After breakfast we were off for a camel ride in the desert. Our drivers are always going through sands and unmarked paths to take us to various destinations. It is uncanny how they seem to find places where to me the surroundings we pass all look the same. We arrived at a lake. Was it the same as yesterday? Maybe so.
Our camels were tied in several groups each one closely behind another all sitting on the ground. They had metal handles at the front of the saddle and rolled blankets which formed the saddle. We were told that we needed to position ourselves behind the hump making it easier for the camel to stand up since the back legs are stronger than the front. The minute you are positioned on the makeshift saddle the camel stands but hold on tight because it’s a front to back movement. There are no stirrups.
My camel group led the outing. A man on foot led each group as we walked slowly across the dunes in the early morning sun. Our path was a leisurely hour long loop out and back. Camels are capable of running up to 40 mph but I doubt it’s a fun ride at that pace. The dunes are beautiful in the morning light. Dismount was easy and my legs felt like I had been working to hold on during the ride.
Our next stop was in a small town where we had nuss nuss(half coffee half milk). We departed for a music stop next. There is a sub Saharan area that stretches from Sudan to Mali and what was Ghana. Sudan means land of the black man. These people are the very dark skinned Africans. Their music, gnaoua , is considered African jazz. We had a private demonstration from the master musician who heads the groups. We sat around the edge of the room with each of us having a drum in front of us. The master gave us a history of the music as he played several different instruments. He sang several songs while explaining that the songs had different significance that could run together from love to sadness to celebration. He then taught us to play the drums we had with different rhythms and different hand positions for changing sounds. We played our drums as he sang faster and slower. Fun and challenging too.
We then enjoyed a perfect song by a group of musicians who sang and danced while playing their instruments. There was a group of school children who were also enjoying the performance.
We left the music for another desert destination, a Bedouin family. We drove out past numerous shacks covered with fabric rags and pieces of black paper. We stopped at one cluster of shacks belonging to a family. The husband was there with his 3 young sons. His wife was at the well with 2 daughters and a baby girl on her back loading the donkey with water jugs.
Abdou told us to ask questions. We learned that the 2 oldest boys went to school during the week. The family walked about 10 miles into town for the school. The boys stayed at school all week and came home on weekends. School is free and they receive food at school. Otherwise the family had very little. The husband said he has diabetes but stopped taking his medicine because he doesn’t like how he feels. Also medicine is not free. We suspected that intermittent food supply made it difficult to be on oral diabetic meds. We asked the wife’s age. She said she didn’t know. Her oldest child was 10. We guessed that she was probably in her 20’s.
We gave them some toys for the children and socks and jackets with a few other items we had brought. It seemed meager based on how we saw their life. Abdou was careful to explain that we always bring gifts to those we visit and this was not charity. On reflection, there was nothing we could really do to change their lives. This was one family of many we passed all living a subsistence life.
We returned to our desert camp for a very late lunch. We had free time after to relax before our cooking demonstration for dinner which was Berber pizza. It was like a calzone filled with ground meat, almonds and spices which are usually cinnamon, cumin, ginger, turmeric and garlic. It’s a delicious mix.
A big bonus at the end of dinner was a hot water bottle to put inside the sheets. It was nice to have the warmth. After dinner a few of us went to my room to drink wine and talk until bedtime. Early start planned for the next day’s trip to Ourzazzate, about 6 hours away.
The Adventures of Anne 