Sahara, Part 2

After riding camels into the desert at sunset, we arrived at our auberge, had some mint tea and a Berber style dinner (which consisted of a communal plate of some kind of tagine that we all just used bread and our hands to eat), then listened to some rather sad attempt at music next to a camp fire and looked at the stars. Even though we had to get up early for our sunrise camel trek back to Merzouga, I opted to go with a couple of camel guides and other people to climb a big dune for the view. That sounded like a good idea at the time, but maybe not so much in reality...

About halfway up the dune, I remembered that my knee is bad. I told the guides that I wasn't going to be able to make it and that I'd just go back to the camp since I could still see the campfire. Instead, the guide wanted to take me to another tent where some Berber friends were living. So, I wound up wandering through the darkness in the desert with this camel guide to a Berber camp. We hung out for a bit while they talked in Berber (which I can't understand for the life of me), then walked back through the darkness to our auberge... During the walk back, the guy seriously started to get fresh with me - esp. considering this is a Muslim country. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot to be done about it given that I was out in the middle of the desert and could no longer see our campfire. Long story made short, all worked out well (I tried to keep him talking about Moroccan-Algerian border relations...in Spanish); however, there was definitely some creep-factor in my Sahara experience.

After our sunrise camel trek, we had breakfast back in Merzouga and then dropped off half of the group at the taxi depot in Rissani. (Some people opted to catch a grand taxi from Rissani to Fes instead of taking the tour roundtrip to Marrakech.) We then pretty much halled balls to get back to Marrakech before midnight... When we drove through the high desert approaching the mountains, we got into a pretty decent-sized sandstorm that had the minivan buffeting around a bit. Then, once we could really see the High Atlas mountains, I could tell we were in for trouble...

Considerable snow had fallen in the mountains since we'd passed through two nights before. I could see snow blowing off the ridgeline, and recalled that they'd had to shut down the pass for several days before we got through. As we started ascending into the mountain pass area, we got stopped at the last little town. The police were out and we were told that they had, indeed, shut down the pass due to snow and ice. We sat stuck in the van for a couple of hours while some brave/poor souls finally made their way down the mountain behind a snowplow. It was hit-and-miss as to whether the pass would reopen - and I honestly didn't expect it to. (People at my hostel in Marrakech who'd been on the last tour before they'd previously closed the pass got stuck in the mountains overnight; I figured we were in for the same.) As luck would have it, though, they reopened the pass to let us through for the last trip of the night. It was pretty treacherous - and was certainly more snow than my Californian ass has seen in many years. Not only were those of us on the tour snapping pictures in amazement, but so was our driver; he snapped away with his cell phone camera and couldn't believe it. Eventually, we did make it back to Marrakech - but it was one hell of an adventure.

Ironically, in addition to traditional Gnaoua music, the song that most ingrained itself into my memory of my Sahara trip (from sheer frequency of radio play) turned out to be Akon's "Right Now". ;-)

Sahara, Part 1

I left for a 2-day/3-nt tour to the desert at sunrise on Sunday morning. The group was about ~70% Spanish, so English wasn't the dominant language but it's all good. My travel buddy became a beautiful Spanish guy who was traveling with his friends as a "third wheel". There was some broken communication along the way (he spoke no real English, and my Spanish won't win any awards - esp. among Spaniards); however, I'm positive he offered to buy me for the price of a camel at some point along the way... ;-)

Back to the real story... We drove threw varied landscape that reminded me at times of New Mexico and, at times, Switzerland (not that I've been there). On our way out, we saw a lot of snow at high altitudes in the High Atlas Mtns; however, we made it through the switchback passes with no problem. After a little side trip to see Ait Benhaddou (the place where they filmed movies like Gladiator and The Mummy), we stopped for lunch in Ouarzazate and then continued on to the Dades Valley where we stayed the night at a little hotel at the base of a gorge, listened to some live Berber music and froze our butts off overnight. The next day, we drove to the Toudra Gorge, stopped off in a Touareg village (where I got hastled by a guy selling Berber carpets), and then continued on to the Sahara so that we arrived in time for a 2hr sunset camel ride to reach our auberge.

