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Where do I even begin?
It's been a while since my last entry. This is because, for the two weeks after I left Madrid (which feels like an eternity ago now), I was hanging out on the eastern Spanish coast with a bunch of my hometown friends. Nonstop laughs, very little sleep, with a sprinkle of cliff jumping and sunburn. You get the idea.
But this entry is not about that. You see, just over a week ago, as my friends all headed back up to Barcelona to fly home to Boston, I was on a train to the Madrid airport, where my flight would take me down to Marrakech, Morocco.
Before I left for this trip, sitting back in Boston, I knew that the final leg of my gap year needed to be great. Who knew when I'd get the opportunity to travel like this again? I wanted to go out with something epic, and Morocco seemed the obvious choice. It sits close to the Iberian peninsula - where I knew I'd be anyway - and was a culture and part of the world I'd yet to see so far. Hell, it's on a totally different continent. I'd had such a great experience doing a small group tour across Tasmania, so I knew I wanted to do something similar here. After some research, I landed on a week-long tour (limited to 18-35 year olds) in the southeastern part of the country with a company called Intrepid. Man, am I glad I found Intrepid. Read on to find out exactly why, but just know that with this new knowledge, I totally see myself popping over to all corners of the world for a week or two on other Intrepid tours in the future.
Arrival in Marrakech
Immediately upon stepping out of the plane, I was greeted by intense heat and a subtle orange-ish haze over the horizon; I knew I was somewhere unlike anywhere I'd been before. This was further solidified when my taxi driver, playing Arabic music over the radio without a care in the world, swerved and honked his way through the crazy streets of Marrakech towards my hotel. I was nervous, and excited.
With this tour, accommodation and most meals were included, and so at the hotel in the evening we all got together for a quick welcome meeting before a dinner out in Marrakech. That evening, plus a 9 hour drive the next day, meant that by the time we arrived in Todra Gorge the next day, the 10 of us on the tour were already quite close. Zakaria, our tour guide, was a big help in that, instilling his funny and passionate attitude in all of us. He quickly became more of a friend than just a tour guide.
Zakaria
On that first day, driving east out of the city, I was struck by how diverse the landscapes were here. To be honest, I didn't know what to expect of Morocco before I arrived, probably just a flat, arid country with a bit of the Sahara desert mixed in. Sure, there's a fair amount of that, but there are also high mountains, lush jungles, coastlines for surfing, and big cities. Along with natural diversity, culturally and architecturally this country is diverse and extremely interesting. Historically, Morocco has been influenced by the French and Spanish, Arabs, Hebrews, and of course the Amazigh peoples. Basically, it's a convergence of a whole bunch of things, as represented by the languages the locals speak: mostly Arabic but with a mix of Tamazight and French thrown in there. Parts of the country felt like I could be back in Spain, while others were the most opposite thing imaginable.
Anyways, after dinner and some cards, the next morning we hiked through the gorge with a local farmer named Aziz, passing through little family-owned plots of pomegranate bushes, olive trees, and corn. As I think back now, the most notable part of this walk was the discovery that the life cycle of a fig is extremely weird. Aziz described how they get pollenated by fig wasps, who lay their eggs in the fruits of male fig trees. Eventually, the wasps hatch and break out of the fruit, flying off to find another tree. He explained that because of this, vegans supposedly don't eat figs (though I've met ones who have). Gross.
Todra Gorge itself felt like something straight out of Jurassic Park. I've never been to the Grand Canyon, but this didn't feel too far off. It's also a rock climber's paradise: we saw a bunch of little specks on the wall, slowly making their way up. I guess it's a good way to escape the hagglers and locals persistently trying to sell you the same wooden camel you've seen at a thousand other stands.
Aziz
Our hotel for the night
Figs
Once we'd finished at the Todra Gorge, we hopped back in our bus headed for the one and only Sahara desert. On the way, we stopped at a local fabrics shop, where we got dressed up in traditional garb. It's supposed to help regulate temperature, but man were those robes stuffy. Here I also bought a headscarf in preparation for later.
Anyways, late that afternoon we arrived in the desert. Zakaria opened the sliding door of the van, revealing the sand dunes and saying - I'll never forget it - "Welcome. To the Sahara."
On the Intrepid itinerary it had mentioned that we were staying in a desert camp. I was imagining a bedroll on the ground, with no showers. This was more of a desert "glamp," and actually had the nicest beds out of all the accommodation so far!
