of the rivers that crossed Sahara thousands of years ago. Niger River once originated in Sahara.

The desert of Sahara is supposed to be at least 2.5 million years old. Studies made on the fluctuations of humidity in Sahara during the last 40,000 years revealed that the borders of the desert moved sometimes southward and other times northward and in particular periods, the desert disappeared completely, the sand dunes being replaced by wooded savannas, like those found today in eastern Africa. 18,000 years ago, the last Ice Age had reached its peak and Sahara had moved 400 km (250 mi) south from its current location. But the ice covering Europe, northern Asia and North America melted between 13,000 to 8,000 years ago.

The geological history of Sahara showed glacier vestiges in a 450 million old Sahara, during the Ordovician, at the beginning of the life explosion on Earth.

At different geological depths were found fossil algae that confirm that 150-200 million ago, during the Jurassic (the middle dinosaur era), Sahara was covered by an ancient sea, which was in some places 5,000 m (15,000 feet) deep. By 135 millions years ago, dinosaurs roamed Sahara, like the 9 m (30 ft) long carnivorous Afrovenator or the 22 m (73 ft) long sauropod Jobaria.

From that sea, many fossils came, like ammonites (a type of shelled squids), one meter long fishes from extinct groups and ancient huge sea reptiles. Later, during the early Cretaceous (the last dinosaur era), the zone was roamed by different species of dinosaurs. Even today, in the underground of Sahara, at 800 m (2500 feet) depth, there is a subterranean sea of fossil freshwater, compassing 620,000 cubic kilometers (150,000 cubic miles) over a surface of 6.5 million square kilometers (2.3 million square miles).

The exploitation of this water allowed the flourishing the Garamante civilization in the middle of the desert, between 500 BC to 500 AD, till the desert weather worsened too much.

One detail: today the symbol of Sahara is the dromedary camel. This species entered Sahara around the times of Jesus Christ, brought from Arabia. Before that, people of the place used the donkey, originated from the African wild ass, a native of the area.

Seeing the Sahara Desert dunes for the first time was amazing! The sunlight on the dunes casts shadows that are beautiful. The dunes of Erg Cheggi are beautiful. Erg Cheggi is one of Morocco’s two Saharan ergs – large dunes formed by wind-blown sand. The other is Erg Chigaga near M’hamid. The dunes of Erg Chebbi reach a height of up to 150 meters and altogether spans an area of 22 kilometers from north to south and up to 5-10 kilometers from east to west.

We were in Merzouga at a hotel where we were able to log on to WiFi, drink some tea, and generally relax a little before heading out on the camels for our overnight camping excursion. This hotel also handles the accommodations in the desert, our tents and meals. It’s a beautiful little place and we had a great time relaxing there. Richard played his flute quietly while we lounged. The sun shone through the windows and cast such beautiful light on the various fabrics making the colors dance. It was beautiful and I was cognizant of my heightened senses, fully aware of all the beauty around me.

Suddenly and seemingly out of the blue the camels arrived and we were instructed quickly which one to get on and told to hang on. We were off! Since the camels are in sitting positions and since their legs are so long, they get up first in the front making the rider go way up in front, then the back making the rider go way up in back. It’s fun! But I can see that it is very important to hang on! I was in the front and felt really lucky about that because I had an unobstructed view of the desert before me. I also got some great shots of everyone behind me and of our shadows. My camel had a name but I really never knew it or understood what they were telling me it was so I never called it anything. I’d try to say things to it but realized we didn’t speak the same language so it would just look at me either blankly or like it was going to lunge its long camel neck and little head at me. We never really bonded, that camel and me. It seemed generally annoyed and didn’t have the excited approach to the whole thing that I had. We just never saw eye to eye. But he (they’re all male) served me well enough and I learned early on not to care if he liked me or not. At least he never spat at me, as I’ve heard they can do.

We plodded along between the town and the actual desert for awhile with two guys in djellaba leading us and Mokhtar in his white djellaba way ahead, basically flying over the dunes! It was beautiful. As we got to the dunes the boys took off their sandals and walked barefoot since it’s just easier to be barefoot there. I got some incredible photographs despite the irregular movement of the camel’s gait.

We rode for about 2 hours until the sun was soon to set. At a very high dune we dismounted the camels and were instructed to walk to ‘that peak’ where we would watch the sunset. That peak way up there? What!? So I started out with the rest of the group walking through the sand thinking about all the trudging I’ve done through snow in my life and how this was exactly the same and how much I did not like it. The sand isn’t the packed-down kind of sand on the trails rather it’s the wind-blown sand, that drifts, like snow. It’s because I’m heavier than the others that I had so much problem always sinking in. So I glanced at the sky and could see that there were clouds underneath the sun which meant the sunset would be ending sooner and that I didn’t need to go so high! I decided to stop right there in my tracks and not join the others at the peak. So while I wasn’t at the peak, rather about 50 yards from it, I was able to still see the beautiful sunset and to enjoy a few moments alone as well. And I got some great shots of the others. After the sunset we were instructed to walk down the hill toward our camels ‘way down there’. Going down is a blast. Mokhtar came to me and told me to sit down, which I did. He grabbed my feet and ran down the hill, me squealing in excitement the whole way down! Very fun! We walked to the camels and re-mounted them and rode a little way further to our camp: a tight square of Berber tents where we would eat and sleep for the night.

