Morocco: a foot in another world...

First time in Africa for me, and first experience in a Muslim country too. I must say that it's been a bit of a shock! Above all to see all these women hidden under their yashmaks, showing part of their face or just their eyes...
And also because this is a totally different language with letters I found beautiful. Actually, I fell in love with the signs!

Morocco is really a place where two worlds live together: an archaic and a modern one. All can be found in Marrakech ! From the woman dressed in black with long clothes and a yashmak only showing her eyes to a modern muslim woman dressed just like us! Among these, you will find tourists and here again, there are those who tried not to shock local people, avoided short tops and legs, and those who did not have a clue about where they were going on holidays, and were hanging out in skirts or shorts, tops showing their shoulders or part of their breasts...



What never stopped to surprise me is to see these muslim women or men having mobile phones or MP3, symbol for me of an antagonism! I loved to watch them, there were so many pictures I wanted to take, but here again, I was too respectful to take them, knowing they did not like it... ok ok, let's be honest, I did steal a few still... some were really too good to be lost!

If you ask me, what would you say of Marrakech, I would answer: it is a place of colors and smells... of the best as of the worst! When I cut accross the square Jema el Fnaa to see the mosque they call Koutoubia, I was almost willing to throw up, the smell of donkeys or urine being so strong! Only a few hundreds of meters away, in the gardens, there was the delicious and strong smell of orange flowers...





Colors are everywhere and so vivid! 'Babouches', spices, carpets, bags... I spent the first 2 days of my trip hanging out and getting lost in the souks and streets of the Medina. Fascinating: a world swarming of life, narrow streets where donkeys, cars, mopeds and people try to find their way without dying of a collision or pollution! Every step you take, there is somebody wanting to sell you something. The worse is if you show any interest, you can feel they would do anything to get the deal! They call us women 'gazelle' which I found very cute, and men 'gazou'.

Every morning, I had my freshly squeezed orange juice on the square for 3 dirhams, the equivalent of 30 cents!!! The sun was strong so I did consume quite a few during the day. The square was my landmark: everytime that I was lost, I was going back to Jema el Fnaa, like if all ways leaded to it, like Rome!!! I visited an interesting place: the 'palais Bahia', a vestige of an arab palace, with amazing painted ceiling, doors, works of plaster, wood and beautiful patios.

I bought some seeds for my headache and was sniffing them as indicated by the seller, resting on a bench when this muslim woman sat next to me. We began chatting and she finally invited me to come later to her house, which I did of course, I could not loose such a good opportunity to get a better understanding of a world so weird to me.

The woman who opened the door to me was a total stranger: without her yahsmak and sunnies, I could not recognize this pretty lady with blue eyes and fair hair, such a change! I met her two daughters, aged 5 and 13 and we had tea of course with some homemade coconut cookies, yummy! The conversation we had was mostly based on religion as I was eager to understand it and see it through a muslim woman's eyes. I was quite impressed with the result : Amina told me she did not mind hiding her body and face to other men as since she was married, she was only interested in pleasing her husband. So at home, she was dressed normally with nice clothes, using sexy underwear, and when leaving the house, she disappeared behind her clothes and yashmak. She did not seem to mind. Her eldest daugther, on the contrary was not ready to do it and at least the good thing is her mum told me they could not force them to do it before they were ready to. Chaima told me she did not want to, even in the future and only one out of 30 girls at schools was wearing the yahsmak: sign of an evolution maybe???

They were quite a rich family, living in a huge modern villa, with a massive lounge and 3 different couches to receive hosts... I was stoked I could get to know Amina and open my mind a little bit to such a different world from mine. Somehow, I feel blessed that I was not born in a muslim country and be free with my body!

Another interesting experience was the hammam. Of course, you can find the usual tourist hammam place, nice, clean and expensive but I wanted to experience the real stuff...
I travel to get to know different cultures and always try to live as much as I can like local people, eat what they eat, use local transportation means and get to know them better.

So here I am, going to this local hammam. No sign there, one entry for men, the other for women. This is a bit of shock for me though even if I know this will not be the hammam I had been to several times in my life! A few women are in the dressing room, none speaking french so we communicate by signs. One is a tiny little thing, laid down on her carpet, the others half naked and rather fat, smiling and talking I guess about me as they are laughing and looking at me at the same time. I feel weird as I cannot understand a world of what they say.