Fitted up
Merzouga desert "glamp"
After dropping our bags, having some tea, and catching the tail end of the Champions League final (thank god Arsenal lost), it was time to hop on the camels. The whole experience lasted at most about 2 hours; I felt like I blinked and it was over. It was undeniably incredible. The last time I rode a camel I was about 6 years old at a festival in my hometown, and I remembered them being a lot larger. Make sure you lean back when they sit down!
The first thing that hit me once we'd traveled a ways out of the camp was the silence. Sand, stretching for thousands of miles towards Egypt, makes for a pretty good sound insulator. Closing my eyes, I could almost be back in those caves in Budapest or New Zealand, it was so silent (aside from the occasional bleat from a camel).
Sandboarding, camel riding, learning to tie and re-tie my own headscarf, and taking lots of photos. Easily one of the coolest few hours I've ever had.
After the camels, we sat down for a group meal of tajine in the main tent, after which we were treated to a traditional Moroccan drums performance by the camp staff. We had a fire, there was some dancing, and I even got to show off my own non-existent drumming skills after the pros were finished.
Groovy
That night, the 10 of us wandered a ways out into the desert ourselves and found a nice sand dune to lie down.
The Sahara sand glowing under the light of a full moon, comfortably warm to the touch and stretching for thousands of miles eastwards, was one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen in my life. Unfortunately, since it was a full moon, the stars weren't too visible (shoutout to the Berkshires, Massachusetts, for having better stars than the Sahara desert).
We lay there for hours, mostly in silence, until eventually - around 1 in the morning - people started slowly trickling off to camp. Soon it was only myself and Allen the Canadian left.
We ended up having a long and deep conversation about life. While traveling solo and meeting people from all walks of life - as I've done in the past year - these types of conversations come up occasionally, and really stick with you (Dillon in Bologna, for example). Because at the end of the day, you're all basically strangers and will most likely never see each other again. Yet for that one moment, one trip, one conversation, you're sharing your life with someone else, and you both benefit from each other.
We spoke about past relationships, about the differences between thoughts and emotions, about grief and goals and seeking fulfillment in life.
It was lying there, on that moonlit sand dune, that I began to realize exactly where I was. It was so different to anywhere I'd been before, so far removed from anything else, and I was filled with a deep warm sense of fulfillment. I realized that this was the pinnacle of my travels thus far. I wasn't the farthest from home I'd ever been, yet it was here where I felt the most removed from my real, normal life. I think I'll be chasing moments of satisfaction like that for my whole life. And with tours like this, constantly going from one place to another, surrounded by other people 24/7, you don't often have time to acknowledge or reflect on where you are and what you've seen. Don't get me wrong, I love being in the thick of tours like this, where you know there's another cool place or experience just around the corner, but lying there in the desert, I realized I STILL didn't fully believe it. I was in the fucking Sahara desert, and it didn't feel real.
It still all feels like a bit of a dream. But that's okay.
Blue hour in the Sahara
A night on the dunes
Not much sleeping occurred after we'd made it back to the camp that night, because the next morning we all woke up early for sunrise. This was incredibly cinematic, and many scenes felt like something straight out of the Dune movies. So much so, in fact, that I made a point of playing Hans Zimmer's Worm Ride right then and there. Chills.
Later that morning, still feeling the high of witnessing a desert sunrise, we once again packed up our things into the bus and set off. Honestly, I would have loved to spend another day in the desert, maybe taking the camels a bit further out. That's the things with tours like this, they are nonstop and action-packed, and so it was on to the next thing.
Lisan al Gaib?
The next thing in question turned out to be the old city of Aït Benhaddou. You might recognize it as the city of Mereen from Game of Thrones (a recurring theme, it seems, on this gap year). Here, we wandered around and had tea with the Tawesna Association, a collective of women who make and serve tea, and are sponsored by Intrepid. More on that later.
After wandering, taking photos, and joking with Zak, we made our way to a small building across the river, filled to the brim with colorful rugs and carpets. This was the Coopérative Akhnif Lglaoui, a coalition that stored and sold hand-made rugs from over 300 women across the country. Each rug could take 6 months to multiple years to weave, depending on the size, and each woman got 80% of the profits of each of her rugs that sold. We got shown the process of weaving a rug, and learned about the different styles of rugs, depending on the lifestyle of the women weaving them. Nomadic rugs were lighter and easier to clean, rugs weaved in the mountains were fluffier, etc.
I've been looking for a good dorm room decoration. Since I knew my money would be going to a good cause, not some touristy scam, I caved and bought a rug. Now I have to deal with the consequences, and lug it around in my already-full bags until the end of my trip. It'll be worth it, though!