At one point during the ride in a 4-wheeler came noisily over the dunes, something we had discussed about the desert and how it concerned us that ATVs were allowed at all in this peaceful place. When this particular ATV showed up the group was livid and showed the driver as much by giving him the finger. After he was out of sight, Mokhtar laughed and told us that was the guy delivering our food and water for the night! Basically a ‘don’t-you-feel-stupid-now’ kind of a comment. Ha. We climbed one last dune just over the camp and sat for a few moments enjoying the vast sky and quiet. And we enjoyed a glass of mint tea. How beautiful! It might have been here that I made my infamous-with-Richard comment about how great it would be to enjoy the northern lights in a sky like this… Yes. I said that. Here I am in Morocco underneath the most beautiful sky known to man and I’m talking about seeing northern lights. In Morocco. It made for a lot of laughs at least!

We enjoyed tajine in the dining tent as well as cold beer and some wine. It was heaven on earth. A little cool, they put a heater on for us and it was perfect. Later, while on a “bathroom” break, we watched the stars. I was hoping to see my first shooting star in the desert. I have never seen a shooting star! Alas it was not to be. But I still enjoyed the most beautiful evening sky I have ever seen. There is no obstruction either visually or with sound – – unless you count the bongo drums from the next camp beating in the distance or the sounds of children playing from the nomad family living right over the next dune! This evening in the desert was one of the most special evenings of my life for a variety of reasons…

After a cold’ish night sleeping in the tent everyone got up to see the sunrise, except me and Mokhtar. Sunset-Schmunset, I thought. They say it was beautiful and I’m sure it was. I prefer sunsets. Unbeknownst to us, Marianne and Susan were celebrating their 27th anniversary that day so they were particularly excited to see the sunrise where they wrote in the sand and took photos. Very special. When they returned they shared how they met, a bit about their time together, and their lives in general. It was a nice morning mostly because of that time to share personal stories. We ate breakfast and were on our way out of the camp.

Hanging around our camp that morning were a little boy and girl, about 6 and 8, with backpacks. They ran around us but were a little shy. Turns out they were waiting for the mule to come and take them to school. They were basically waiting at the ‘bus’ stop for their ‘bus.’ They are the children of the nomadic family living nearby and were on their way to a nomadic school nearby. The teacher travels through the desert for a week or so at a time and that’s when the children attend school. They looked exactly like kids waiting at bus stops here in the states. No difference at all. Except these kids live in a desert and ride a mule to a school that is a tent. So cool to see.

We had a beautiful morning to ride out of the desert. The light was perfect for pictures, although today I mostly just enjoyed the scenery and contemplated my experiences so far. I had no problem getting back up on the camel this morning either physically or mentally – – I was excited about it. And I never had any pain at all in my muscles from riding the thing! I was very surprised because those can’t be muscle groups I use every day, that’s for sure.

At the edge of town we were met by Mokhtar, Achmed and the van, and the owner of the hotel who had brought us our supplies by ATV the night before. We dismounted and were heading in to the town of Merzouga where we would return to our hotel from yesterday to shower and ready ourselves for the day – – a perfect oasis! The owner of the hotel had a blue car. It was the car we followed to bring us in to the hotel; our lead car. He came up to me, put his arm on my back and said, “Please. Get in to my little car.” It still cracks me up for some reason. His English is amazing, but his accent whilst saying this just hit me funny. It is something I have repeated many times for various reasons and I’m sure it will now be one of my standard sayings in life. “Please. Get in to my little car.” Ha. I did and off we went to the hotel where I got a bit of a head start on clean-up and relaxation and internet. Nice treatment that I now know Mokhtar was responsible for due to some things the hotelier said on our drive. Sweet.

This hotel is one of my favorite memories on the whole trip. Very peaceful and beautiful!! And the shower, although not much more than a trickle due to all the people showering at the same time, was heavenly. And the clean clothes I put on! So nice.

We woke up refreshed after our stay in the little Berber village – – and our night of music last night. Happy and content. It was at this auberge/hotel (camping) where the guy called Richard had a heart attack so we tried to get an update about him to no avail. As you know from a previous post, the guy died of the heart attack; never regained consciousness. We said our good-byes to the group from the United Kingdom (a happy bunch of fun people) and headed toward the Sahara. One of the UK guys told us that his trip on a camel was miserable and that his legs were so sore from it. Turns out he was so miserable that he opted to get down off the camel and walk over one hour out of the desert instead of riding. And based on what I know now, the walking is way more difficult so that shows me how much pain he was actually in.

It was a beautiful sunny day, a notably beautiful morning for me. I was happy. Very. Each day my joy grew and grew. These travel experiences invigorate me and by now I was feeling very free from thoughts about work and was fully engaged emotionally into what was happening around me. I was aware of everything I did and fully knew that what I was experiencing was life-changing and big. Each moment was important to me and I savored every bite of it.

