The Desert
Our last morning in Merrakech, our driver Mustafa collected us to go to the desert. A friendly chap, he was speaking to us with little difficulty for 10-15 minutes before he stated he could not speak English, only French, Berber and Arabic. Disliking being monolingual at the best of times, hearing someone poo-poo his good command of English was salt on the wound.
The drive took us through the High and Low Atlas Mountains to Mhamid. It was hard to decide which was the nicer to look at. We saw some “old skool” Kasbahs. Since they are made with bricks of local soil, they had to be pointed out to us. They were like- like... Ninja Buildings!
The next day we left Mhamid- where the guest house was- by camel to go to an Oasis. Our guide was called Nin. Born and bred in the area. He led us along on the camels like a pair of kids getting pony rides in Blackpool. His English was not as strong as Mustafa's, so while he could talk as well as I could in German for my Leaving Cert, he was not comfortable saying much more than,”Are you OK, my frends? Not tired? Not hot?”
Some authors comment on the rhythm of horse's gait and that it is important to go with it for maximum comfort [minimum discomfort, really]. I think they say it to show off how much they know, not that they are wrong. To being rubbed raw and bruised by the camel's cadence, I pretended I was strutting to “Feeling Good” by Nina Simone, only that I had an ass and hips the size of a large house.
On our way to the oasis, we stopped for mint tea and philsophising with a nomad called Abdu. Around his hut, were lots and lots of stones. They were arranged in a grid. It reminded me of this xkcd strip. He said two great things. The first was about being in the desert, no one for miles, no lights for miles,”Just you, your God and the stars.” That he said your God, spoke well of the man, a real spiritual maturity that almost all Christians lack... one in particular. IMO.
The other thing he said was even better,”Our reality is too small for the world”
It is the most Zen thing I have heard. Abdu and the rest of the nomads we met in the desert have a simple and elegant perspective on life, I am convinced there are on their way to enlightenment.
That evening, we watched the sunset from a sand dune, while wild camels plodded along the blasted flats in front of us. The next day, we ate breakfast in the Sahara, not in a tent or building. A low table, two stools and our food, dune to one side and rising sun to the other. I felt like I was in a music video.
After a few more hours on the camel, we changed to 4x4 again. This time we sped through small dunes and dried out river-beds. It was very exciting, it is the only time I have been interested in being able to drive, feeling the jeep sluice through turns. We reached the dunes of Inshigaga at 3 or so. Some of these over-important piles of dust are 300m tall, the same size as Estonia's highest point! We went for a walk on them. That was rather tiring. On top of that, everywhere we looked was stunning, everything looked like it was photoshopped. Everything looked like a professional photographer had organised it for an Apple desktop background. We labelled the idea “i-Dunes”
After dinner we were treated to a quintet of Nomads beating a drum to traditional chants and songs, again, fantastic stuff... you probably had to be there. I managed to record some of the songs on my mp3 player and on my camera [To follow next week]. I played a recording for one of the nomads. He was so impressed that he asked me to email the recording to him. His email address was xxxxx.nomad@hotmail.mor. It was the Ronseal woodstain of email addresses.
By evening the following day, we were thoroughly jaded by the natural beauty. I gave up taking pictures, to pick one sight was to miss another 10. When we got back to Merrakech, the hotel Sherazade had provided us with a twin room [I opened that door with great trepidation], with an actual wall almost completely splitting the sides of the room.
The Undeparted (imagine it as the white on black writing preceding a scene in Frasier)
[...Somewhere in the depths of rural Ireland, there is a pub. In this proto-irish tavern, poorly lit and inky with shadows, the straight lines of the bar are interrupted by a lump. The lump has tweed jacket and a tweed cap. To its right there is an untouched pint...]
It was an overcast morning when we went to the airport, our first poor weather for the holiday. We had to wait for the check-in desk to open. They were running late. Going through the security screening, Gleb gathers in a breath and says,“Take. That. Murphy!”
[...the lump stirs, as if kicked. It says: “Sin é.”]
We just about made it for boarding of our flight. We sat near our gate waiting 30, 60, 120 minutes passed. Nothing happened.
[... the lump snickers darkly...]
We were told Ryanair cancelled their flights from Merrakech to Luton AND Bristol. 200 people left in the lurch- the next Ryanair flight to those destinations being in 7 days time. 3 hours later, after queuing and going through passport control, we discover no other airline cancelled. Easyjet's flight to London is 230GBP and rising.We opt for the road less travelled by and that made all the difference. We went with Morocco Air, lined up for 20 minutes, spent less money and got a flight to Paris, while the queue at easyjet's booking desk lasted over 5 hours.Considering that the trip included Valentine's day, it is fitting that it would include an overnight stay in gay Paris. And so that is how I ended up spending my first night in Paris sharing a bed [yet again] with Gleb.
[...Murphy leans back on his bar stool, a look of supreme satisfaction painted across his mug, and takes a well deserved draught of his pint...]
Showtime
During the flight we could not escape how marketable our misadventures could be as a movie. The running jokes of inuendo. The odd couple vibe we had for the trip. The stunning photogenic settings. The formulaic progression of it all. Scripted by the Gods, directed by Gremlins. I figure Ben stiller can be play me, and Rowan Atkinson as Gleb.
All in all a successful holiday.
