More stars than Hollywood´s walk of fame-guaranteed

After our time in Fes, we took a long bus ride out to the desert. On the way we stopped at an oasis that looked liked the grand canyon with a bunch of trees in it...pretty awesome if I might say so. We also saw monkeys in pine trees! I can honestly say that we went through some very diverse terrain. First we saw the coast, then we hit desert with shrubs everywhere, then we hit the forest which looked like NorCal, and then of course we hit the sandy dunes of the Sahara. It was a very long trip but, as always, well worth the time.

When we finally arrived in the desert we had to get off the bus and take a caravan of 4x4s into the dessert. There were 60 of us and each car fit 5 to 6 people...you do the math...there were lots of cars. Our campsite was literally out in the middle of the Sahara desert about 30 minutes walking from the nearest town. It was awesome. The first night we were there, the locals stayed up with us and watched the moon rise. Never in my life have I seen such a clear sky. Coming from Lake Tahoe, where we boast a pretty clean environment, the Sahara desert still absolutely blew me away. I wish I had brought some kind of star map, but instead I found myself content just looking for Orion´s belt continuously. We saw several shooting stars and just hung out on the dunes.

The most interesting thing about out time in the desert was that the locals followed us wherever we went. At any given time, they were willing to hang out with us, wander the dunes, dance, sing, and just have an awesome time. They also always were willing to sell us something, but understood if we weren´t interested in buying. At night, they would randomly light bushes on fire in the desert to keep warm...SO COOL!

Anyway, the next day we woke up early to watch the sunrise. I just happened to pick the one guide who felt like walking farther than everyone else, so we walked...about a mile in the desert to this extremely high dune and watched the sunrise together. His name was, of course, Muhammad...super common name over there. Afterwards, we ate breakfast and then mounted up on our troupe of camels. I must say that I never realized how high off the ground you are when on a camel haha. It was fun as well, although a little bit painful! During the day we went into a local town and walked around...they tried to make us buy rugs again!!...but i was resilient and stayed rug free. We walked back (little did we know the camel ride was a one way trip) to our campsite and hung out with the locals.

Sam, Caroline, David, and I got into a battle royal with all of the little kids that lasted the greater part of 15 minutes. They also got a hold of my camera and had a full on video and photo shoot. (Check facebook once I get home!) That night, we danced with the locals, had a great dinner and layed under the stars.

It was definitely the trip of a lifetime which I doubt I will ever be able to relive.