The Sahara Desert adventure continues--Days 9 and 10

We are up early the next morning to view the sunrise from our tented camp in the Sahara Desert.

We stand in awe as we absorb the feeling of the stillness of this desert environment.  We are camped where few foreigners will venture.

 We watch as the sun changes the colors of the dunes before our eyes.

After breakfast we leave to travel the desert the traditional way--on the back of a camel--err...dromedary!

We are ready to go

It was great fun!

After the camel ride, we stopped by, and who would have ever thought, a car museum in the desert!

We spent a few minutes here looking at rare vehicles.  Here's a couple...

a double jeep....

 ...and to add to the strangeness....a half jeep!

We stopped by Khamlia, a remote desert village.  This region is known for the ritual songs of its Gnawa musicians.

They performed for us and we learned about slavery in Morocco as their ancestors were slaves.

In the 4x4s we enjoyed some dune riding...

until we arrived to a nomadic family.  Her name is Fatima and she is a widow.   She is here with her granddaughter.

We are served tea.  This is not an impromptu visit, but rather an arranged one through O.A.T.  Without any cell phone, she just doesn't know when we are going to arrive.

As we visit with Fatima about her nomadic life, she is busy working a pile of fur into yarn.

 We left her with bags of clothing we had purchased at the market.  The family is living in poverty, and yet she feels very happy.

That afternoon a group of us opted to go fossil hunting.  The Sahara Desert was once under the sea.

This was a huge rock...

Here it is easy to see that the Sahara is both sandy and rocky.

 We found a couple fossils worthy of taking up space and weight in our luggage.

We then headed over to visit a family in Merzouga that specializes in henna tattoos--the natural way, no chemicals.  This is Fatima and her cute baby, Mustapha.

Here's Mohammed showing us how the henna plant is prepared to a paste.

With a syringe, the paste is artistically drawn onto the arm.

Once dried, a very temporary "tattoo" remains under the paste.

Fatima's daughter, Khadija, is applying the henna tattoo on Terry's arm.

It was a fun experience.

That evening we enjoyed another Sahara sunset.

 Those mountains are in Algeria to the east...really only about 20 miles away.  Close enough for us!!

In the morning, we reluctantly leave our tented camp...it was a wonderful experience.  Our destination is the oasis town of Ouarzazate, (pronounced something similar to "where is that").

Along the way we stop at a xettara, which is an ancient system of irrigation dated to the 11th century.

These are wells that were used by the area tribes to retrieve water from a reservoir 45km away.

Each tribe had their own set of wells, connected by an underground canal which was dug by hand.  

This system was used until 1982.  This is an extremely hot region of Morocco.  Temperatures in July and August reach 130 degrees F.

We stopped for lunch at the Ksar of El Khorbat.

A ksar is a village surrounded by walls with watchtowers.  Inside we visited a Berber museum to learn about the history, architecture, and daily tribal life of Berbers in this region.

 The tagines and cookware and traditional male garments called djellaba made of wool or cotton.

On the road again we made an impromptu stop in the middle of nowhere to interact with Lahcen and his son who were grazing their animals.  Goats and sheep require a constant search for new pastures.

They are nomads and said "we are from the central part of the High Atlas Mountains.  We are here as this land is part of our tribal land.  We are dwelling in caves but still life is hard for us." A nomad family is constantly on the move, carrying all their belongings with them.

His son...

 ...and his wife.

By late afternoon we arrived at our 5-star hotel, the Le Berbere Palace.  Quite the contrast from what this nomad family is sleeping in tonight.

The next day we experience what O.A.T. calls, "A Day in the Life..."  where we go into a community to learn about the history of the area and the daily life of the local people.  Oh...and Terry and I end up as newlyweds again...

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