Desert and Camels in Merzouga

So on February 10th, we finally escaped the frigidair of Ifrane and roadtripped to the desert thanks to my friend, Mehdi. After a rough start of Cara, Andrew and me, waiting outside in the cold at 4AM only to be picked up at noon the next day because do-do Mehdi fell asleep AND turned off his cell (how convenient), he compensated, got us really good kefta sandwiches in Azrou and we drove for 8-9 hours through the snow, the mountain-passes, cities and small towns and finally reached the desert village of Merzouga. One of Mehdi's friends hooked us up with a really good deal at the Nasser Hotel. Since it was off-season, we got all the staff's attention and the food of tajines and m'smmon for breakfast were really good. Cara and I had a really cute room with a princess canopy bed. It felt kinda romantic so we called it our "weekend getaway" since Valentine's Day was 3 days away.

We slept soundly and in and at noon we ate breakfast and got on our camels to discover the desert. The weather was beautiful with sun and tank-top weather temperature! yay! We rode for a couple of hours until we reached the oasis. What's interesting is that our guide kept calling the oasis to make sure he accessed the network and that's how he knew whether he was going the right way. Once we reached the oasis, we chilled out in a warm and cozy Berber tent. We took naps and ate a good tajine lunch. Afterward, Cara, Andrew, Mehdi and I embarked on the "stairmaster of hell" and climbed up a 80 degree angled dune. well it felt like it i don't know angles for sure. While we reached the top, sat atop the dune and felt proud of ourselves, Jesse's camel collapsed into slumber from the labor of Jesse's weight. (Jesse is 6'2" and a big dude). To get down we slid on the smooth surfaces of our butts and lemme tell you firstly, I won! and secondly, sand gets everywhere. I forgot, why'd I think desert sand would be different. As we packed to go back to our hotel, the sun was setting which was beautiful and the moon was so bright it cast shadows of us in the sand. The trip back was hilarious because me and Mehdi had the most chilled out camels while Cara's camel, Harry, had the munchies and stopped at every grassy patch to eat. Jesse's camel, Hurtn, struggled along while Jesse gave it a motivational pep talk while he had cursed its weakness during the morning haha. Finally, Andrew was the anchor leg and his camel, Gary, was a little retarded and thought he was a horse because he kept trying to gallop, buck Andrew off, race the other camels, almost walked off the edge of a dune and had tended to walk towards the left. While we were riding back and also getting lost in the darkness, we watched a lightning storm in Algeria which was gorgeous. Gorgeous because it was far away.

We finally got back to our hotel, showered in hot hot water, had the best kefta tajine ever and told stories. Sunday morning, we said goodbye as the mudbrick layers arrived to put a new layer on the hotel which was interesting and we went to the depot where Cara and I bought desert scarves and Jesse bought 4 rugs in the hopes of arbitraging them to pay for his Morocco trip. 'smart boy. After playing with a really cute Berber baby, Mina we drove back through the mountains, through the rain and back to the cold mountain that is Ifrane. It was such a nice getaway...very much needed. Yay for desert!

Goodbye SNOW and old man face! what?

Oh Andrew! this is what happens after 8 hours in a car Mehdi feeding the car with bottled, mineral water. It was thirsty...
Too cool for school...Me and Cara and our tea tree oil toothpicks
The Nasser Hotel. Piscine's filled!
Jumping on 2 out of our 3 beds cos we can

Cara and I <3 style="text-align: center;"> The new look of DESERT MODECamel Shadows and below: the Berber Oasis

That's me and my camel, Bob Moustaffa

Beautiful desert Merzouga
Our guide couldn't decide whether to take a pic of our caravan or smoke

That's Bob! He's a chill camel
Jesse's camel post-collapse Below: Us with Berber children

Cara chilling in the Berber tent while we nap
And they're off!!! Below: I slide into victory

Kefta tajine! It looks gross but ohhh its so good

My camel coming in for a smooch.Lightning storm in AlgeriaMina, Me and Cara

Hiding from Mina with Berber dude who knows 5 languages

Us with the kind staff of Hotel Nasser

And for Valentine's Day, an admirer by name of Medhi surprises me at midnight with this huge bear. I think the bear speaks for itself. :)

Visit to Tarmilat

On Tuesday, the 7th, a group of women from AUI, staff and students visited Tarmilat, a very small Berber village right of Ifrane. When we parked the car, I could not see the village. I couldn't see it because we had to hike a 1/2 mile through the snow-covered hills to the village. I had just come from class so I had my casual slip-ons and no jacket...smart girl.

We visited Tarmilat because Karen Smith and some faculty of AUI are trying to help the Tarmilat women launch their own woven-rug business. They started over a year ago with the AUI women subsidizing wool, materials and teachers for the village. The plan was that gradually the subsidies would decrease while the women learned new weaving skills, designs and made extra income off the sales of the carpets. Their representative, Moustaffa, coordinates the flow of materials and sales of carpets. However, the process was going slower than expected and so we had a kind of business meeting at Moustaffa's house. We met the women, 12 in all who weave, and their cute children. I got to hold a Berber baby! hehe. We discussed the situation, had tea and m'ssmon.

As we were about to leave before the village got dark (they have no electricity) the real issues of the business came out. It was interesting to conduct a business meeting through English, Arabic and Berber. I and two other exchanges want to meet to find possible solutions or business strategies for these women, either having them register as a co-opt with access to government resources and also finding buyers for their rugs. Hey you guys in the states, want to buy some original, Berber-made rugs? They're pretty! It was so amazing because I had read cases like this in school including all the dilemmas of culture and management and now I'm here and have this task ahead to help these women. All the women were so friendly and warm with smiles on their faces...they're such beautiful people...