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Out in The Sahara
Zagora/M'Hamid
March, 2001
Nothing like a great road trip. Especially if your on you way out to the Sahara. I read a great Paul Bowles tale about the desert people - when they dont like you they take you to a remote area, bury you up to your neck, and leave you - by the second night you don't feel the cold. Morocco is a very diverse country. Down south the citys look like the old adobe towns of Mexico. The people completely change too. The women are covered head to toe in these amazing black capes that have lots of beads and mirrors sewn in. At one point we drove past a group of about 30, what a trip that was - the Berber Women. To get to the desert you drive about 10 hours south of Marrekech. You pass through tons of little desert towns where there is always a couple cops stopping all the cars but us - when your a European you drive right thru every road block and the cops don't have cars so you are free to rule the roads. The first day we drove as far south as Zagora - a great little town at the edge of the Sahara. We stayed a little hotel on the main strip for about $8. It was kind of a drag walking around town that night because every carpet/crap dealer in town had to stop us, "Where are you from Anglais, espangne, etc - Please come to my shop". We had gotten used to not dealing with that crap because everyone knows us in Essaouira. But we did find a big open air market with fires lit everywhere - very surreal out there in the middle of nowhere.
The next day we drove as far as we could past M'Hamid before we would get stuck in sand. The hagglers in town almost threw themselves on our car so we would stop and buy stuff or use them as guides. As we drove out of town they all were shouting stuff we didn't comprehend, but we knew they were telling us not to go out in the desert with our crappy little fiat - we will get stuck and die. Were not that stupid - we went as far as we could before getting stuck... So were out there, trying to enjoy a little rest from the crazy road and people, having a warm stork (beer), and in typical Moroccian fasion, a dude pops out from nowhere to sell us a desert tour - his tent was only 1km away!!! We must come and enjoy tea!! That was the end to our solitude, but it was really beautyful out there.
Driving in Morocco is crazy, stressful and fun as shit. I'm definately qualified to drive a cab in New York City after driving 3 days in this country. Sure you have the citys where there are thousands of cars and mopeds zipping around tiny streets with no lines and the pedestrians yelling at you - total chaos. But out on the highway the road is only wide enough for one car to pass. There are rocky soft sholders on each side. So your drive becomes one big game of chicken - who's gonna go off the road first - the damn busses and trucks never give way and almost run you off the shoulder. Great fun!!!
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