I have to wait according to my 'masseuse' instructions. I asked for the whole thing: body scrub, massage and shampoo for 60 dirhams, 6 euros. After a few minutes, I follow her. We enter a first room where we hang out things and towels, then there is a second room, where a woman, fat and old is cleaning herself; then another room with a young one, scrubbing her body too, and then I am told to wait again in the last room. There is nothing there, it is just a narrow room. I look around and am not sure I want to sit down there with no panties on the tiled floor. I finally sit down on my knees while my 'masseuse' pushes the used waters towards a side of the room.

I am feeling a little bit nervous, thinking all this does not look really hygienic, and what the hell am I doing here in this crappy place where surely I will have to lay down on the floor!!!
At the same time, part of me is laughing, looking at me from the ceiling, thinking of the incongruous situation I put myself in and laughing at myself being scared !

Finally, the show begins. My personal 'masseuse', looking nothing but revolting, with her tits hanging down to her waist and her 4 or 5 rolls of fat starts to scrub me. WHAT THE HELL!!!
It hurts like hell! She uses this rough massage glove as if I had an elephant skin! I clench my teeths and endure the pain. She tells me to turn grumbling and shows me after a little time the result: my body is covered with black things, yuck!!! I feel ashamed to be so dirty!!! Not a single squared centimeter of my body is forgotten and I begin to freak out thinking of what she's gonna do to my face and maybe I'll need to go to surgery afterwards but luckily enough, she is a little bit softer here!!! Thanks God! I am now covered with dirty bits of my old skin and she rinces me with hot water. The shampoo and massages are not really proper ones, and I am disappointed. I think she is tired of scrubbing and only asks 'tres bien' (very good)? to show me she wants a tip...!!!

I feel really clean, like maybe I've never been in my whole life and also glad this is over! I dress up and give her a tip as she is whinging for it and all I want is get out of here!
Now I am walking in the streets, a big grin on my face, happy that I did not run aways as it was such an interesting experience!!! This is one of the situations I have lived so many times in my life where a little voice tells me : 'Soph, what d'ya thing you're doing here???' but I can't help it.

I think I am way too interested in experiencing new things and putting myself in awkwards situations, testing my reactions to stop doing it!!!
What's the risk anyway: I was not going to die! Ok, I did feel a little bit stressed out, scared to get some weird diseases afterwards but there is no price for such a valuable experience. I love to tell this story to my friends and see their disbelief or disgust when explaining the whole thing: I think it was all the strongest that I was all myself, the only white woman and tourist there!

Well, after this, I am ready to go for a week in the desert where I know there will be no showers... I meet my 2 first travel companions for breakfast in the morning and we just click! Elise, 27yrs old and Annie, 47 yrs old are from Cahors, France and both funny and interesting chicks. The remaining 2, Tania, 32 yrs old from Mexico and her husband Sam, 27 yrs old from Luxembourg are a happy couple, very nice too. All day long, during the trip, from Marrakech to our camping site, 'Nesrat', we talk, laugh and get to know each other better, all happy to get along. Youssef, our guide, 35yrs old, is also a very nice and interesting guy, Lahcen, 47yrs old, our cook is a lovely dude, tanned by the sun with a beautiful smile.

We are amazed by the different sceneries along the drive. The mountains, the Atlas are beautiful. We stop to take a few pics, buy meat and the famous 'cheche', the blue fabric which will protect our face from the sun and wind and will be our best friend for a week!!!






We finally arrive to our first campground, 'Nesrat', stoked to start the aventure in the desert. It is a beautiful night. Kids rush to give us a hand and set up the tents. We drink our first tea with fresh mint, and the magic begins. I spend the night outside, in my sleeping bag to enjoy the stars, the moon and am glad to recognize the constellations I got familiar with while crossing the atlantic: the Big Dipper, Orion, Cassiopee, Tauris, Pleiades, the Dog, they are all here, so bright and the night is fantastic!



To be honest, I don't sleep well. Camels are close by, they might be stepping on me? Or people living close by might pass by, and about dogs that I can hear barking??? I hear the call for the prayer at 5am and see the sun rising. It does not matter if I did not sleep well, I really could not go inside the tent like the others, I wanted the celebrate the start of the trip my way, in communion with the Nature!

After breakfast, we begin walking, much slower than I expected... always full on Soph! Nice though as Youssef stops all the time to explain us stuff about villages we cross called 'ksour', religion and all sort of things. It is hot, we regularly stop to drink water, trying to have a rest from the sun in the shade of trees. Sceneries are changing quite a bit, not what I expected: sand dunes, green palm groves, stony plateau.

