The hotels we have stayed in so far, were sanitized and could have been anywhere in the world. But last night, after a long day of traveling, we checked into a hotel that embodies Morocco. This Casbah was so awesome and it felt like Lawrence of Arabia would ride up on his camel any minute.

The buffet here was amazing but I am pretty sure that this is where we, and a number of other people, got sick. And speaking of food, the Moroccan food we have been served has been surprisingly very bland. Amine, our tour guide, says it is because they are afraid the tourists will not like the spicy food. So, we get harissa which is a spicy chili sauce to flavor our food. The harissa here varies greatly in spice, color, consistency, etc.

Today was kind of a mixed bag. We kept being told we were going to a fossil factory. We had thought of fossil manufacturing. But, it turns out that they are real fossils. This area is a treasure trove of fossils. We were shown how they dig the rock and shape it so that the fossils are raised  (see bathroom vanity picture above) or how they just make slabs for tables. The number of fossils found in each slab is astounding.

Later in the day, we went to a place where many of the fossils are mined. We searched the rocks and found 3 which have small fossils in them which we were allowed to keep.

Gate 1 Tours supports an elementary school here so we visited the school and gave the teacher the supplies we had brought with us. The children were very sweet and, as usual, the boys gave us a little show.

We toured Rassini with a local guide which was kind of boring. We ended up hanging out with a group of about 6 boys ranging in age from 8-12. Buzz entertained them with his Donald Duck voice and “finger in ear moves tongue” tricks and we had a grand time with them. High five’s all around and we were back to the bus.

Buzz and I both thought that oases were little “islands of green and water” in the desert. We have learned that there are many oases that are miles and miles long. One we saw was 30 mil;es long! Towns inevitably pop up along the “shores” of the oasis. The browns of the ground, the mountains, and the houses are offset by the lushness of the oasis.

We have finally arrived in the “real” Morocco. We toured a market where there was a donkey parking lot and steer and/or ram’s heads cut in half for sale.

Lunch was on a oasis that measured 1 hectare, about 2.5 acres.

After touring the desert in a 4×4, we headed to our next form of transportation….camels! Many of you may remember that we rode camels in India and camped in the desert. That was a great experience but riding the camel was my most unfavorite part. So I was not really looking forward to it. My feelings about camels were confirmed. I don’t really like riding them: they are big, their movements are jerky, getting on and off when the camel stands up and sits down is terrifying! Watching the sun set on the Sahara was fabulous but I have taken my last camel ride.