Phase 13: Deserted

The early bird gets the worm. That seems to be the recurring theme throughout our attempts at conquest. We woke up with the sun, got into our liberty transport vehicle, and made our way down to the furthest point of human civilization. The trip took us through the winding mountain roads where the sunbeams did their best to make sure we always had something scenic to look at. Eventually, and we mean that to be as painstaking as it can possibly be because it did take quite a long long time, we got out of the mountains and down into the valleys. That’s where we noticed the stark contrast the landscape of Morocco had to offer. On one side of the road were a lush forest of palm trees growing an abundance of various types of fruits and nuts, and on the other side was a barren desert. And this contrast continued for most of our journey, though it was certainly a sight to behold. The towns we passed through that capitalized on the valley’s bounty were also something we ended up gaining a hold of, obviously.

Our journey, thought very hot and bothersome, finally got us to our final destination: the Tinfou Dunes. These were like nothing we had ever seen before on our journeys… yet also surprisingly disappointing. They were just on the outskirts of the Sahara, so I guess we can say we have been to the Sahara-ish. But still a sight to uphold. The mounds of sand were like mountains, but ever changing and flowing like the ocean. We transferred to our vehicle of choice for navigating the mounds: camel. Or more specifically, a dromedary, which is the actual name for a one humped camel; a real camel has two humps, and do not natively exist in Morocco (just as an FYI). Our guide maneuvered us around and over the dunes and after about an hour…. we were done. It was hot. We conquered enough of this terrain. Next time we will take A/C 4×4. And camels are bumpy. And awkward. And one rubbed its eye ball and nostril against my (as in Amber’s) leg. Slightly gross. But on the other hand, I think it liked me 🙂

After our time out in the “desert” and after we finished building our sand castle, though it is more accurate to call it a sand palace, we took our leave before the heat had a chance to conquer us. We headed home and got some well-deserved aircon, some rest, and a fooooood. We spent the rest of the night under the “desert” sky, looking at the stars. We figure we should start getting an idea of where to go next once we finished with Earth. You may not be aware of this but there are a lot of stars. Like more than a hundred. But probably less than 108. In either case, expect many more entries to come in the near and distant future.