An open letter to the Sahara Desert.

Dear Sahara Desert,

Before I begin I am going to assume you are a lady… I’m not into ladies, but wow you were beautiful with all your sexy curves. I’m writing this letter to you to thank you. You are probably wondering… Huh? Why? For what? Well let me explain. You see before I visited you I was in the dumps. I was tired of traveling and was about to call it quits. What no way you must be thinking… How can anyone get tired of traveling? Well girl yes I was. I got tired of sightseeing and actually having to do something everyday. Okay I’ll just say it I got burnt out. I had a great time in Chefchaouen, but then my horrible time in Fez is what just made me want to pack up and leave. I was missing home a lot… I’ll let you read my previous post “For a minute I was actually going to go home” so you could understand what I was feeling. Now I want to explain to you how you changed it all.

From the moment I knew I was visiting Morocco I knew a visit there couldn’t be complete with out visiting you. I mean if I’m being honest I think you’re the most important thing there… (I know ladies love to hear great things about them so I’ll do the same to you… okay men do too, because I know I love it). The other thing I knew is that I’m a solo traveler and did not want to experience you by myself. You see I get intimated when I am going to explore a lady… I mean to be honest I have never done that in my life. I knew though you were going to be special and I couldn’t do it alone.

Did you read my previous post? I hope you have because if you have you know that the man above granted me that one wish and put three beautiful ladies in my path. I met Meri, Laura & Virginia in Fez and the four of us knew we wanted to visit you. So we made plans to meet up in Marrakech and plan our expedition. After a grueling search we found the package we wanted (4days & 3nights) and after negotiating for a long time we got our tickets to visit you for the right price. I mean damn girl you are expensive to visit, but it’s okay the original price was $270 but I got you for $175 (yeah saved almost $100, girl you don’t know me… I love to save money)!

The big day finally arrived we woke up at 6am to meet the tour guide at 7am like we planned. The 4 of us and 11 other Spanish people arrived a bit late, but together. Yes we managed to get 11 other people from the hostel to join us on the first night. I was so excited we were in the van and making our way to Zagora to visit you. Inside I was “EEEEeeeee-ing” so much.  We knew it was going to be a long drive to get to you, but damn girl I had no clue I would be spending most of my tour in the damn van. I complain because I can and because you were so worth it. Along the way we made a lot of stops… they showed us a million things I guess it was there form of foreplay… I mean really we can’t have it all right from the start. That only happens during a quick hook up and this was not one of them. I paid good money for you and wanted to make sure I enjoyed every second of it. For the record I have never in my life paid for pleasure like this… I’m just not that type of guy.

10 hours later we arrived at the base where camels were waiting for us to take us closer to you. I had never in my life ridden a camel. After a few minutes on one I knew I was not missing out on much. The 30-minute ride on the camel to get to you was quite uncomfortable. While I was on the camel though I was in awe… I was seeing actual sand dunes for the 1^st time in my life. We then arrived at the camp and it was already a bit dark so I didn’t get to see much of you. We settled in and were told dinner would be a while so we all hung out outside lying on the sand under the stars. We were all mesmerized never in our lives had we ever seen so many stars. Then we started to see shooting stars… again never in our lives had we ever seen that many shooting stars. It was then time for dinner we had the usual Moroccan cuisine of chicken tagine with bread (it was delicious). After dinner we all went back outside and they played the drums for us and we danced around some candles.

It was then time to call it a night, but most of us were not ready too. One of the guides showed us to a big sand dune were we all went to and hung out for the night. We laid there and just watched the stars in awe. None of us could believe what we were doing. It was getting later in the night and most wanted to go back to the tents to sleep. A few others and me were not ready we wanted to sleep on you and under the stars. We got out blankets brought them back out and spent the rest of the night just watching the stars. Around 3am I past out and woke up again at 5am. I wanted to make sure I did not miss the sunrise. I woke everyone up like they had asked to make sure they didn’t miss it either. We all sat there in awe and watched the sunrise and finally got our 1^st real glimpse of you. We were in awe… your lady lumps were beautiful… sorry I mean your sand dunes were amazing. After the sun rose I wondered around to get some pictures I was a bit disappointed. You are probably wondering why? Well it was because I wanted to be completely surrounded by sand and well what I was seeing was sand and then rocks, sand and then rocks. It is not what I was expecting, but I was still happy. Sorry I know it’s men always wanting more from women… I apologize. After a short breakfast it was time to head back to the van. We got on our camels and another uncomfortable 30-minutes later were back at the van. The 1^st night was a wrap.

