Saturday 25 December 2010

Merry Christmas from the Sahara Desert



Yesterday our group rode camels for an hour into the desert and stayed at a camp overnight. We ate chicken tagine with vegetables and had clementines for dessert. The clementines are more fragrant and flavorful than ones we get back home. We sat around the campfire listening to the beat of the drums and local music.  Our guide asked us to sing Christmas carols, which we did. However, we had a hard time remembering the words to the 12 Days of Christmas.

It was cold last night in our Berber tent and I snuggled next to Alanna for body heat. We woke up this morning before sunrise and rode our camels out of the desert. I love the red and gold colours of the sand against the blue sky and sun. I love the curves and lines of the dunes. It's truly beautiful. I think I need to do a three or five day camel trek. :-)


Yesterday, each of us named our camels: mine was Michael Schumacher because he always tried to overtake Alanna's camel; Vicki's was Mika Hakkinen; Pam's was Patches; Alanna's was Camel Quisha; and Nina's was Stinky because he let one go. Good thing Nina and her camel were at the back.


We're now in Todra Gorge for two nights and we exchanged the Secret Santa gifts at tonight's dinner. I received a lovely ceramic dish with a lid.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a difficult time to believe that Nina woke before sunrise. I suppose you do what you gotta do.

Her uncle.

Robin said...

Interesting, I would've thought someone would've been spit on by something!