Day 10: Merzouga Sand Dunes ~ Sunrise in the Sahara

The Berbers woke us up at 5:00 in the morning by playing their drums (Berber alarm clock). Let me tell you, when they say it can get really cold at night in the desert, they are not kidding. It was freezing when we got up. It was still dark out, but when I looked up at the sky, I was so amazed. There were so many stars, it was unbelievable. I had never seen so many stars in my life. Living in New York City, we really do not see many stars at night with all the city lights. But the sky over the Sahara was blanketed in stars, it was so beautiful; we even saw some shooting stars.  I wish I could have taken a photo.

Anyway, so there we were, a few of us stumbling in the dark, across the sand using just penlights to see where we were going to get to the portable toilets before the others got up.

After brushing our teeth and getting all our stuff together, we got back up on our camels so we could get to the other sand dunes in time to see the sunrise. Let me tell you getting back up on that camel was a little painful. Boy, were my inner thighs and butt sore from riding the day before. I felt every footstep the camel took climbing up and down over the dunes.

So we get to the dunes and started to climb up. Becc and I thought maybe running up the dunes would help get us up faster, hah. We were wrong. We were running but kept going sideways instead of up. It was hysterical. At one point, my legs gave out and I fell on my face in the sand trying to run up, bad move, what was I thinking. We finally did make it to the top of the dune this time; okay with some help from the Berbers.

They practically carried us up there. To them running up and down the dunes was like nothing, like a hop, skip and a jump for them. We all sat across the dune freezing out butts off waiting for the sun to come up, and let me tell you, it was worth it. It was so beautiful, so peaceful, I loved it. I wish we could have spent another day and night there. It was more "Berber Ski" for us going down the dune. It was either that or me falling down and rolling all the way. I opted for the Berber Ski. We mounted our camels again (ouch!!) and off we went to our hotel. At the hotel we cleaned up as best as we could at the sink in the bathrooms (no rooms for us to take showers in), before meeting up with Mustafa and Achraf for breakfast.

After breakfast it was time to for us say adios to the Sahara and continue on our way to Midelt.