The Land of a Thousand Rugs

So the other day, I went to Africa. I rode a camel. It was cool. 

It really is so simple, but I still cannot get over the fact that I was in Africa.  Yes, plenty of people have been to Africa before, like my mom on business or my roommate to help out at a clinic, but of all the places I’ve wanted to see in the world, Africa just seemed like the least likely, a when-would-I ever-get-the-chance-to-go kind of place.  Yet, here I was, sitting on the top of a giant sand dune in the SAHARA DESERT! 

It was amazing to me how completely and utterly different it was from any place I have ever seen in my life, like an entirely different world.  In this world, donkeys, camels, and horses are a normal method of transportation, the women are hardly seen and practically covered from head to toe, and the first two most widely-spoken languages are totally incomprehensible (or even legible) to me. 

Fes Medina

The first day we visited the Medina, or city center, of Fes, which is the second largest city in Morocco.  The Medina is dominated by a labyrinth of small alleyways filled with little stalls selling just about everything (seeds, spices, fruit, vegetables, goat heads, squid, dishes, remote controls, clothes, medicine, post cards, thrones, rugs, and the list goes on…) It was really overwhelming trying to take it all in, especially since I needed to focus on not getting lost in the maze and avoid getting run over by horses or men carrying cases of (live) chickens.  

Brought to you by your local Moroccan Radio Shack...

All-you-can-bag Spice Buffet ;)

My favorite stop along our tour of the Medina was to visit a 4th generation medicine man, a doctor (as he called himself).  He showed us all sorts of herbs, oils, and powders that are each responsible for some miracle health benefit.  Five minutes into his presentation, he was walking around so that we could each sniff this mysterious black powder (through a piece of cloth)... He claims that it would  headaches, relieve sinus pressure, cure hangovers, and help with asthma among other things.  I have to admit, with a stuffy nose at the time, it really did do the trick! 

Next on our African journey, we headed to the desert.  We arrived via 4x4 SUVs just around sunset to the campsite, and it was beautiful! The sand was fine and soft, and the orangish/purplish backdrop against the sand dunes really blew my mind.  That is, until the sky turned black and stars started flowing generously into view.  It was one of the most remarkable things I think I've ever seen (Leaning Tower of Pisa, Great Barrier Reef, and the Redwood Forest included).  The stars were so bright and so numerous that I could barely pick out a constellation since there were SO MANY other stars in between them. I saw Venus shining brightly and at least a dozen shooting stars within the first few minutes.  If only I could have captured it with a camera...

In the desert we slept in tents called haimas, which are very sturdy and surprisingly warm.  However, we didn’t spend very much time in them as we were up at 5 am to see the sunrise, which was pretty phenomenal and included a sighting of Algeria in the distance.  We really dove into the African desert culture after that, fashioning our turbans to protect us from the hot sun and possible sand storms before we hopped on our camels to traverse the sand dunes in style.  We named our camel Penelope, Penny for short.  She was very well behaved and never spit or tried to buck us off, despite the rebellious streak that her nose ring may have suggested. We rode through the desert for a while, and it was fun (although unfortunately painful afterwards). 

Meet Penelope

We stopped in a small desert village to rehydrate and visit another rug shop.  They do weave some beautiful rugs, but having spent a few too many hours in the last rug shop in Fes and being hot and starving after a long morning in the desert, I’d had enough of looking at rugs that were definitely out of my budget.  The Moroccans are pretty impressive salesmen, though, and a surprising amount of people in the group bought rugs.  My favorite sales pitch was that our parents would be happy to find a Moroccan rug delivered to the doorstep because it is an “investment in our futures,” so clearly they’ve raised a smart kid!  A guy in the past took this advice, and now he’s so rich that he comes back and buys 30-40 rugs at a time… Let’s keep in mind that the cheapest welcome-mat-sized rug was going for 400 Euro, while the majority of the rugs cost several thousand Euros.  Sounds more to me like an investment in the fact that I would have to work two jobs for the next few summers…

Our final stop was in Meknes, a much more modern and almost European-like city, which was quite the change from the rural and poverty-stricken areas we’d been.  We ran across a McDonald’s, of course, Pizza Hut, and a movie theater playing mostly American films (including Hangover, which for some reason was called A Very Bad Trip instead).  This is also where we really discovered how tasty Moroccan pastries are.   We’d had some at a few hotels, but at the pastry shops in Meknes, they were absolutely delicious!! I wish I could bring some back for all of you to try, but I don’t think I’d even be able to keep them around until December without eating them first!

Unfortunately, the trip had to come to an end, and we had to go back to the real world where we’d have to go to class, do homework, and ride the metro (rather than an animal) to get around.  I had a fantastic time and actually learned a lot.  It definitely put my own world into perspective because I have been blessed in so many ways with everything I’ve been given in life.  I take so many things for granted that some of the people I met this weekend could never even imagine. I am very lucky! At the same time, witnessing such a different culture and way of life really opened my eyes to the beautiful diversity that the world has to offer.