Hello Desert. (02.03. - 04.03.2020) The last 1 1/2 hours drive before we are really in the desert lay ahead of us. We packed our things. Paid for the place. Next Moroccan surprise, we paid more. Not much more, but more for the days here. Great. The level of annoyance increased further. Whatever. Now in the desert. The drive there was great. The road was very good. We soon saw the first herd of camels and were excited. We had chosen a place that was supposed to be very quiet. It was right next to a sand dune. We arrived there around noon. Jamal, the owner, greeted us briefly. Not seen since then. We placed ourselves. Due to the size and weight, we could not stand on the right place. So we parked next to the owner's tent. We had a snack outside. But we quickly noticed that this was not a good idea. The wind blew. The fine sand flew through the air. So we had sand in the water, in the food, in our eyes, and of course in the camper in no time. We hadn't thought about it beforehand that it could be windy here. Then we headed into the desert. We wanted to see what the desert looks like. Just a few steps and we were in the middle of it. One sand dune after another. The sun was burning. It shimmered and somehow we thought all the time 'Ah, there is the sea over there'. Unfortunately not. The sea of sand seemed endless and of course there was no water here. A bit like a beach without water. But still, there were more trees than expected. We walked back and forth and passed a cemetery. Interesting. Of course, somewhere the deceased also have to find their final resting place in the desert. Back at the camper, we were a bit lost. I would also call it a bit tense. Sitting outside was hardly possible. First too hot. Secondly too windy. Thirdly there was a wild dog, which apparently lived here. Very young and playful. No matter what we did, he was always there. We couldn't play hide and seek without him being there too. The problem was - he kept biting. At first, we thought, ok. he just wants to play. But he didn't stop. I didn't like it with Wilma. And then it really bothered us. It was already 5 p.m. Here in Mhamid there were plenty of parking spaces. We looked and found an alternative. We thanked Jamal and drove to the next place. The description said that the place could be reached via a track. But this would be possible with EVERY camper. Okay. On the way there, a motorcycle stopped next to us and asked if we wanted to go to Camp xy. We affirmed it and Mohammed led us there. It really went across a sandy track - desert on the left and right. When we arrived at the new place, it was beautiful. We had landed right in the desert. However, it was even windier here than before. Mohammed tried to build a shelter, more or less succeeded. We got a carpet in front of our house and were invited for tea in the guesthouse. We were, as with Jamal, all alone on the site. Mohammed irritated us from the beginning. He seemed to have been drinking or at least smoking. We went to the guesthouse. It was very nicely laid out. We got mint tea and asked if it was possible to take a day trip to the Chegaga desert. He gave us some books. We couldn't make sense of them. We had read and heard beforehand that an excursion including overnight stay and meals should cost about 1000 MDH for two people. Mohammed offered us a day trip (without overnight stay) for 1800 MDH. Mathias and I looked at each other in surprise. We declined. But since Wilma wanted to ride a camel, we asked for a short camel ride. That was no problem and should cost 200 MDH. We booked this for the next day, 2 p.m. We had dinner in the camper. Somehow I didn't feel unsafe but every noise made me jump. When something hit our camper directly, I was completely done. Mathias and I also started arguing. We weren't relaxed. In the distance, we heard music, drums, and good spirits. It came from another camp. Our night was restless.
On Tuesday morning, we woke up with a beautiful sunrise and were looking forward to a relaxed (hopefully) day in the desert. It was already very warm, or in other words, it hardly cooled down at night. We already had 27 degrees at 9 a.m. Having breakfast outside wasn't possible because the wind was still blowing strongly. Even opening windows was hardly possible. So we were trapped in our house in the morning and sweltered. Mohammed came by once more and asked if everything was fine and if we needed anything. Mathias wanted to eat a camel tajine and asked about it. We ordered a tajine for 150 MDH at 7 p.m. At first, he wanted 200 MDH. We negotiated it down. Mohammed was still strange. We played in the camper, painted, and waited for 2 p.m. and our camel. Punctually, like the Germans, we stood in front of the camper. Wilma and I were looking out for the camel. We saw something coming in the distance. Actually, it was the camel. No, the camels. There were two. At first, we thought only Wilma would ride. Now we realized that we would all ride. Okay. The camels were placed in the shade. Wilma, Mathias, and I greeted them. The camel guide looked for Mohammed, who wasn't there. 5 minutes later, he arrived on a motorcycle. Now it was time to go. I was the first to get on. Mathias helped lift my butt. It was easier than I thought. The camel stood up. It was very wobbly. First, the camel stands up with its hind legs, and about 20 minutes later with its front legs. Done. Now Mathias and Wilma were next. They shared the camel. Mathias sat down. The camel stood up. Wilma walked away. Now the child suddenly didn't want to anymore. Great. We tried to talk her into it. Nothing. Mohammed then caught her and gave her to Mathias. She cried. Thankfully, it quickly stopped. 1 minute after the camels started walking, she had fun and was happy. We trotted into the desert with the camel guide. The camels walked with us through the sand for about 1 1/2 hours. It shouldn't have gone on much longer because our sitting humps already hurt a lot. The descent was quick. The camel and the camel guide disappeared just as quickly. Mathias and I walked back to the camper with our legs wide apart. Only Wilma hopped around like a young chicken. It was a nice trip and definitely an experience. The wind had subsided in the meantime, so we were able to dig in the sand a bit in the shade. Wilma went to bed happily. Mohammed signaled at 7.30 p.m. that dinner was ready. We thought we would have the tajine served at our place. No. We dressed up and went to the guesthouse. Mohammed was already/ still in a strange state. We were initially served a huge bowl of soup including bread. Followed by a chicken tajine because camel doesn't taste good when it hasn't rained for a long time. For dessert, there was fruit salad and tea. The food was okay. Not a highlight. No explosion of flavors. We tried to talk to Mohammed a bit more. However, we quickly got the feeling that he didn't want to. That's okay too. We don't have to entertain anyone here. So we went back to the camper.
