New weekend new continent!
This one has been long-awaited. After planning ahead two months to get this trip underworks, 16 of us USC students studying around Europe got together in a new continent: Africa! For many of us, this was our first time on the continent, and we couldn’t be more excited. Upon arrival to Morocco, we were picked up at the airport by the tour guides that would be taking us to the Sahara for a 2-day trip. On our first night, we stayed in the cutest Bed & Breakfast “Riad,” which means hotel. Between the group of us, we booked out the entire Riad and had it all to ourselves, 4 floors and all. We were greeted with a lovely spread of Moroccan pastries, freshly squeezed orange juice, breads, dips, and other traditional foods including their typical afternoon tea.
By evening, everyone had arrived, and we went into the markets for some shopping and dinner. Our shopping took place at the souks, where they had all kinds of artisan items such as scarves, shoes, leather goods, and so much more. I had a blast bartering with the shop owners. Their favorite line was “student discount,” and mine was “the shop two doors down sells them for half that!” After scoring some great deals followed by dinner and the sunset from the rooftops of Marrakech, we headed back to the Riad to get some rest before our early morning!
At 8 am, we had an extensive spread for breakfast, made up of Morroccan pancakes, more pastries, coffee, some kind of egg and tomato dish that seemed like Shakshuka. The people who ran this bed & breakfast were phenomenal, if you’re ever in Marrakech you HAVE to stay with them at Riad 103. At 9, we got picked up by our tour, loading our whole crew into one of those big white Mercedes vans and shipping us to the desert.
On our way, we stopped at the High Atlas mountains, which is the mountain pass needed to travel through to get to the Sahara desert. It was so high in the altitude (2260 meters), that we passed through snow. Full circle - snow to desert in one day! We then had lunch in Kasbah de Taourirt, the old town of Ouarzazate, then got to Zagora, our entry point to the Sahara. To get to camp, we rode camels for about an hour, which doesn’t seem like all that much time, but let me tell you, camels are not comfortable to ride.
The camp was adorable, with 16 tents all to ourselves, 3 beds in each. This was my first experience glamping, with pre-pitched tents and carpets inside with a small electric light and a dining tent, as well as outdoor coverings with sitting areas and a giant campfire pit in the middle. We had an unforgettable experience under the stars, in the Haimas dunes listening to traditional drum music. In the morning, we woke up for the sunrise and then rode our camels back to the transport, and headed to Ait Ben Haddou, which is this ancient oasis town with beautiful red-stone architecture. The whole experience was surreal, I felt like I was living in a movie scene with the camels, the ancient architecture, the dunes, and at one point, we even were! On our way back, we stopped for ATVing in an area where all kinds of movies are filmed, including Game of Thrones. For an unbelievable cultural experience, visit Morocco!
Bis zum nächsten mal!
Kara