Fes to Merzouga - 7 May

Time to leave our lovely Riad. At breakfast Julie thought she would test her luck and asked for 2 poached eggs. Some time later, out came 2 hard boiled eggs in separate egg cups. How she managed to eat them both mystifies me, but eat them she did. Mind you, she then complained of indigestion for the rest of the day. When we were all packed and about to leave our room,I said that I would use the toilet. Whilst sitting minding my own business, suddenly the lights went out and I was in total darkness. I called out to Julie that the lights had gone out, but no answer so I felt like Marcel Marceau doing a mime against the wall to locate toilet paper and then find the door lock to let myself out. As I look out through the bathroom past the beds and lounge to the door,there stands Julie with the light key card in her hand! When I tell her that by taking out the key cad from its slot, I was in darkness, all she could do was laugh. She then decided that she needed to use the toilet so put the key card back in the slot. Clearly I am the better friend, because I didnt remove the key card! Thankfully we got away safely and noone came chasing after us for the incorrect drinks bill last night. A long 7 plus hours drive ahead of us today to Merzouga. Certainly lots of changing scenery. A couple of comfort stops along the way. The Atlas lion is often displayed. Clearly none roaming free now as they were rounded up for the gladiators to fight in colosseums (or so as Ahmed tells us).

We have a late lunch stop at a nice service station rest stop in Midelt. The owner is very proud of Lune de le desert and shows us his 4.7 star rating on Trip Advisor. I promise him that I will add a good comment to see if he can get more stars. Lunch was the typical salad, tangine and fruit combinations but we opted for a shared chicken tangine with french fries. Coyldnt eat the chips as they were soggy, so Julie didnt get her need for hot chips satisfied. so, okay I lied about about adding a good comment to Trip Advisor.

More changing scenery and topography. School buildings are all either painted in candy colours or the front walls are painted. Education is compulsory from 6 years of age but in the countryside the classes are very big and standards not very high. It is only of recent years that grls have had much opportunity for schooling. A very patriarchal society that is democratic in name only. Back on the road again and at Erfoud we are handed over to a driver to take us in his 4 x wheel drive to Merzouga. We couldnt stop laughing when we got into this vehicle and 'Everybody needs a little time apart" is playing on the CD, followed by Lady in Red. I think he was expecting a couple so had the romantic melodies all lined up for us! It is an hour drive with the second half on sand dunes. A couple of photo-stops along the way. It is an awesome scene.

We eventually get to a spot with a lot of camels, where we are handed over to Hussein to take us on the obligatory camel ride. Not what I wanted to do, but figured as it shoud only be a short ride, maybe 15 minutes, I would suck it up and literally go along for the ride. Someone, namely Ahmed, should have warned me that it was a 4km (about an hour) ride to the campsite! It was bloody uncomfortable from the get go and got progressively worse. At about the 45 minute mark I finally got Hussein to stop the camels as I was almost sitting side saddle on the damn thing. My camel then refused to sit down so it was a scary rocking back and forth, up and down 4 times til the blasted thing sat down so that I could get off. Hussein straightened the saddle(which was really some bits of wood and blankets with a hand made welded handle). i became an expert in mounting and dismounting a camel. If they ever enter it into the Olympics as a sport, I would win gold for Australia!

Thankfully we came within cooee of the campsite when we were finally able to get off the camels and stay off them. Now Hussein wants to lay out a blanket and show us all the lovely trinkets he has made out of fossils and stones. Yeah right! Like they werent all mass produced in some sweat shop in a city somewhere. I get out of him showing us even more items by telling him that as lovely as they all are, we would not be able to bring them back to Oz due to quarantine requirements. He isnt happy, but so be it. He then walks us the rest of the distance to the campsite we are calling home for the night. It looks interesting but we are disappointed to see our overnight bags and travel shoulder bags with all our money, passports, etc sitting out in the open! Hussein finally locates a fellow who shows us to our tent.

You may need tissues for the next part... We have been led to believe that we are glamping for the night in 5 star accommodation. the padlock comes off the canvas door and we enter a large square tent. There is no fan, no air conditioning, no wifi, no bottled water and access to the ensuite doorway is 2 curtains that dont meet in the middle. Julie is beside herself and the phrase "this is bulls***t" is bandied about. The guy who showed us to our tent just shrugs his shoulders and says, you are in the desert! He then leaves which was probably a good thing for him. We are both beyond disappointment as our expectations were high and were now shattered. We were both so hot from the camel ride, it's 30 plus degrees and we have just entered a stifling hot tent. Julie has a shower and I've again had to avert my eyes when she gets out of the shower as she has to stand in front of the curtains that dont meet. It is worse than wearing those terrible hospital gowns that never do up at the back. I then have a shower and wash out my underwear and top which is soaked in perspiration.

As we had only brought a light bag with a change of clothes for tomorrow, it means that I go to dinner wearing a wet bra (dont even make a joke about wet t shirt competitions) and Julie goes to dinner without knickers! I add, that it was a long dress and there were no embarrassing Sharon Stone moments. The sunset was spectacular and we were offered mint tea and pastries before dinner.

The dinner was good in a rustic bedouin style dining room.Once again way too much food, but drinks were limited and expensive, even water.

Back to our tent in he faint hope it will have cooled down. Our beds have a double blanket, folded in half, plus a heavy wuilt. That all got pulled off the bed smartly and we settled down for the night, dealing with all the aches and pains from the camel ride. I had developing bruises on both inside legs, while Julie's bum bones were giving her grief. I also reckon I had bruises on parts of my anatomy that even my gyno hadn't had cause to inspect! Just as we were attempting to settle down for the night, the drumming started. it was 10.30 for goodness sake. This was the entertainment we had been promised. Give me strength.. 45 minutes later it finally stopped only for some loud male to start singing something in a Slavic language at the top of his voice. Im pleased to announce that he finally shut up 10 minutes later and peace reigned. That was until a short time later when Julie asks me if I am asleep! I told her that if I was, I wasn't now. Apparently she didnt want me falling asleep before her... We manage to survive the night without further incident, although trips to the toilet weren't any fun as not only were we relying on the 2 curtains that didnt meet for any modicum of privacy, but the toilet base wasnt firmly attched to the flooring, the seat didnt fit the base properly and the cistern didnt flush properly... Off to breakfast we go, me with a dry bra and Julie in knickers... plus appropriate outer clothing. We were pleased to see the last of the place at 8.45 when our driver collected us and took us for the hour drive back to Erfoud where Samad and Ahmed are waiting.