Lunch is ready when we stop and we all enjoy a beautiful fresh salad. After the afternoon rest, we walk along with the camels. They are impressive, the bottom of their feet looks like fine felt fabric, so soft. It looks like they are walking on eggs! They can carry up to 200kgs and have 4 different bags enabling them to store 100l of water, without needing to drink during for 3 months, awesome hey?



We stop in a village to buy drinkable water, and visit the inside which is unbelievable dark. No windows, the village looks more like ruins to us, like if buildings were not finished. Each house has an inside patio but no outside windows... without any lights, how can they find their door?


We arrive to our first real dunes, 'Tidri' and enjoy the silence of the desert. We freak out for a few second seing a caravan of camels and other tourists but they do not come our way and we remain the masters of the place!!!


We have our first camp fire, and the 'Berbere' guys begin to sing and play drums on empty cans. The magic of a fire gathers everybody together and we live a special moment, smiles on our faces, eyes sparkling, sharing companionship and friendship.

Then, the wind begins to blow hard and I give up the idea of a second night out. Impossible to sleep with the wind: I feel like somebody is shaking the tent so I grab my bag and go inside the big tent set up for eating. Youssef is sleeping here but I innocently go to the other side of the tent to sleep. A few minutes later, he asks me what happens and then says: 'I'm getting closer?' Horrified, I answer 'No I do not feel like it!' Then he says he cannot sleep with a 'gazelle' nearby and asks again 'you don't feel like it or you do not want to? ' I say 'both plus I want to sleep and I am here only to discover the desert'. So he grabs his bag and in spite of my protestations leaves the tent to sleep outside and asks me to act as if nothing happened.

I realize only the day after how inconvenient of me to join him. He thought it was an invite and for me it was just natural that a woman and a man, even strangers, can sleep close by without having sex. But fortunately it does not change our relationship and everything goes back to normal.

In the morning, the wind keeps blowing like crazy and we carefully set up our 'cheche' to prevent the sand from entering our eyes and nose. Sunnies help blocking the last spaces but sometimes it is not enough and I have to cover my head with the 'cheche' to stop my eyes from hurting! Sceneries are fantastic, the sand is flying out everywhere and I realize how horrible a sand storm must be! For us, it is just a nice experience to face this situation and in spite of the danger for my camera, I cannot resist taking some pics to get a memory of this 'sand show'!

We cross sand dunes, have to climb up a mountain to keep on crossing. Sand is everywhere, in our shoes, our ears, our eyes, our nose, but what a fantastic day! We even see water, a 'oued' and it is not a vision caused by thirst!!!

We get closer to the big sand dunes and I am getting really excited and eager to live my dream: see an endless horizon of sand dunes... slowly, but surely, it is getting closer...

And finally, the vision of the campground announces the end of the day... I run to climb the big dune and 'Regabi Hniti' reveals its magic! I am blown away by what I see!

UNBELIEVABLE!!!

It is splendid, grandiose and my mouth remains wide open upon the shock... I DID IT!!!

Tanya and me are getting crazy, taking heaps of pics and even having a shooting, playing with the 'cheche' and posing like movies stars!

Our mates call us for tea but we do not want to go down and only when they say Lahcen fried some 'beignets' (doughnuts) do we go down the sand dune like crazy to celebrate our happiness with the others!

We all eat like greedy pigs and then I go up the dune again to watch the sunset, joining Youssef and Salah, one of the camel drivers, enjoying also the look out!

Then a delicious dinner again served by Lahcen. Couscous, tajines, soups, salads, crepes, beignets, we have been spoiled! And always ready on time, with amazing presentation...

The only drawback is that our organism did not react well, humm see what I mean? Lots of gaz, tummy looking like if we were pregnant... this was a recurrent conversation and we had several crisis of laughter talking of our personal problems to each other! Except Sam, all the girls have been into trouble. I guess it must be the spices as we are not used to them. My god! I think I never farted so much and it's never been that stinky either, like my perspiration!!! Sorry to be so straightforward but things have to be said and it's really been part of our lives for a week!!!

This night, we play cards with the camel drivers, the guide and the cook and discover the Morocco version of the 'uno' : what a fun!

As this is the best campground so far, we decide to get up to see the sunrise, all together.

