> We woke up at eleven am to out phone ringing in our four star hotel room. It was the restaurant wondering if we take our breakfast at the terrace or in our room. We decided to take it in our room as we both were getting ready for the two more hour drive to merzouga the gateway to the Moroccan Sahara. We were served omelet and breads and coffee and orange juice. We ate and went to pay our bill. Of course we just changed everything to our room as we were out of cash. 890 dirham for dinner drinks including bottle of wine breakfast and our room. That's about 95$. Well worth it. We then headed to go further south and make it on time to merzouga. We grabbed waters from a gas station and filled the car with gas. We took some stops at scenic overlooks including the palm tree oasis that went for miles and miles. It was like a giant grove of palms in the middle if the Grand Canyon. Breath taking. We made it to erfound and drive past a pizzeria. Have I mentioned I've been craving pizza since day 3? We grabbed more cash at the ATM. That's 600$ we have withdrawn for the two of us including numerous nights in hotels not too bad but still an expensive trip to Matt's standards. And went to the pizzeria. It was good and 9$ for a 14" pizza and two coke zeros.
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> This area is well know for it's fossils. So we went back to a fossil shop to learn about where and how they find the fossils and then look at the pieces that they have. It's pretty cool. They make sink basins out of them and coffee tables. Pretty unique. But we are sure they are really expensive as it was 30$ for a small fossil in rock about the size if your palm. We tipped the guy 15 dirham (even tho he said I give you tour for free, you look at my things.... You always have to tip)
> We then set out for merzouga. About 45 minutes of driving in the open area reminded me a lot if pheonix with palm trees and then we followed the directions to Ahmed's place. Go towards touza and then see the green sign and turn left down that desert road towards the mosque and ask for Ahmed. We found his house, were greeted by some other locals and Ahmed who stuck his head out if his home. We parked our car and brought our luggage into the room and ventured out to look at the dunes. Then returned to tea and peanuts and we chatted with Ahmed. It's amazing how he gets internet service that far away! But good thing he does, his family runs the camel treks and a bed and breakfast. The house is built of wet sand and hay. The walls are thick.
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> A little while later the camels were ready and were knelt down so we could just throw a leg over and up went the camel. The ride was a lot like riding a horse, except we went at a very slow pace and Ahmed walked us the entire way. It was about one hour and around a dune we went and there in the middle of the desert and surroundings of nothing was a traditional Berber camp. The tents were sticks erected and the walls were morocco and Berber rugs thrown together. The camp also had rugs laying over the sand as carpet and there were 10 rooms for guests in the circle of the camp. We hiked up the top of the sand dune and saw another Berber camp all but 50 yards away down another sand dune. Matt and I took in the surroundings as we waited for dinner and the French couple that was joining us tonight.
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> Ahmed told us stories and clarified some of the questions. There are police stops every once in awhile where they are watching your speed with radar. But the government doesn't want to punish tourists so the police supposedly will keep waving us by without a ticket. And the dudes that whistle I am supposed to ignore. The French Canadian couple is spendin g 21 days in morocco. And they loved fez. Learned some interesting pointers including that India is pretty sweet. Dinner was then served. We had the salad (a random conglomeration of veggies) then the meal potatoes carrots and chicken served in a Moroccan Dutch oven and fresh cut fruits for dessert. We then headed up to the peak of the dune to take in the peaceful Saharan night. It was too cloudy for star gazing. And the moon was half full so it was rather bright. Then we retreated to our tent and called it a night.
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> Sent from my iPhone
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