I Never Need To Ride A Camel Again
I had brunch on Sunday with someone that I’ve been following on Instagram for awhile. She recently came back from Morocco so it seemed like a great time to meet up.
As I mentioned, in May I went to Morocco. One of the things that was on my to do list was going to the desert and riding a camel for a couple of reasons…1. I was listening to a Seth Godin interview on YouTube and he mentioned that sometimes you need to go to the desert. I was trying to decide whether or not to go to Morocco and I took this as the vague sign that I needed to move forward with the trip and 2. Sometimes you have to do it for the ‘gram. I’d seen several desert photos and they all made it seem amazing.
Well, Seth Godin was right. Instagram was wrong.
I did need to go the desert. The 18 hour roundtrip journey gave me a lot of time to talk with my ex. A closure conversation that I think we both needed to have.
However, I did not need to ride a camel and I probably didn’t even need to stay in the desert and I wouldn’t do it again.
Why you ask? Well…
Touristy. We were smart and drove ourselves so we avoided a lot of the complaints that people had about the tour companies stopping at expensive restaurants that weren’t good. However, when we got to the campsite that I booked on Airbnb, it was the same tourist mentality. The food was served in bulk and absolutely terrible. I munched on bad bread the whole night hoping it would hold me over until we could flee in the morning.
Quiet…It wasn’t. I really wanted some time to sit still and stare at the stars in complete silence. However, it was anything but quiet. The generators were super loud. The trucks dropping off other people was super loud. The nearby campsites (and there were many) were super loud. The forced singing with the other people at our campsite was super loud. I finally got a peaceful moment sitting on a dune, but I really wanted more of that.
The Camels. When we woke up the next morning, we (probably mainly me) were determined to ride a camel before we left. There was a herd of them laying peacefully looking very determined not to be disturbed. Yet, we disturbed them after carefully tiptoeing around their smelly dung. The ride was extremely uncomfortable and the camels were upset about it the entire time. Poor camels. I would have rather just walked to the dune and decided how long I wanted to stay there.
Cold. You hear desert and you think hot. Well, not. It was actually quite cold while we were there. I think we put on all the clothes in our bags. That and all the blankets in the world still couldn’t keep us warm. Tightly bundled on a hard “bed” just wasn’t fun.
At this point I realize that I sound like the spoiled brat that touched the Sahara Desert. And maybe I am ( I don’t think I am), however, I think it’s my duty to make sure that people have realistic expectations on this excursion.
I wouldn’t say not to do it, just know that it isn’t all amazing carefree photos. I wouldn’t do it again (unless I could find the non-touristy experience that is still nestled in my imagination and I’d definitely bring a couple bottles of wine), but I’m glad that I did it the one time. The drive through the Atlas Mountains was well worth it.