The land adventure. Normally a bus ride isn’t something that I look forward to but after all the rolling on the ship, the lack of sleep from the waves and the effort it takes to even just hold yourself upright in that weather, I was so excited to just sit.

The landscape is phenomenal here. It’s beautiful.

The snowy Atlas Mountains.

We first drove to Ait-Ben-Haddou. This is a Unesco site and the site of many Hollywood films like Gladiator and Indiana Jones. I slept in a bed that was still, showered in a shower that was still and enjoyed being able to put things down and have them stay put.

The next day we drove through Agdz to Zagora. Agdz is where there are huge numbers of date palms.

Our lunch spot.

We have been eating well here. There’s usually salad or soup to start and then tagine or couscous and fruit for dessert.

Then we set out on our desert trek. Trek is a bit of a heavy term for the 1 hour of camel riding and one hour of walking we did but it was pretty fun.

At one point I had the pleasure of riding with three enthusiastic students two who are from Newfoundland and their best bud from Edmonton. Their conversation went as follows (keep in mind the Newfoundland accents).

Charlie “oh my goodness man your camel is taking a shit right now as it’s walking!”

Ryan “I wonder if camels ever get the stutters?”

Jeremy “No man, camels eat the same damn thing every day, they aren’t getting the stutters ”

Ryan “well if they did man their legs would be right dirty”

Charlie “oh my goodness ”

🤣

We stayed in pretty luxury tents with beds in them and washrooms with running water!

We all climbed up the sand dune to watch the sunset.

The following day we hiked/ rode the camels out. There were tracks in the sand from the nighttime desert animal activity.

Going over the Tichka pass the scenery was amazing. We were all taking pictures with our phones pressed against the bus windows. It’s the highest mountain pass in Africa.

At one point we were stopped in a lamb jam.

We were supposed to go back on the boat in Essaouira on November 6 but we arrived too late in Essaouira and the boat was rolling a lot at anchor so the captain didn’t want to zodiac everyone back on board. So we got to stay in a hotel again! Yay sleeping!!

And in this hotel I got a room to myself!

Tomorrow the boss is taking us to a hammam as a thank you if she can find one 🤞🏻.