Quest for Camel Kisses

So bright and early the man from the travel agency showed up with a van to take us on our excursion to the Atlas mountains. It was about an hour and a half drive and the scenery was beautiful as the mountains came into focus. We stopped throughout the day at several co-ops where they sell different types of hand-made goods. I'm sure the guides must make deals with the vendors to ensure their shops are included on the trip. Our first stop was at a pottery store where the bargaining recommenced and several of you aquired more presents :)

Second stop was a Moroccan pharmacy. We were shown into a room lined with glass jars full of different herbs. The pharmacist gave us a fascinating presentation-nearly 45 minutes long- about the uses for each plant that is locally grown in Morocco. I swear they had something for everything- he even tried to give us a student discount on organic viagra! I got a small neck and temple massage from a woman demonstrating the use of essential oils and it was heavenly. After his presentation we had the chance to buy anything and everything, and we when we finally left the store we smelled like a wonderful mixture of spices and oils.

Thirdly, and clearly the most important part of the day, we stopped at a road side vendor who was offering camel rides! I'm pretty sure I was beaming the ENTIRE time - we took about a half hour ride through a small trail in the mountains. Sitting on top of a camel, being rocked from side to side (camels move both feet on the same side of their body so it's pretty bumpy) enjoying the glorious heat and magnificent mountain landscape, I don't think I could have been a happier camper. At the end the guides let us take pictures with the camels - a privilege I benefited from muchly as I'm sure you've seen from all my pictures :) How you see this adorable split lip with little wiry hairs and not see uber cuteness?



Ok, next came a place where they made beautiful organic rugs. This may have prompted a very early and expensive phone call to mom that went like this
Me: "Mommy!"
Mom: Hi! how's Africa?
Me: It's great, do you want a rug?
Mom: huh?

Anyway, after debating about shipping a very large and very beautiful rug to the US  I decided I'll just have to come back another time.

Next stop was lunch, a happy event in and of itself but this was one of best memories I have of Africa. As you drive higher into the mountains there are lots of little hillside villages, just small communities of people literally living on the side of an African mountain. Anyway, almost every one of these villages had 2 or 3 roadside restaurants. Now I know what you're picturing but these were literally roadSIDE- if you leaned to far back in your plastic lawn chair you might catch the side-view mirror of a passing van. We chose one were we could walk down and eat right beside the river that runs through the mountains. It was one of the most picturesqe spots that I could have ever imagined, not to mention the food! :)


I had an spicy curry vegetable soup, followed by a tagine of chicken and dates. The dates were so sweet they almost tasted like candy but combined with the savory chicken- again curry based :) - it was one of the most incredible things I've ever tasted. Dessert was oranges and some sort of native melon sprinkled with brown sugar.

After lunch we went a bit farther into the mountains where we stopped at another village and paid a local guide to lead us on a short hike. He took us across lots of little rickety bridges and through a village of shanty houses built right against the cliff side. The entire village's water supply consisted of about a mile of hoses all connected together. Each time someone wanted water they had to unscrew a hose thereby stopping water for the rest of the village. There were random sheep and goats running up and down the rocks just living among the people. After about a 20 minute hike- rather difficult with the flip flops I was wearing we made it to a beautiful waterfall near the top of the mountain. It was just another incredible part of our day, being in the middle of the mountains with this majestic waterfall flowing right through the villages of people.

We eventually pried ourselves away and piled back into the bus to head home. It had been a long day so we went back to the hotel and went to bed early.