Growing up, I always pictured Africa as a continent with poverty, starving children and a place with great hardships, but knew very little otherwise. I recall the first time I actually comprehended a part of the hardships people go through in Africa. I was in 7th grade and one morning our teachers invited us to school early for breakfast. We all drew numbers and sat at specific tables. Very few people were directed to sit at the “United States” table and the rest of the class was ushered to the “Africa” table. I remember siting with a small plate of rice and beans in front of me and looking over to the U.S. group eating fruits and pancakes. The message resonated, and that was the age I started to better understand the hardships in our world. Eight years later, I never pictured myself actually having the opportunity to step foot in Africa, but on October 10th, 2014 I was on a ferry headed to Morocco with my study abroad program.
The trip was scheduled to last 6 days, but I had no idea the majority of that time would be spent in transit. Once we crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, getting through the Moroccan border took over 2 hours and then we spent the rest of the day driving by bus to Fes, one of the major cities in Morocco.
Our hotel lobby
Before leaving for Africa, our program had warned us about the risk of getting sick. We were told to not eat any fresh fruits or drink the water. I had no intentions of ruining my trip so my snack bag was almost as large as my suitcase.
Our first night we stayed in a four star hotel in the city center of Fes. Of course a four star hotel is much different in Africa, but it was nice nonetheless. That night, we attended a folklore show where we were amused as belly dancers and men with drums danced around us for over an hour.
Friends at the Folklore Show
The next morning we headed out to visit one of a Morocco’s largest and oldest medinas. The medina was located in the oldest part of Fes and has thousands of inhabitants living there along with hundreds of street vendors and stores. Within the Medina there are over 6,900 alleyways, many resulting in a dead-end. The only way to make your way through the medina maze was with a tour guide. The alleyways were narrow and the only mode of transportation through them was using mules or motor bikes.
Riding a mule in the Medina.
Staying close to our tour guide, we wandered through the streets and made our first stop in an authentic craftsman’s artistry shop. The walls were covered with lanterns and beautiful gold platters.
Artistry shop.
Throughout the day we continued to walk through the narrow alleys and into different stores. After the artistry shop, we migrated to the tannery, a rug store, a Moroccan pharmacy and finally a store for soft goods like scarves and clothing. Each store had a unique personality and feel to it, but the thing that was consist amongst all the places, were the aggressive salesman trying to force you to buy their products. I’d never said “no” so many times in one day.
The Tannery: the place where all the leather products are made.
A moroccan pharmacy.
The following day was fully dedicated to driving to the desert. Late afternoon we arrived in the small town of Erfoud where we got off the bus and jumped into 4×4 vehicles that would take us to our camp. With an Arab man at the wheel, we went off roading through the vast land and raced through the sunset.
Racing through the sunset.
We stopped to watch the sunset and then arrived at our camp, located in the Sahara Desert! By this time, night had fallen, so we carried all our belongings into our small tents and then headed to the main tent for dinner. The meal was delicious: couscous with vegetables and chicken.
Our daily breakfast in the desert.
Our camp site.
After dinner, the people who ran the camp played authentic Moroccan drums for us, as we laid under the stars. At this point in the trip, I could not get over how lucky I was to be sitting in the middle of the Sahara listening to bongo drums. It was perfection.
The next day was Monday, but according to my calendar it was hump day considering our itinerary for the day . We had been told previously to wake early and watch the sunrise, so my tent hopped out of bed at 6:30am and wandered outside of the camp to watch the sunrise. There were several people meandering around the campsite and a guy approached us and asked if we wanted to see the sunrise from a better viewpoint. A group of 10 girls ended up following him for 45 minutes, in the darkness, through the Sahara, climbing sand dunes to finally make it to the top of one of the higher dunes. Quietly, we all sat around and waited as the sun rose up from behind the wall of sand. The day had begun, and the scenery was already more beautiful than I ever imagined.
Sunrise.
Holding the sun.
Returning back to camp, we ate breakfast and then glanced out of the tent to see over a hundred camels, strung together, walking towards us. With our turbans wrapped around our heads, we were welcomed by the sea of camels and all the nomads (or camels guides). After properly selecting my camel, we were told to get on and then with a little nudge from the guide the camel moved from a fetal position to its feet and it was go time. Snapping pictures at every moment, I started trotting through the Sahara with the biggest grins on my face. I was the luckiest person alive.
Saying goodbye to Philly, my camel, we were dropped off in the nearby village and taken to a hotel to swim and relax. We returned back to camp and the remainder of the day we had free time. Two girls and I decided to take a walk and ended up finding a sand dune hidden from everything and sat and talked for hours. This time was different than any time I had ever experienced. It was one of the only times in my life where I had nothing to do, no place to be, and felt like I was living in the present. The three of us sat there, completely removed from the world around us and soaked in our surrounding as we talked. There were no phone distractions or knowledge of time. I wish I could have stayed in that moment forever, forgetting about everything going on around me and just being present.
Before the sun began to set, some other friends and a couple nomads joined us. Nomads are people that spend their whole lives living and wandering through the desert. After living near the camp for most of their lives, these people can speak around 8 languages fluently. They have never been to school, but they learn through talking with the foreigners that come to the camps. They simply wanted to talk with us and so we spent part of the night asking them questions and learning about the fascinating life of a nomad.
Our nomad friend writing our names in arabic in the sand.
Great friends, making incredible memories.
To end a perfect day, the sunset was easily the most beautiful thing I had ever witnessed. The colors reflecting off the clouds were vibrant and each time you looked in a new direction the glow from the sun would cast even brighter rays. I was surrounded by new and old friends and in the middle of the Sahara Desert and felt more alive than I ever had in my life.
Most stunning sunset.
The following day, I left the camp with an open mind, new thoughts and unforgettable memories. It took us two days to drive back to Sevilla, but during that time I was able to reflect on all I had seen, done and witnessed. I may have only seen a snippet of Africa, but I now view this continent in a whole new light. I don’t want to stereotype the whole continent based on what I saw in Morocco, but I now have a greater respect for this area of the world. Though poverty and hardships are extremely prevalent in Africa, I saw a different side as well. I watched as small children laughed and played soccer in the streets, I admired the nomads who have chosen to learn languages just so they can talk to the foreigners, and I watched as people who had very little smiled more than I did. Morocco left a lasting impression on my heart and opened my mind to things I never knew. I hope to one day return to the continent of Africa and let my heart be changed by this incredible part of our world.
living unbound. 