Marrakech, Morocco

On our way to Marrakech from Ouarzazate

Marrakech was our last stop. It's a very busy/chaotic town, one of the only place on earth where I have actually felt somewhat unsafe. We were even told to "go home to America".

Our riad (Riad Dar Pangal) was an oasis of calm in this chaos. Julio, the owner, is an eccentric man from Chili who opened this hotel 10 years ago. It's simple but tastefully decorated.

We spent New Year's Even in Marrakech. Most restaurants were fully booked and grossly over priced. In addition, I did not feel like hanging out in the main square. I noticed that garbage cans have a tendency to blow up on NYE. As such, we ended up spending NYE at our riad with a couple of guys from NYC. We had cheese, Pringles, red wine, clementine and a Kit Kat. Fun times!

Erg Chigaga, Morocco

From Ouarzazate, we drove in a 4X4 for five hours to M'hamid, had lunch and kept going for another 2 hours. That was a bumpy ride! This road is actually used for the Paris-Dakar rally.

Erg Chigaga is very different from Erg Chebi. I have affectionately renamed Erg Chigaga the "Disney Dunes". Our camp was much more comfortable than our tent in Erg Chebi. The 'bivouac' had mud walls which made the inside much warmer than camel skin with holes. It was more comfortable than a Best Western, seriously.


The dunes are much smaller. Quads reminded me of a sea-doo on a quiet lake in the summer. There are foot prints everywhere.


I was happy to see at least one desert creature! A little (I mean giant) beetle. I am glad I saw it on our last day otherwise I might not have slept that well. It's winter, all other insects were hibernating.

Ouarzazate, Morocco

On our way to Ouarzazate, we got a flat tire! It happened during the call to prayer so it's was a bit of experience.
This is an oasis in the desert. I know, it's very different than the ones we have grown up seeing in cartoons. The truth is that people have built cities around oasei. I've only seen one oasis during the whole trip.
I don't have much to share about Ouarzazate other than it's like a little Hollywood in the desert. It's a relatively big hub for movie studios when they are out in the Sahara filming.
Ouarzazate actually hosts the largest movie studio in the world. The city itself, meh.

Erg Chebi, Morocco

After a ten hour drive from Fes, we finally arrived in Merzouga where our two camels were awaiting our arrival. The drive was amazing in itself. I expected the Sahara to be all sand dunes. It's not. Most of it actually looks like Arizona. Large dune fields are known as 'ergs'. They are ancient lakes and seas. They suddenly appear in front of you like mountains do.

We left the bulk of our luggage at a Kasbah (hotel) nearby and loaded up the camels. It felt like a beautiful sunny day. Although we were only a few kilometers away from the Algerian border, it's still very much the most northern part of the Sahara.


We left the kasbah around 3:30pm.

Seeing the sunset in against 180 meter dunes was amazing. It was getting cold and dark and we were still riding. I was convinced our guide lost. Three hours later, we finally made it to the camp. A couple of tents made of camel skin with fashionable holes in them.

We had dinner with Ahmad, our guide. Tangine, of course. We fed the cat who had been brought there to chase the desert mice. Poor kitty. Judging by his hunger, my guess is that there aren't many mice there or he is not a very skill hunter. It was very, very cold at night. I am used to cold weather but I don't normally sleep outside when it's 2 degrees! I had a couple of layers on me plus five blankets. It was December 25 and we completely were alone in the Sahara desert.

We woke up early to see the sunrise next morning... a little too early. We were out by 6am. Little did we know the sun doesn't actually rise until 7am! We took our blanket with us and sat at the top of dune until the sunrise came. The sunset was amazing but the sunrise was incredible.


After breakfast, we decided to go hiking the dunes. They are much higher than they look!


After playing in the same, we rode back to the Kasbah before another long drive to Ouarzazate.

Fes, Morocco

Fes is the fourth largest city in Morocco. It's famous for it's 'medina' and is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
An annoying problem with guides in Morocco is the commission they make if you buy something from a store they brought you to. It's a huge commission -20%. You can imagine that all guides try to take advantage of this. As a result, we got to stop in a carpet store, ceramic store, leather store, and more. Some people enjoy shopping. We don't.

Fes is the center of Moroccan leather. We visited a tannery. Not that I want a leather jacket anyway, but I was certainly not going to by one from there after seeing how badly both animals and people were treated.

Meknes, Morocco

Meknes is a small town between Casablanca and Fes. We stopped for lunch where we had our first tajine. Little did we know we were going to have tajine every single day from now on!

Casablanca, Morocco

We arrived in Casablanca around 4pm after a 17 hours flight. I was not exactly feeling like touring the city! Casablanca is famous for two things: The Hassan II Mosque and Rick's Cafe from the movie Casablanca.

We checked out the mosque and then checked in our hotel. At check-in, we were told that the room had not been payed for. We called our guide and had him sort this out. To make up for the screw-up, we were upgraded to the executive suite. Sweet.


It was nice, but I'd never pay the $975/night for it!

After a good night of sleep, we visited Casablanca and hit the road.

Recommendations:
Accommodation: Hyatt Regency Casablanca

Now Boarding Flight to Casablanca, Morocco

We spent our Christmas holidays in Morocco this year. It seemed like the safest country to visit the Sahara desert. Overall, I don't know that I would recommend Morocco as a destination. I have been to more than 20 countries on 5 different continents and it was the first time I was told to "go home". They probably thought we were Americans, but that's not an excuse. It is certainly not a way to increase tourism which is what the government wants to do.

I would go back to the Sahara in a heart beat though. I hadn't had that 'wow' feeling in a long time. The more I travel, the more I see similarities rather than differences in landscapes and cultures. The Sahara is unique, not comparable to anything else I have seen before.

Our itinerary

Proud Holder of a California Driver License

California does not recognize foreign driver licenses - including Canadian ones. This means that to obtain a California driver license as a foreigner (or "alien" as they like to call us), one has to do both the written and driving tests. The pain.

R got his driver license a few weeks after we arrived. I waited until two days before my Ontario license expired. Although I've had a driver license for the past 12 years, I haven't driven much in my life. I actually did not need a driver license at all. I just needed a California ID! It was a little inconvenient to carry my passport everywhere.

I studied two weeks for the written test and I am forever grateful to know that "it is illegal in California to shoot firearms on the highway or at traffic signs". The Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) is just surreal. Where the heck do they find these people??? For a moment, I thought I was in The Simpson's faced with too many Pattys and Selmas.

Once I passed the written test, I signed up for professional driving lessons. Do not laugh. Practice makes perfect! And here I am, proud holder of a California Driver License.