The Sahara is absolutely amazing. So peaceful, so beautiful. I saw more stars there than I've ever seen in my life - including a shooting star. I'm so glad I did this trip!

Did I mention I almost impaled myself on a rusty camel harness?? ...almost, but not quite. It ripped through the thigh of my heavy jeans but, thankfully, didn't get the skin.

A woman in Marrakech...

Marrakech is an "experience". In the Djemaa el-Fna, snake charmers, henna ladies, musicians, and basically everybody is out to make money off of tourists. It can be a bit overwhelming at first, but it actually becomes comical once you understand it - assuming you didn't get suckered. Likewise, wandering through the souks can be a minefield of aggressive touts, but it's good fun once you understand the way things work.

Even outside the souks, though, I find it tedious to be a woman here in Marrakech. I can't go anywhere without some random 20-to-30-something year old modern Moroccan man attaching himself to me like glue. In fact, I find it more tedious in Marrakech than in Italy - and that's saying something. Perhaps it'd be less tedious if my French was better, but it gets old trying to shake off some dude and not make things worse. I'm over it and ready to move on. C'est la vie. (The only thing I can think of is that, although some Moroccan women opt not to wear the hijab, my hair is really long and noticeable - on top of the fact that I'm obviously not Moroccan and, thus, attract attention. Who knows the real reason?)

Fortunately (I guess?), my time in Marrakech is coming to an end. I've booked a 2-nt/3-day tour to the Sahara (which almost didn't happen due to the weather in the High Atlas mountains that you have to cross on the way to the Sahara - i.e. snow/ice), then plan to crash one additional night in Marrakech before leaving for a few days in Essaouira to wrap up my holiday...hopefully in a bit warmer, more restful environment. It's been cold, here - and it'll be really cold in the desert!!

Sidebar: It also seems impossible to come to Morocco and not wind up getting high off second hand hash smoke. It's not "legal", but seems almost as pervasive as the fresh orange juice stands...

Bonjour au Marrakech!

Well, it's been an adventure thus far - but I don't think I really expected my first foray onto the African continent to be anything less. I flew San Diego to Chicago to Madrid to Marrakech - perhaps a 20hr+ journey during which I slept maybe 1.25 hours (and only then on the flight between Spain and Morocco).

After arriving in Marrakech, I found that the ATMs at the airport were completely out of money, so I had to change $USD to Dirhams in order to pay for a taxi to Djeema el-Fna so I could try to make my way to the hostel and have some general spending money until I could access an ATM. That was my first time actually having to make use of any "emergency money" while traveling, and I was glad to have it with me. After making it to Djeema el-Fna, I tried to use my ATM card at another ATM...which proceeded to not give me any money and, instead, kept my card. (That's a first! ...especially given that I alerted my bank about my travels prior to leaving.) Interestingly, the local guys who run the hostel weren't that concerned about it; they just told me to wait until the bank that owned the ATM opened in the morning, show my passport, and get my card back. I was skeptical, but it actually worked. (Don't think it would've in the U.S., that's for sure!) I was then able to change my PIN number online through the hostel internet - after trying to call my bank toll-free-international without success. There were a few more foobar moments as I tried to get cash after changing my PIN number (ATMs being down); however, I was ultimately able to get some cash and move on with life. Woo.

But, yeah, this is Africa - even if simply N. Africa - and I didn't expect it to be a trip without hiccups. Fortunately, 1) the Moroccans have been very friendly/helpful, and 2) a little bit a high school French is still lingering somewhere in the back of my mind to try to help in conversations where the other individual doesn't know English. For example:

Me: Bonjour. Parlez-vous un peu d'Anglais?
Them: No.
Me: Uh, OK. Le machine n'acceptez pas ma carte, mais je ne comprendre. Tout l'information est bonne...

(Hey, I never claimed to be able to spell in French... At this point, I'll take whatever works!)

"Wheels up!" in the a.m...

I leave for Morocco tomorrow morning and I'm, frankly, too exhausted to be excited. Hopefully that'll change somewhere over the Midwest...

