The Moroccan summary

From MARK:
Well, we made it through Morocco and are glad to be back in Spain speaking the language more often just because we can. Marrakech was amazing and if you appreciate true adventure travel, this is the place! The Souks were like flea markets on steroids, with odds and ends stacked several stories high and no signs as to where on store ended and another began. Snake charmers played their tunes and Dani steered quite clear of them letting me know via a clinched arm that tightened as the musical sounds grew louder. In fact, you could likely purchase one of those little flute like instruments and play it if you ever need to keep her at bay. Just kidding Dani!

The camel trek was four thumbs up! Ali and his guides ran a great setup, complete with the two camels we rode cleverly named Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix. Our three hour ride to our camp was smooth (as can be expected on a camel's back), and the tanger dinner that we had, complete with chicken and vegetables was excellent. Watching the sun set over the crimson red Sahara sand dunes tops the list of must sees, and sleeping under the stars proved to be one of the most relaxing nights yet. The only downside I can think of would be my didn't-know-they-existed, sore camel riding muscles. They're rather round animals and you can only imagine the position one must take in order to ride on top. We've also heard they can be mean, but Bob and Jimi seemed quite congenial to us.

Oh, our bus ride that I briefly mentioned earlier... it turns out that it was a rather nice one. On our way out of town from our camel ride, in Merzouga, we ran into a guy from the US. We were exchanging stories and he told us about his bus ride. Apparently, at some point on the curvy road across the Atlas mountains, several Moroccan riders became ill. One finally hurled (without the aid of a bag) which caused an eventual chain reaction, setting off four others. He said he didn't really feel bad, until that point. To top things off (I know you thinking yeah right, how do you top that?), when he went to retrieve his backpack from under the bus, upon opening the cargo door he found a tied up goat which seemed to have also taken ill on the road and proceeded to defecate on his luggage. I think we had a wonderful bus ride!!!

From DANI:
The camel trek...when we began planning our adventures and Spain became our main destination I made the plea to head to Morocco and take a camel ride. In fact, it was one of my few musts. This all stems from pictures I saw on my friend Carly's Facebook...she spent a semester in Spain and her Morocco pictures, including camel riding, were amazing. Little did I know what I was getting myself into!

We arrived at Nomad's Palace, the "hotel" Ali owns and runs the treks out of. We took off for the trek around 5pm and our guide, a young-ish guy named Dressa, led our camels over and around the sand dunes. The views were stunning and the dunes so strangely different than anything we'd seen before.

Dressa is a talker. He speaks many languages and when I asked him about school he said he'd never been...only to the school of life. He learned languages by speaking with tourists. He told us many stories and wished we had longer to stay...next time, he'd say. Many of his stories ended with drinking Berber Whiskey (mint tea) and relax max under the stars. He said this so many times that Mark and I have begun to refer to him as "Relax Max". We watched the sun set from high on a dune, ate a wonderful dinner, and watched as the stars came out...the only time I can compare the quiet and beautiful sky with is when we hiked at Glacier Nat'l Park in Montana. We awoke the next morning and watched the sun rise and then back onto the camels (ouch) for the trek back to the Palace...which turned out to be about 45 minutes away! We ate breakfast, showered, and Ali was nice enough to give us a lift to Rissani where we would catch the night bus (a nice one this time) to Meknes, then a a train to Tangier, and then the ferry to Tarifa, Spain! We were making a hasty retreat!