Wednesday - departure day. We had had enough of the desert excursion. We just wanted to leave. Packed our things and Mathias went to pay. I already had a slightly uneasy feeling in my stomach. This feeling was confirmed. We had 500 MDH ready for Mohammed. 100 MDH parking. 200 MDH camel tour. 150 MDH dinner. 50 MDH tip. But now he suddenly wanted 400 MDH for the camel tour. It would have been per person. He hadn't said a word about this. All prices were always for the three of us. Mathias argued with him wildly. But I stood firm. He wouldn't get a penny more. We said goodbye politely, thanked him, and left. And then it happened. We got stuck in the sand dune from the place on the way to the track. Great. Mohammed had said that we should drive there. The ground is firm there. We were worried that he wouldn't help us because we didn't want to give him more money. But he did help. Shoveling with us and doing his bit. 30 minutes later we made it. We thanked him again and drove off. The drive on the track was more shaky and bumpy than the way there. In the end, a small rule tore out of the wall and all things flew around. The level of nerves was more than hit. We were done. Our next destination was Zagora. We wanted to do some shopping and then continue towards Agdz, the connection to Agadir/the Atlantic. When we arrived in Zagora, we parked about 5 minutes away from the city. We needed water, fruits, and vegetables. We got out with our shopping list and boom, the next 'tourist catcher' was there. Another Mohammed. He spoke good English and told us about a friend he had in Germany. We said we wanted to go shopping. Mohammed took us to a market hall that we knew from our visit a few days ago. Everything was there. That was okay. He said one stand belonged to him. We bought everything we needed and then Mohammed wanted to give us his card. Suddenly Mathias was in his boutique. We got caught again. Mathias quickly waved it off and we continued walking. When we passed a small snack bar, we saw a grilled chicken. We felt like eating meat. So we took the chicken with us. We quickly went to the bread man and back to the car. We don't remember where he came from, but suddenly Omar stood in front of us. A Berber. He asked us where we were from and when we said Germany. He spoke German. He has never been there. He taught himself the German language with cassettes alone. Crazy and huge respect. He told us about a book about him and the different Berber tribes and really wanted to show it to us. We went with him and ended up in a carpet shop. However, he showed us all his carpets, but we didn't have to buy anything. We also looked at the book he mentioned. It was written by a German. Then Omar invited us for tea. Since he told us that he works with the Berber tribes, we asked him if he could/would pass on warm clothing from us. He agreed. We brought the bag from the car and had tea with him. Took a picture. Omar invited us to visit him during our next stay in Morocco. We can park there and he will show us 'his' Morocco. He gave us his email address, phone number, and so on. I gave him my email. It was just nice. We would have liked to have more of these moments in the past few days. We said goodbye and went to the camper. When we arrived, we realized that we hadn't locked the garage door. So the caretaker had been standing by our car and the door the whole time and watched over it. Thank you so much! We had dinner in the car, listening to Moroccan music from a musician outside our door. The caretaker said goodbye as warmly as he had greeted us and we were overwhelmed by so much friendliness. We still had over 3 hours of driving ahead of us. It went through the mountains. Up and down. Through the saffron area and past friendly people. We wanted to go to a place near Taroudant. We could have stayed there freely. When we arrived, however, we noticed that it wasn't so nice. We drove along the small road. It couldn't get worse than the track in the desert. And it didn't. But we ended up in a small village. The residents looked at us with surprise. Womos probably don't come from there very often. We got lost in the four streets. Had to turn around and then a man showed us the way to the 'main road'. The next parking lot was 20 minutes away. A gas station near the highway. However, there was a construction site. Now we had the option to stay or drive another 20 minutes. To a place with a pool. Wilma had had enough, understandable. It was already 6.30 p.m. But now she wanted to go to the pool. So we continued driving. Passed goats in argan trees and ended up in nowhere, in the Paradise Normade. There were two other campers there. We parked and first went to the pool. Passed the pool check. Now we didn't care what time it was. We wanted to swim. And that's what we did. It felt soooo good. We had dinner at 8.30 p.m. Tomatoes, onions, and bread. Yeah...and a cola. That was also good. In my email inbox, we already had mail from our new friend Omar.
We spent Monday completely at this place. Used the pool in the morning, noon, and evening. Drank tea. Had an ice cream and went for a walk. Morocco had 'captured' us. Even though we are now on the 'way back home', we can say for ourselves - we will definitely visit Morocco again.
