on the way to the desert

12/23/09 – Day 7
Today we woke up at 7:00am and met our driver who took us on about a 9 hour drive to an area in the desert in-between the towns of Rissani and Merzouga. This trip was amazing…I’m so happy we decided to take the van instead of the bus…we were able to stop and take pictures the whole way. Our scenery ranged from lakes and rivers, snowy mountains to flat deserts. We drove through the Middle Atlas and High Atlas and ended up in the Sahara. One thing I like about traveling to new places is not knowing what to expect; everything we have seen is new and can’t be compared to an existing memory.

5 things from today:

1. We rode down in a van slightly smaller than a cargo van. The break pads were obviously non existent; every time the driver stepped on the brakes (which was often) it was a metal on metal grinding. Our driver didn’t speak English so we didn’t do a lot of communicating, but he was a really careful driver…that was comforting in the rain and on the mountains roads. Along the way we stopped for breakfast (bread, tortillas, cheese (laughing cow) and butter) and Lunch (mystery meatball sandwich).

2. Last night we read about Barbery apes; they live in Middle Atlas in forests that we traveled through on our way to the desert. Our driver stopped along the side of the road at a campsite…we drove around slowly until we spotted one. Remembering the chimp story from the US (where the lady got her face ripped off), I decided to stay in the car. While Caroline and I waited in the car, the boys fed the apes nuts that we bought last night in the medina. One ape stayed in the tree screaming (the bigger one) while a smaller one walked right up to John and Pete taking food out of their hands. I sent Alex out with my camera…he got some pretty good shots.

3. Along the way we stopped at what looked to be a river of palm trees. It was beautiful. It was a deep canyon that was filled with palm trees and homes…there were so many palm trees that they disappeared into the distance.

4. Everywhere we’ve stopped so far sells local fossils; I ended up buying a fossil necklace. While we were at the palm tree oasis, at his request, I was looking for a rock for Casey M. Guess what I found –a fossil!! I still haven’t decided if I’m going to keep it or give it to him. I’ll probably give the rock to Casey since I was sifting through them because of him…I guess I have my necklace.

5. The bathrooms…we’re out of the big city now…the toilet I used today was a hole in the ground that you squat over…it’s difficult, but I guess I’ll eventually get used to it and figure out how to best use it with out making a huge mess!