Stepping off the ferry from Spain, we were immediately bombarded with taxi drivers (as we were warned). A simple “no” does not always get them to stop. One guy saw the direction we were walking and pulled ahead of our group multiple times trying to get us in the car. We chose to walk to the bus station to get a little feel for the town of Tangier before taking a bus to Fez. Strolling down the street we stuck out like a sore thumb with our American clothing and snail shells on our back (that’s what we call our backpacks because we live out of them). Everyone looked us top to bottom as we pass by. Eventually we made it to the bus station about 15 minutes before it left. Sitting and waiting on the bus I decided I should go use the water closet before the long ride. I tell the man in charge of the bus not to leave without me as I would be right back as he directed me to the restroom. I entered the bathroom and got my first dose of African cultural shock. I shut the stall door behind me and turned around to find the toilet was missing. There was simply a place for your feet and a dark hole in the floor funneling to a pipe. There was also a bucket of water resting on the ground for what I assume was their “toilet paper”. I wasn’t in Europe anymore! Luckily I only had to pee, but note to self: bring toilet paper and hand sanitizer EVERYWHERE. As I head out of the bus station I see my bus pulling away! Sprinting to the open door of the bus as it was leaving the station, I jumped on and ran up the stairs to see a very relieved look on Maggie’s face. She flips me the bird as we almost just got separated in Africa within our first hour of being there.

After getting into Fez late in the evening, we went out for a typical Moroccan dinner. Maggie had cuscus with chicken and I had tagine with dates. I never realized how delicious dates were until our trip to Morocco. The dates made the dish sweet as they laid candied around the pieces of mystery meat in the clay pyramidal tagine dish it was served in. After settling into our hostel, we awoke early for our 3 day desert excursion.

Accompanying us on our excursion were two sheila’s from Australia, one gentleman from New York and one girl from Austria. It was the perfect mix of people for the adventure ahead. Our first stop on the way to the Sahara was the monkey forest. As we pulled up, dozens of macaques met us looking for peanuts as they were obviously habituated to human interaction. We bought a few bags of peanuts and quickly became the macaque’s favorite primates. We could simply hold our hands out and they would walk right up to snatch snacks right from our hands. It was entertaining to see them up close. The alpha order of individuals was very prominent and we were even lucky enough to see a mother and newborn come right up to us.

Venturing out from the monkey forest we headed about a half days drive to a small town near the Algerian border. From there, we switched into a 4×4 vehicle and headed down the “roads” to our “hotel” in the desert (road and hotel I use in the lighter sense). Upon our arrival we were greeted by Salam who was in traditional Moroccan dress, like many individuals we met. He gave us a quick tour of the property, which included the garden around back that grew everything from tomatoes, peppers, pomegranate, and even dates that we ate right off the tree.

We were fed another traditional tagine dinner with soup before meeting in the common room for the nightly entertainment. The beat of drums and the voices of traditional Moroccan song filled the room as Salam encouraged all of us to get up and dance with him. The lights flickered with the music as if it was dancing to the beat of the songs as the first (of many) lightning storms rolled in from the sandy dunes outside, killing the power. After listening and dancing for a while, we then got our own chance to play the drums, with slight success.

The next morning, we hit a short window of clear weather just long enough for us to hike to the top of the mountainous sand dunes that towered over the property. They were very deceiving to walk up. After every little point you reach, you would then realize there is another before making it to the base of the larger dunes. A few locals on motor bikes were driving around the dunes and even though one didn’t speak English, I think he offered me a ride closer to the top of the dune. Without hesitation, I hopped on the back and we cruised over several dunes and he dropped me off halfway up the “mega dune” we were headed towards. I was amazed at how steep the sand dunes could be. Some sides were at 45 degree angles to where it felt like you were climbing a ladder using your hands and feet as you traversed up them. So what do you do when you get to the top of a 45 degree angle mega sand dune? Sand board down of course! Who would have guessed that I would be sand boarding down a mega dune in the Sahara before I even tried regular snow boarding? After a little practice, I was sailing down the side of the dune with my GoPro leading the way. Before we could have too much fun (of course) the rain started again. It must have been the rain dance we did the night before. We hiked back down to the hotel area and got ready for our camel trek out into the Sahara for a night of camping.

The second we got saddled up on our camels the rain started, yet again, and didn’t seem to stop for the entire trek through the dunes. This must have been the Curse of Tarifa’s last little stab at us. The sunset trek we were looking forward to quickly became a windy, cool, soggy camel ride. Seems to be our luck the past week. As always, we made the best of it and laughed at our misfortune the whole way to our “tent city” in the middle of the Sahara that was home for the night. We settled into one of the tents and had a wonderful candlelit tagine dinner with three of our guides.

Our guides woke us up at 5:30am to watch the sunrise as we hiked out of the desert. But what could be more fun than a camel ride to watch the sunrise? Another soggy camel ride in the rain, but this time in the pitch black, and the beast I was riding on wasn’t having it. My camel decided to throw a 2 year old temper tantrum and wasn’t going to cooperate. Luckily I was able to share a hump with my Aussie friend on her camel for the trek back to the hotel. After saying our goodbyes to the guides at the hotel, we jumped in the 4×4 and headed back to the van in town for a whole day drive across Morocco to Marrakesh.