Our last morning in Merrakech, our driver Mustafa collected us to go to the desert. A friendly chap, he was speaking to us with little difficulty for 10-15 minutes before he stated he could not speak English, only French, Berber and Arabic. Disliking being monolingual at the best of times, hearing someone poo-poo his good command of English was salt on the wound.
The drive took us through the High and Low Atlas Mountains to Mhamid. It was hard to decide which was the nicer to look at. We saw some “old skool” Kasbahs. Since they are made with bricks of local soil, they had to be pointed out to us. They were like- like... Ninja Buildings!
The next day we left Mhamid- where the guest house was- by camel to go to an Oasis. Our guide was called Nin. Born and bred in the area. He led us along on the camels like a pair of kids getting pony rides in Blackpool. His English was not as strong as Mustafa's, so while he could talk as well as I could in German for my Leaving Cert, he was not comfortable saying much more than,”Are you OK, my frends? Not tired? Not hot?”
Some authors comment on the rhythm of horse's gait and that it is important to go with it for maximum comfort [minimum discomfort, really]. I think they say it to show off how much they know, not that they are wrong. To being rubbed raw and bruised by the camel's cadence, I pretended I was strutting to “Feeling Good” by Nina Simone, only that I had an ass and hips the size of a large house.
On our way to the oasis, we stopped for mint tea and philsophising with a nomad called Abdu. Around his hut, were lots and lots of stones. They were arranged in a grid. It reminded me of this xkcd strip. He said two great things. The first was about being in the desert, no one for miles, no lights for miles,”Just you, your God and the stars.” That he said your God, spoke well of the man, a real spiritual maturity that almost all Christians lack... one in particular. IMO.
The other thing he said was even better,”Our reality is too small for the world”
It is the most Zen thing I have heard. Abdu and the rest of the nomads we met in the desert have a simple and elegant perspective on life, I am convinced there are on their way to enlightenment.
That evening, we watched the sunset from a sand dune, while wild camels plodded along the blasted flats in front of us. The next day, we ate breakfast in the Sahara, not in a tent or building. A low table, two stools and our food, dune to one side and rising sun to the other. I felt like I was in a music video.
After a few more hours on the camel, we changed to 4x4 again. This time we sped through small dunes and dried out river-beds. It was very exciting, it is the only time I have been interested in being able to drive, feeling the jeep sluice through turns. We reached the dunes of Inshigaga at 3 or so. Some of these over-important piles of dust are 300m tall, the same size as Estonia's highest point! We went for a walk on them. That was rather tiring. On top of that, everywhere we looked was stunning, everything looked like it was photoshopped. Everything looked like a professional photographer had organised it for an Apple desktop background. We labelled the idea “i-Dunes”
After dinner we were treated to a quintet of Nomads beating a drum to traditional chants and songs, again, fantastic stuff... you probably had to be there. I managed to record some of the songs on my mp3 player and on my camera [To follow next week]. I played a recording for one of the nomads. He was so impressed that he asked me to email the recording to him. His email address was xxxxx.nomad@hotmail.mor. It was the Ronseal woodstain of email addresses.
By evening the following day, we were thoroughly jaded by the natural beauty. I gave up taking pictures, to pick one sight was to miss another 10. When we got back to Merrakech, the hotel Sherazade had provided us with a twin room [I opened that door with great trepidation], with an actual wall almost completely splitting the sides of the room.
The Undeparted (imagine it as the white on black writing preceding a scene in Frasier)
[...Somewhere in the depths of rural Ireland, there is a pub. In this proto-irish tavern, poorly lit and inky with shadows, the straight lines of the bar are interrupted by a lump. The lump has tweed jacket and a tweed cap. To its right there is an untouched pint...]
It was an overcast morning when we went to the airport, our first poor weather for the holiday. We had to wait for the check-in desk to open. They were running late. Going through the security screening, Gleb gathers in a breath and says,“Take. That. Murphy!”
[...the lump stirs, as if kicked. It says: “Sin é.”]
We just about made it for boarding of our flight. We sat near our gate waiting 30, 60, 120 minutes passed. Nothing happened.
[... the lump snickers darkly...]
We were told Ryanair cancelled their flights from Merrakech to Luton AND Bristol. 200 people left in the lurch- the next Ryanair flight to those destinations being in 7 days time. 3 hours later, after queuing and going through passport control, we discover no other airline cancelled. Easyjet's flight to London is 230GBP and rising.We opt for the road less travelled by and that made all the difference. We went with Morocco Air, lined up for 20 minutes, spent less money and got a flight to Paris, while the queue at easyjet's booking desk lasted over 5 hours.Considering that the trip included Valentine's day, it is fitting that it would include an overnight stay in gay Paris. And so that is how I ended up spending my first night in Paris sharing a bed [yet again] with Gleb.
[...Murphy leans back on his bar stool, a look of supreme satisfaction painted across his mug, and takes a well deserved draught of his pint...]
Showtime
During the flight we could not escape how marketable our misadventures could be as a movie. The running jokes of inuendo. The odd couple vibe we had for the trip. The stunning photogenic settings. The formulaic progression of it all. Scripted by the Gods, directed by Gremlins. I figure Ben stiller can be play me, and Rowan Atkinson as Gleb.
All in all a successful holiday.
"Abdu and the rest of the nomads we met in the desert have a simple and elegant perspective on life, I am convinced there are on their way to enlightenment." - charming :)
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