I've worked 28hrs in the last two days, alone, and had to squeeze in an emergency trip to the dentist to deal with a toothache on a tooth that had a root canal back in 2002. (Somehow, an unseen root is apparently tangled in my sinuses - which have been finicky lately due to weather - and sinus congestion is triggering a major toothache.) At any rate, I've now got two 'scripts and a super-decongestant to take with me...and one of the 'scripts made me puke last night. Should be an "interesting" trip...

I'm really glad I decided on a longer-than-initially-intended stay in Marrakech. I think I'm going to need some time to just relax before moving about the country - even if it means I won't see as much of the country.

Depart: Nov 22nd (for Marrakech)
Return: Dec 7th

UPDATE (10:30PM): "Dude, I'm going to Spain - like outside of the airport!" This little gem popped out of my mouth earlier this evening as I looked at my flight itinerary. I've been so busy with work that I overlooked the fact that I have a 19hr layover in Madrid on my way home from Morocco. Who knew? ;-)

Linear is boring, anyway!

When last I blogged, I mused over the idea of life not always being an easy, linear path. My thoughts on the subject today: Linear is boring, anyway! I'll take the slower, more interesting, meandering path any day of the week.

The long and short of the story is that I found myself in the fortunate predicament of receiving multiple job offers and having the opportunity to choose a great job that's pretty much everything I wanted - bearing in mind that nothing is ever entirely perfect. I really couldn't be happier.

On reflection, I do tend to do things the hard way - on my own terms - but I also tend to land on my feet. I think a lot of people want to live life on their own terms; they're just fundamentally afraid of dealing with the consequences of doing so (i.e. they're more comfortable with the idea of what's easy and safe, than with the idea of what's precarious but "right" on a personal level). I guess my philosophy is simply that life is too short NOT to live it on your own terms. I'm a supreme advocate of preparing for worst case scenarios but, once done, I believe in bulldozing full-steam ahead and taking control of your personal power. Once you've harnessed your personal power, you've already won. IMO, "losing" is the impotence that comes from giving that personal power away to an external entity...

Not always an easy, linear path

In the interest of procrastination, I think I'll update this blog...

I basically found myself out of a job at the end of August in conjunction with a corporate acquisition. As fate would have it, I then wound up re-injuring my knee and having to cancel my trip to Peru at the last minute. (That still makes me sad - but one day I will get to Peru. I promise.) I wish I could say that I have a good/funny explanation for how I re-injured myself, but I don't; the truth is rather pathetic and a sure sign that I'm getting older. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. (I wouldn't want news of something like my human frailty getting out, you know?)

Anyway, the knee injury also forced me to reevaluate my daydream of heading to SE Asia for a few months in my new-found unemployment. Physical limitations suck, but it's better to recognize them than to wind up in some remote location needing a med-evac or something of the like.

Allowing myself time to recover from the knee injury basically brought me into the holiday season, when hiring traditionally tapers off and people think about more important things like their families and their own vacations. I did, however, fly up to Oregon for third-round interviews with two companies--which meant I was also able to squeeze in a wonderful weekend visiting old friends and colleagues in Eugene. I got to visit the old Whiteaker neighborhood where I used to live, eat at Keystone, and take a nostalgic tour of the old college campus. End result: I felt younger and more optimistic than I have in years - and that's a good thing.

I'm not sure what the future holds, but I'm staying positive. Life is about growth and evolution - and that's not always an easy, linear path. And that's okay. I'm a spiritual person and my motivators are not strictly financial. I would rather be "happy" than rich; I would rather be "fulfilled" than merely existing. And, yes, these are idealistic notions - but why not? It's not like this thing called life is a dress rehearsal. It's up to each of us to make our dreams come true; it's up to each of us to find our place in the world. No one else is going to do it for us; that's for darn sure!

In the meantime, I'm building skills by taking programming courses: C, JavaScript, AJAX, etc. Woo?

Also, I'm saddened to report that it appears Spirit Airlines has canceled their LAX-GUA route - so I'm not likely to (affordably) return to Guatemala any time soon. I'm glad I took advantage of it while I could!