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Spending a long weekend in Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona with a few friends that I met in Morocco last fall.  Today we went to the Desert Botanical Gardens for a stroll and lunch.  Look at the beautiful dark chocolate and fig tart and wonderful plants and landscape. We spent the afternoon painting and hanging out in the hot tub and sauna.

#girlsweekend #nature

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A few photos from the Sahara Desert, plus a great portrait of our luggage cart driver.  Since you can’t drive to the front door of the lodging, this is how luggage gets back and forth from the main road.  They travel so fast, it’s hard to keep up with them!

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Excursion to the Desert: Day 3

I woke in the dark and put on all my layers and puffy jacket to watch the sunrise in the Sahara.  It was fun to see everyone coming out of their tents in pjs and blankets and finding a dune to enjoy this experience.  It was wonderful to take a hot shower, pack up and eat breakfast before heading out for a long day of driving back to Marrakech (over 8 hours).  Our first ride was in a small 4x4 that took us out of the desert (instead of camels) and back to our van. The landscape constantly changed, we listened to traditional Moroccan music and American classics (this was my 2nd international experience of singing tunes from Grease with new friends) and just made a few stops along the way, including a fossil shop, a basket & date vendor and lunch. I can’t decide if the zig zags through the Atlas Mountains were worse during the day when you could see the drop offs or at night when the road was pitch black!  After a quick stop at the Villas for our luggage, we traveled on to Marrakech for our last night in town.  I impressed myself (and my roommates) that I knew exactly how to navigate the dark alleys to our riad and I was even directing our luggage helpers!  It was a very late dinner (another tagine) and all of us had to be up and leave for the airport in the morning.  It was comforting to be back at Riad Adika where I started the journey nearly 2 weeks prior.  

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Photos from the camel ride and evening at our camp in the Sahara Desert

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Mint tea & rugs

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In the farm fields

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Date palms and the Dades Gorge

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Excursion to the Desert: Day 2

We were excited to wake up to Camel Day and made sure we all dressed in appropriate “camel attire”. After breakfast at Chez Ichou (I’m loving the pomegranate seeds) we drive for a view of the Dades Gorge (and we thought we drove through zig zags yesterday!!).  There was a little boy and a baby camel at the overlook who was charging for photos (he was busy with other tourists, so we didn’t stop).  Next stop was a small village where we wandered the agricultural fields with our tour guide.  It was fascinating to see the open channel irrigation system and how all the crops were interspersed - alfalfa, corn, olive, fig and almond trees, flowers, cauliflower, date palms...and our guide explained none of this food produced was for sale, but rather produced by the village for the village.  We waved at the women and children, but did not take many photos out of respect (we only took pictures of people after asking permission).  After our wander in the fields, we visited women who were working a loom and spinning yarn.  We sat on pillows, shared mint tea (with sugar) and of course bought some rugs and pillows!  After visiting another gorge, we drove on to lunch on the way to the desert.  We were near the Algerian boarder and the town of Merzouga when we left the road and started driving towards the Sahaha Desert.  All of a sudden we were at the edge of the desert - it was about 5 pm and just amazing. Our group of 6 women (including one 80 year old) climbed upon our camels and journeyed for an hour and a half to the Anir Luxury Camp (check this out on Google maps - all these camps in the middle of the desert are listed!!).  We were riding at sunset and got to camp at dusk.  The camel ride wasn’t too bad - but it was tough to hang on when they sat down at camp!  We each had our own tent (with king size beds, hot showers and flushable toilets).  Dinner was served in a big tent that anchored our campground.  After dinner we had a campfire, listened to Berber drumming and singing and then we stargazed at the edge of camp.  Another cozy night to sleep (after going to bed in my puffy coat and wool socks). 

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And this light in my room at Chez Ichou!  So many beautiful lanterns all over.  The lanterns were especially beautiful the night we went to the medina for dinner and there were hundreds lit by candles! 

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Some photos from Ait Ben Haddou

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A few views from Telouet Kasbsh

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The highest mountain pass in North Africa!

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Excursion to the Desert: Day 1

Tuesday morning we wake for our last breakfast at the Villas and load the cars for a 3 day excursion with Desert Majesty.  We are 10 women in 2 cars - 6 of us from the art retreat in one car and Coco (our travel agent) and her friends in the other car.  As we depart, our driver Abdullah, tells us we have about 6 hours of driving and lots of stops today.  I could not believe the traffic - all tour vans as we depart Marrakesh. 

First stop before lunch: Telouet Kasbhah, a historic site in small village.  At this point, we had already driven a lot of “zig zags” (hairpin turns) of the Atlas Mountains and had to make several stops for those who were car sick.  Since I don’t get car sick, I was in the way back of the van, but that didn’t prevent the anxiety of the mountain roads and tailgating culture!  After we wandered the historic site, we had lunch at a small rooftop cafe.  The landscape was just amazing and the drive took us through so many villages. After lunch we made another stop at a UNESCO World Heritage site, Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou.  This site still has families living in it, but also felt like a tour attraction at the same time. It has been a popular site for filming like The Gladiator and Game of Thrones and the nearby city had large movie studios and movie themed art and sculptures.  We wandered this site for quite some time and a few of us climbed to the very top for amazing views (and interesting to see solar panels on the ancient structures). We continue driving to the Valley of the Roses with a quick ATM stop, but it’s dark before we arrive.  Our driver called ahead and asked a shop keeper to stay open for a shopping/bathroom break, so we all bought some handmade beauty products.  

Let me pause here and tell you about our bathroom stops...our first stop was a tourist stop with at least 20 vans pulled up out front.  The restrooms are sometimes coed, but with men’s/women’s stalls once you get inside.  And we had to often pay an attendant coins to enter and/or get toilet paper, so we quickly started carrying our own kleenex, hand sanitizer and took turns paying for each other depending on who had coins!  As we progressed into the mountains, sometimes our bathroom stops were just “squat toilets” in the back of shops were you asked for coins and then to shop on your way out.

We finally get to Chez Ichou, our lovely guesthouse for the evening after 9 pm. After we all freshen up, we gather for dinner in a cozy dining room with a warm fireplace blazing. No matter how late, we always have a formal meal.  I actually laid my head on the table at one point and another friend says she will leave dinner at 10:30 no matter what course we are on!  I don’t leave dinner until 11:15 and got a great night sleep with the heater on and big cozy duvet.

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I am home - safe and sound!  More pictures and updates from the desert excursion to come.

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Next Stop: Sahara Desert

It has been a quiet day at the villa.  Most of the women traveled home, to other destinations or went to the medina to shop.  I stayed at the villa - napped, went to the pool, spa and packed for our next adventure.  We leave for the desert tomorrow morning (Tuesday) - we stop at a kasbah for lunch and a guesthouse for sleep.  On Wednesday we will camel ride to our campsite for the night in the desert!  Thursday will be a long day driving back to Marrakesh and I fly out Friday afternoon.  The laptop is staying behind and we aren’t sure about cell service or electricity, so no updates from me for a few days!

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Photos from around the kasbah

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My henna!!