The train arrived at the station in Marrakech, we said goodbye to the Libyans we met on the way, and wandered off into the night to find our hotel. The next morning we had a chance to explore the city and another busy medina. Compared to Fez, the old city of Marrakech is a little more active and a little more manageable. It’s not as big, the streets are a bit wider, and there are several large open squares – the largest hosts an enormous collection of street cafes that are setup each evening to feed the thousands of people passing through. It’s not all good news though, Marrakech also seemed a bit dirtier and we had to constantly watch out for the motorcycles. They cruise through the narrow streets, swerving through crowds of people at speeds that I would consider borderline unsafe. Luckily we made it though the week without getting hit, it probably helped that we left town for a few days.

After spending a few days trying to relax in the city, we signed up for a three-day tour to go see the desert. The tour turned out to be a little annoying, and involved a lot of driving. We stopped at a few nice viewpoints, a couple small villages, and predictably made a few shopping stops. But, we knew what we were getting into, wanted a few days without planning, and got to hang out with a bunch of fun people for a few days. Even though no one made a purchase, the family making Berber carpets gave us a nice cup of tea and a nice demonstration. There was a tour at another village, but the guy mostly just told us (in French) about all the movies they filmed there. Despite all the stops, the real point of this was to see the dunes of the Sahara.

We finally arrived in Merzouga just before dark, had some more mint tea, and were introduced to our camels. They were all parked out in back of the last building at the edge of town, and apparently knew what was about to happen when we all marched out side. There was a lot of grunting and shifty behavior as we were all getting loaded. One camel in particular did not really want to go on this little walk with the rest of the group. It took two or three Berbers to get him calm and force him to the ground. Someone had to get stuck with this troublemaker, and that someone turned out to be Mike. The funny part of it all was that this camel was the short one. The noticeable difference in height was a source of amusement for the rest of the group as we were led into the sandstorm toward a collection of tents somewhere in the desert. We arrived without any more trouble, the winds eventually died down, we had a nice tajine for dinner, and slept on the sand under the stars.

After our trip to the desert, we spent a couple days visiting the other prominent geographic feature of Morocco, the Atlas Mountains. This time nothing was organized, we took a taxi to the tiny village of Imlil and enjoyed the cool air and mountain scenery for a few days. This is a popular spot for many hikers who come to climb Jebel Toubkal, the highest mountain in North Africa. We opted for just a day hike, but still got to enjoy some nice views of the peak and surrounding national park as we hiked up the river valley.

Back in Marrakech, we strolled around town a bit more and got ready to leave again. Our flight was the next morning, back to Europe after two weeks seeing the varied regions of Morocco.

Tags: animals · desert · food · hiking · Morocco · mountains