Aït Benhaddou was a great stop, but after one night it was back to the bus in the morning again. By this point in the trip, we were all getting fed up with the long bus rides. While the social vibe was great, and Muhammad the driver was extremely chill, I felt cramped and the A/C didn't work very well. That being said, those side-of-the-road stops did occasionally lead to some hidden gems, like a surprise Masha appearance and the 7th largest solar farm on the planet. Oh, and Morocco has the nicest gas stations I've ever seen in my life.
Our bus (feat. Muhammad)
That day, we made it up into the High Atlas Mountains. This area embodied the natural diversity of Morocco, and as we hiked up to our guesthouse accommodation outside the small Amazigh town of Aroumd, following the mule which had our bags, I felt like I could be in Tibet in the Himalayas or the Swiss Alps. It was wild to imagine that the previous morning, we were watching the sunrise over a Saharan sand dune.
We had two nights up in the mountains, which meant an entire day with no bus rides. That, plus the feeling of waking up nestled in the mountains, gave this whole segment a much-needed sense of tranquility. There was a lazy afternoon which I just spent reading my book on the balcony. It was the first moment on the whole trip that I had some time to just chill by myself, and it made it that much more special.
I shared a room with Allen here, and when we got inside we immediately found that our toilet was hilarious. A hole in the wall ensuite, with two boards to lean against each other as a door, and a rickety, unbalanced porcelain throne. In addition, Allen also got a bit sick from some food here, and the dichotomy of going from our intense, wise conversation that night in the Sahara to nonstop jokes about poop with him and Patrick the German was hilarious.
Our ensuite
Our main activity here was a chill hike of about 10 km and 630 meters elevation gain to a nice overlook of Mount Toubkal, the highest peak in North Africa. We had some freshly-squeezed orange juice at the top, which was strangely incredible. The mountains are my happy place, and this hike came only just barely second to the camels for my favorite activity of this trip. I mean, just look at some of these photos!
The next morning, we hiked back down from the guest house and met Muhammad one last time for the short drive back to Marrakech. I'd only had one evening in the city when I arrived, so I didn't really get to see anything. Having a full day for Zak to show us around Bahia Palace, Le Jardin Secret, and the Medina (the old town) was greatly appreciated. There's so much life in these streets (a street photographer's paradise), and some incredible spice markets and street performers as well.
Zakaria continued his established trend of knowing everybody. Whether it was a small shop owner in the mountains to the camel guides in the desert to random people on the street, he just seemed to be friends with everyone.
Wandering in the Medina
Zakaria knows everyone, including these fruit sellers
Bahia Palace
A traditional oven
Le Jardin Secret
On this tour we had so many cool opportunities to learn about local customs and, most importantly, eat a ton of amazing local food. Different tajine dishes every single night, and a lot of bread, watermelon, and tea. They have a cool way of pouring tea here, lifting the kettle very high from the cup, so that the liquid oxygenates and has some nice bubbles at the top. I don't even think I'd ever tried Moroccan food before being in Morocco. Not a bad place for your first time!
Now, let's talk about responsible tourism. From the Tawesna Association women in Aït Benhaddou to the rug coalition to the guesthouse owner in Aroumd to the local guides and the driver, Intrepid brings with it so much business and support. The philosophy of responsible tourism - giving back to the communities which we visit - is deeply ingrained in every Intrepid tour. There were people in our group who had done 4 or 5 other Intrepid trips across the world, and they all agreed that each tour felt like this, with a huge emphasis on local communities. If I'd decided to come to Morocco myself, without this tour, not only would I miss out on so many cool opportunities, but I also wouldn't be giving back to local communities.
I can't recommend Intrepid enough. For all the reasons above, and also because it was pretty cheap! At least for Morocco, this trip is worth every penny, and I'm shocked that more people don't know about this and utilize it.
Morocco was an amazing destination, but it was the people that made it truly special. By the end, after spending every hour of every day of the past week together, we became like a small family. Some of the best memories of the trip came in the off moments (playing cards and imposter after dinner, dancing and singing in the bus, etc). I think I'll even end up missing those long bus rides.
On our last night together, we went out for a final dinner and to a shisha lounge, before some teary hugs and goodbyes. Who knows if I'll ever see any of these folks ever again?
Finally, as I so like to do, I of course created a little short film to tie this trip together. There's nothing that romanticizes your life more than turning a trip into a short movie. The song I used has been a favorite of mine for the past few years now - Morocco by Moon Taxi - so it's exciting to finally include it in something I created. As always, turn that quality up to high.
Enjoy!
It's hard to put into words how much my week in Morocco has affected me, but I gave it my best shot here, and I hope it was decent. Morocco, and the people of this tour, will always hold a special place in my heart from now on.
It all still feels like a dream.
Shokran!
Mark
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