Erg Chebbi

Day2 found us early at the carpet seller’s place. Hakim had asked if we would like to see a carpet being made in a village cooperative and as I wanted to buy a carpet some time in Morocco now was a good as time as ever to see. After being shown how long a carpet takes to weave we had a greater appreciation of the value of just one rug. The different women from the area work on their rugs for a few hours a day taking months to finish one. The rugs are then sold through the cooperative with the money going back to the village. This seemed to be the way to go so after some bartering we have a carpet that is now travelling with us for the next 4 weeks as it would cost $100 to send it home. Again we set off for an interesting drive until lunch time in a very busy town. We sat in a “pizza” restaurant that sold “berber pizzas” and had tagine omelets and salad. It is amazing what they can rustle up at a minute’s notice. As we sat out the front with the locals and watched the scenes unfold I imagined that was what life was like in Marrakesh before tourism took hold. It was commerce at its best and seemed to be the meeting place for all sorts of deals and donkeys passing through the lot. It was dusty and so exciting. We won’t forget that lunch in a hurry. As we neared the desert we could see the pink sand dunes in the distance, they were very large and could be seen from a long way away. Off road again on our own road across grey stones when all of a sudden in front of us near the dunes was a building that looked like a kasbah. We stopped right at the dunes. I was gob smacked to say the least that this was where we staying for the night. The Auberge du Sud. It is not a hotel as hotels are not allowed to be built at the dunes only “hostels” mmm. It was first class accommodation with hardly anyone staying there. We had decided not to ride the camels as we had in Egypt as we still remembered clearly the chafing Camel bum gives you. As we were playing a game of Ludo, Moroccan style with our berber coach Hussan and Hakim and Joy we changed our mind and decided to go out to the dunes to see the sunset. As I was getting on the camel I remembered why I did not want to repeat the experience again. This time it was better as Hussan was a great camel leader and we both felt at ease. No running camels.. thank god for that. We climbed to the top of the dunes by camel then by foot. There was no one else out there with us so to see the sun set on what had been an extraordinary few days in peace and at one with all that is natural was wonderful. I even got to sit on the berber rug and slid down the dune being pulled by Hussan. Another great night of food, and entertainment by the lads who worked there. They were all fantastic drummers so we had a performance by the fire. In the morning I got up to see the sunrise it was perfect and was funny to see 27 Japanese tourists come from the city in 4wds get on the camels see the sunrise get back in the cars and go back to the city. That was the desert and the end of a perfect 2 nights with two new friends Joy and Hakim..love this couch surfing. On the drive back to their place we were told it is 10 days walking the camel to get there and one of the waiters was from Timbuktu in Mali ..it takes him 62 days walking the camel when he goes home. Thank goodness we had a car. The scenery was even more spectacular driving back than the drive up. The mountains were made from green stone, then black marble, pink marble, browns all sorts of colours and rock structures. We passed the fossil villages. The whole of Morocco used to be under water so the fossils were plentiful particularly in the black marble, but did not stop as we had purchased some from Hussan on the sand dunes before breakfast. We really want to thank Joy and Hakim for their giving spirit. They shared themselves and information with us for 5 nights . We had lots of laughs and lots of Tagines. Love to the both of you. It was with regret we left Ouarzazate but armed with so much knowledge of the first hand experience of living with them in their home. Thank you, thank you xx