Muhammad, our driver, stopped the bus at one last shop before our final destination of the day. Everyone other than Molly and I had to buy scarves for our trek in the desert. The scarves are used to protect your face from the sand. Once everyone made their purchase, we made our way further out to the Sahara. The landscape really opened up out there so we could see miles ahead. We recognized our next meeting point minutes before we arrived. There were a bunch of camels waiting up ahead. All 17 of us rushed out to meet our furry companions for the next hour. I had an uneaten apple from lunch so I offered that to my camel. He immediately warmed up to me.
Lassay, our hostest with the mostest, moved the music outside to the campfire. He and his buddies played for the rest of the night while the rest of us admired. The sky was beautiful--so clear. It was magical. Sarah had a pretty intense conversation with Lassay while the rest of us went to bed. He had asked her where she learned french. She replied "school" and then asked him where he learned all of his languages and she replied with "the school of life." His response really struck a chord with me. The people out there are so amazing!!! Nearly every native we came across knew at least 4 languages fluently and they didn't need any structured establishment in order to apprehend them. These people are who I aspire to be deep within. Sure, I love school and I love structured studies, but I feel like I can learn so much more through traveling.
We all mounted our dromedaries and headed out with our hosts for the evening. The ride was comfortable at first but after about 30 minutes I was in pain. It's strange though...I found that the more I spoke to my camel, the more gentle the ride became. He would twitch his ears in response. It was so cute! The camels carried us all the way to our campsite as the sun was setting. It was absolutely beautiful and so romantic...I felt an ache in my heart...I wished so badly Andréa was there.
Once we got settled into our luxurious tents, we headed to the main tent to eat. We were served mint tea as an apertif. There was a cat fight going on at this time--yes, real cats and yes, out in the desert. One cat climbed the tent wall to pursue the other cat on the tent roof. The cat being chased ended up falling on a few of our people during its escape. Ha haha. We were served dinner soon after--flat bread and tagine chicken with oranges for dessert. I feel like I lost a few pounds during my trip. Not because we didn't have enough to eat. But because we ate so well. Our hosts left us some drums and hand cymbals for some post-dinner music. Everyone was a bit timid at first but a few of us started playing random beats. I decided to stick with 8th notes, ha haha. We actually got a good rhythm down for a few minutes. I totally could've danced to it, except I was part of the musical ensemble.
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