The 2^nd day and night were spent trying to get to another part of you. We left Zagora made our way back to a town on the way Merzouga. There we said goodbye to everyone. They had only book for 1 night with you. The 4 of us joined another tour group who was doing the remainder of the tour. We spent a lot more time in the van. This time it was nicer and actually had AC. We of course stopped a few times to see some things. One of the time we even got a rock stuck in the wheels and were a bit scared we would fall off the edge. After that ordeal was done we made it to our hotel for the night. Oh we were so happy because one it wasn’t a hostel… It was a very nice hotel and we were excited to finally shower because we hadn’t in about 48-hours. We showered had dinner yet another Moroccan dish chicken couscous and then I called it a night. I was exhausted from no sleep and being in a van all day.

The next morning we woke up bright and early yet again and made our way to Merzouga. Once again I was “EEEeeeee-ing” inside. I had heard that this side of you actually had huge sand dunes and was nothing but sand. Along the way we all made friends in the van. I mean how could we not spending that much time together. We of course made a few stops along the way… it was like foreplay all over again. This time though I just wanted to get to you. I wanted the climax damn it. As we drove in we all were excited because even from far away we could see your dunes.  About 10 hours later we got to you. We arrived got everything we needed for the night and got our camels. This time for some reason the 1-hour camel ride was not that bad, it was actually smooth.

I was in awe yet again by you and your curves and everything you were showing me. I mean really how could something this beautiful even exist? I was surrounded by sand and was watching the sunset and along the way also seeing the sky turn a million different colors. I had never seen anything like this. We finally made it to our camp and it was surrounded by nothing but sand and in front of a huge sand dune. They played the drums for us and then let us play them as well. Then it was time for dinner and you guessed it another Moroccan dish this time Chicken Tagine… it was good, but after a while you get tired of it. After dinner they let us know we were hiking the big sand dune behind us. I thought it would be easy, but damn girl you gave me a work out I hadn’t had in a long time. After running out of breath a few times and crawling up the last portion of it I made it to the top. I lay there and yet again was mesmerized by all the stars. I still couldn’t believe what I was doing. We then made our way down and well of course instead of walking down or running down I thought it would be fun to roll down and oh damn it was so much fun. I felt like a kid again… even though sometimes I think I still am. I then spent the night again outside of the tent watching the stars. I couldn’t get enough. We were then woken up bright and early to make our way back to the van. This time instead of watching the sun rise at the camp like Zagora we watched the sunrise while on our camels. Yet again girl you left me speechless I still couldn’t believe what I was doing. We then said good bye because it was time to make our way back to Marrakech. I wish I could stay with you forever, but I can’t you are just too expensive.

Now this is where I get sappy and I apologize in advance. On the way back to Marrakech in the van (yet again) I got tears. They were tears of joy… they were tears of thankfulness (is that even a word?) they were tears of wow. I sat there and reflected on the last 3 nights and just how much I needed them. I couldn’t believe a few days earlier I was going to call it quits. I couldn’t believe I was going to give up because I was having a rough time and missing home. I’m on a journey I choose to be on and a journey I am loving so much. I have done many amazing things before meeting you and each time I think “how will I ever top this?”. I mean honestly how many amazing things can a person have in 7 months? Meeting you and spending that precious time with you reminded me of why I am on this journey. I am on this journey to explore the world I live in and get to know it just a bit more. I am on this journey not to find my self, but to find out what I love about this world. I want to thank you so much for reminding me that I still have many more amazing things to see and experience before going home. I mentioned in my previous post that I am learning I do not want to do this forever and I think that is true, but if everything goes as planned I still have over a year left of traveling and I am going to enjoy it while I can. I have realized that along my journey I am going to ask myself  “what in the world am I doing here?”, but know it’s “a natural progression of this travel adventure I am on”. Thanks again so much for these amazing moments and working your beautiful desert magic on me. I hope I have many more amazing moments ahead, but do know that you will always hold a special place in my heart.

Sincerely,

Jaime Davila