A Chronicle of Amy and Sean's World Travels
We’ve been through the desert on camels with no names.
[Just catching up on a couple of posts I wrote but never had the chance to upload. Why isn’t there internet everywhere in the world all of the time???]
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| From Sahara Desert |
Things no one tells you about camping in the desert:
- Riding a camel is not smooth and hurts your arse.
- Camels move slowly. Really slowly.
- Camping in the desert is like camping in the woods except there is sand. Lots of sand. That gets everywhere.
- Peeing outside sucks, even if you are in the Sahara.
- You might get stuck in a group of people where everyone knows each other and speaks French except you.
- The group of people you are with might have a Moroccan tour guide who tells jokes loudly in French, snorts and guffaws repeatedly, centers attention on himself at all times, chain smokes, and plays Moroccan music on his cell phone destroying all semblance of peaceful silence.
- The group of people might constantly egg on their Moroccan tour guide to make him more rambunctious.
- The group of people and their tour guide might chug down at least three bottles of wine, which increases both the rambunctiousness and the egging.
- The group of people might openly make fun of said wine as American.
- The group of people and their tour guide might choose to stay up late with the lantern, obscuring the stars and any hopes of lying around at camp watching the stars.
But, the following might also happen:
- You will get to ride through and sleep in sand dunes where you are surrounded by nothing but hills and valleys of sand.
- You will get to see a gorgeous colorful sunset over the dunes.
- The group might choose to share their wine with you. Why not, it is crappy American wine anyway.
- You will get to have one of the better dinners consisting of soup, tagine and fruit by lantern light.
- You will get to see thousands of stars blanket the sky, if you take a walk away from camp.
- In the morning, you will get to see the sunrise over the dunes, casting a bright glow on the sand.
- You will be glad to get off the camel and have a hot shower and breakfast at the hotel.
- You will laugh when the owner of the hotel learns your parents are anxiously awaiting from grandchildren, and inquires whether you made a desert baby in your tent.
All in all it was something we were glad we did, but it wasn’t not as romantic as one might think. The whole experience felt a bit manufactured, but that’s to be expected when you hire people to take you out to the periphery of the desert for no particular purpose. Overall, it was a cool thing to do, especially seeing the sun set over the dunes. Will we ever go back? Not a chance.
Love reading this (I am a friend of Joan’s). BUT…if I decide to sell my possessions and do something like this I have pretty much decided to stay in the good old USA.
You two are fantastic photgraphers, BTW
‘You will laugh when the owner of the hotel learns your parents are anxiously awaiting grandchildren, and inquires whether you made a desert baby in your tent.’ And her name could be Sahara…
so you know, I like Sahara as a name….. LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOO BABY (rolling the dice)