Unfortunately, it is cloudy and chilly but still... there is nothing like seeing the sunrise to make you feel alive!

Our last day in the desert is cloudy, as if it was a way to say goodbye, do not be sad to leave me... I am sad, really! I was so happy walking all day, enjoying good company, good food and awesome sceneries, living a simple life... and having all my meals cooked for me, hahaha!

Another great day, sand dunes again. Youssef writes our names in the sand, it is so cool to see Sophie written in Arab that I took a picture!

We cross a stony plateau with tombs discovered with the sand blown after a storm, and another weird one with stones looking like slates. We saw so many different landscapes always in the same day! That was the interest of the trek, this diversity! We were all dreaming of sand dunes but after walking so much on the sand, that was a relief to find something different!

At the arrival of our last campground, Youssef has a surprise for us: it is time to ride the camels! Youpee! This was the second thing I was dying to do in the desert! Of course, mine is a kamikaze and following the others, decides he can perfectly walk on our backpacks! What a fright! I just hold on, scared to fall over! It was actually very smooth and very nice. Not as high as I thought it would be and very comfortable! I loved it and wished it was longer...

We make the best of our last night in the desert and make a huge fire to cook the bread called 'el mela'. First Lahcen digs a hole in the sand, then lights up a fire, when the embers are ready, buries the bread underneath and all we have to do was to wait for 15mn, then another 15mn for the other side. It is delicious!



Then after dinner, music starts, with songs and drums again...

For our last night, we cannot be bothered to set up the tents so we sleep all together in the big tent.

In the morning, our last bits of sand dunes...

Then, dry ground, cracked by dryness...

crossing a first village, sign we are back to the real world...

then arriving at our camping, crossing the village of Ouless Driss

Welcome back to civilisation! We have a well deserved lunch, the first shower in 5 days, well appreciated (!), then a nap. We visit the local museum, have a little walk in the village and watch our last sunset in a palm grove outside the village, a real beauty!

We are only missing some kind of cocktail or alcohol to celebrate the end of the trek and the good moments shared! Forget it bro, no alcohol in a musulman country in the countryside!!!

The last night is magical. Other groups are staying at the same camping site so we have a jam session with all camel drivers, guides and cooks of their group. It begins in the kitchen, just a few of us then the party continues after dinner. I play too and I can tell you it hurts like hell! My fingers are really sore afterwards! I am stoked. So many people from different cultures, languages, backgrounds, ages are singing, dancing and laughing together. There is a special energy this night, lots of love, friendship and communion! It feels really good and it is the best we can end this adventure together. It reminds some parties we had in the Dominican Republic with my friends Cathy and Manu, now living in Brazil.

The next morning, back to Marrakeck, a long drive still with splendid sceneries. We have dinner together in a nice and cheap restaurant then go to bed early, exhausted! Our rhythm of holidays was getting up every day at 6:3O, walking around 6hrs a day, so I guess at the end we finished feeling tired! Unfortunately, no way to sleep through in the hotel as a bunch of f.... germen wake up everybody at 7am talking loud and slamming doors!

Elise, Annie and I go to a hammam, a different one from my first one, same kind but with very nice and smiling women. We laugh hard as Annie is a bit stressed while being scrubbed and we find a bunch of dark hair on the floor before sitting down. I knew what to expect so I am feeling pretty relaxed. We feel so good, so clean and happy afterwards! Then we go shopping to get some gifts and memories for our families, catch up with Laurence and Sylvain, a nice couple who went trekking too in the mountain, without being as lucky as us, having to cope with 3 weird travel companions... funnily enough, Annie and Elise thought these 3 would be the other 3 of their group as they met them in the plane from Marseille and heard them talking of their trek... lucky girls to be with us instead, hahaha!

Well, this article has been very long but honestly, I had so much to say and to share! It's been an extraordinary adventure and will stay forever in my mind, as these new friends I have will stay people I will keep in touch with. Spending 24hrs out of 24 together for a week in these conditions make you know pretty well each other and if you are still friends afterwards, then it's forever when you shared awesome moments together!

For those interested in discovering the desert in Morocco, I can only recommend our agency called Cyber Berberes, go ahead and visit their web site, http://www.cyber-berbere.com/ . Everything was perfectly organised, from the airport to the trek, the choice of the hotel, or of the journey. Marie is a real professional and will answer your questions quickly and efficiently (and I'm not getting paid to say this!)