Outside the gates of the auberge/hotel were two adorable boys. But even adorable boys can be irritating what with their constant quest for bon-bon; candy in French. One track minds, those kids. All they want is candy and I refuse to comply. Sadly, many tourists give them candy which is why they continue to ask for it. I mean, geez, candy is bad for the teeth so right there I’m not going to oblige. And secondly it’s just annoying to instill that kind of thing in these young minds. But they continued to ask and then asked the other typical questions: Where are you from? Where are you going? So I answered, ‘Minnesota, United States.’ And usually they will offer some tidbit about your state, surprisingly (usually team sports-related). Then to the question ‘where are you going’ I answered, “To the Sahara (pronounced Sa-harra) Desert.” To which the other kid finally spoke up and corrected me loudly, “Sa-haira!” So I repeated it and he nodded in agreement that I had gotten it right and repeated it in the correct pronunciation. Funny and cute. When we parted he hollered again from across the road, “Sahara!” in the correct pronunciation. Cute.

We drove back through the gorge and were able to see all of the same beauty from yesterday, luckily! That’s the benefit to always being at the end of the road – – you can go back again!

After only a short time on the road we came upon a shepherd and his camels. Beautiful dark colored camels without all the accoutrements of riding-camels or tourist-camels. As I learned earlier on the trip from Mokhtar, there are no wild camels! That dashed my dream because I romanticized the camel and thought it to roam freely in the wild like a wild animal. But really it’s like a cow. There are no wild cows, either. Never thought about that before but it’s true. So now that I think of it that way, it makes sense. Anyway, we stopped so I could take a picture of these camels and then the herder came up and showed us his newly cut and bleeding finger he had somehow wounded. Well, you have a bunch of caregiving women on board and this poor guy was suddenly surrounded by all sorts of caregiving tactics: band-aids, gauze, iodine from Achmed (the only thing that actually probably did some good!) and whatnot. Susan and I were in a race to get our aid out of our gear first and I won with a choice between a Dora band-aid, a ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ band-aid or a regular fabric heavy-duty band-aid. I opted for the later. So after the iodine was poured over his finger (with some mild pain by the sounds he made and the look on his face) and a quick covering with the band-aid, we were off! He hardly had time, I’m sure, to figure out what had just happened, it was all flurry. We laughed about down the road thinking about it from his perspective!

Driving down the road further we started reaching flatter, drier-looking land. The Sahara! We came upon a beautiful little spot with a sign. “Place of Relaxation.” Who doesn’t want to relax! So we stopped.

Across the street from the Berber tent of relaxation were these bamboo and plant structures that were placed there to keep the sand from blowing across the road. Wind and sand control. Here’s what they looked like.

The ‘Place of Relaxation’ is also a place where the aqueducts/water system are located. The small hills in the distance were actually the old water system from the year 1200 or so! It was very interesting. We were able to walk down in to the tunnel where water must have been decades ago – – clearly no water had been through there for years and years. Dry as a bone. Interesting to see the tunnel and to imagine it rushing with water to keep families with fresh water in this remote desert area. But the best part for me was the Berber tent and the two men who entertained us there. One played a stringed instrument made from a Mobil Oil can! And the other charmed us with his smile and conversation. Turns out he was featured in 2010 in the Delta Sky Magazine on a feature about Morocco. He proudly showed us the article in a plastic sleeve; I took a photo of him with it. Quite cute!

Refreshed and relaxed, we headed down the road with our final destination: the desert! But first we stopped at the market for a little shopping. It was, for me, the best place for photography. I found more subject matter at this market than practically any other place, for some reason! Maybe it was just because of the lighting or because of my mood or something but I found so much and felt the time was too short there. Plus, the batteries in both of my cameras went dead so for a certain portion of the time I had no options except Richard’s camera. “Take it from here,” I told him. “Try shooting it from this angle,” I directed. Finally he just handed me his camera and I took my shots. But it’s not easy to use a camera I’m not familiar with so I have no idea how those shots turned out.

We stopped in a town to get money and for Mokhtar to shop for lunch. I loved this part of our days. Shopping each day for our lunch in the market and then finding a place to enjoy it was pure pleasure for me and something I looked forward to.

After eating lunch we gave our extra bread and food to a man and woman working in the field nearby. It felt good. And in the Islamic religion it is very important to do good unto others at least once a day. As I understand it, giving bread/food is among the best things a follower can do.

Next stop: the desert. But that merits its own post!

In most of the villages we visited comments were made about Obama once they found out we were from the States. “Obama!” They’d shout! “He looks like me!” It was a lot of fun to hear. Always when I travel the goings on of the US President are discussed. Before Clinton was elected a second time, Vietnamese people were commenting how they wanted him to win. When the whole ‘hanging chad’ issue was going on, I was traveling somewhere, maybe Vietnam again, and everyone was discussing that situation. Again when there was another close-call situation, there was conversation about that and now with Obama. I have no idea what’s going on in many parts of the world yet everyone knows what’s happening here. Makes me want to seek news sources that will provide more of a world view, if one even exists in the States. It’s not easy finding information that’s not America-centric, I think.