The camel trip doesn't leave until around 4:00pm anyhow to avoid most of the afternoon heat. Then they set up tents and make dinner and have a campfire. Then wake up, have breakfast, and return here.
Once again, we have breakfast included for our stay here. This seems to be fairly common in Morocco.
Sadie, Ruth, and Cameron at breakfast.
Lots of bread and pancakes and crepes, but they made a small omelet for Ruth.
Around 11:00am, Ruth and Sadie and I walked about 2 kms into the nearby village of Ouled Driss.
Sadie and Ruth.
Entrance to a fancy hotel down the road.
The quiet village of Ouled Driss.
Coffee shop on the main drag.
Old walls of the village.
This is not a tourist town though. People still live in the old walled section, Some areas are just ruins, but others have been kept up.
We were walking back on the main road when a man came out of a shop and told us (in very broken English) that we could go into the older walled section and pointed to the gateway.
Sadie at the main entrance.
She was quick to run up some narrow stairs to do some exploring!
Notice the satellite dish!
Yes, people live here.
A group of kids came out to say hello.
Schools here are on a one week break this week.
So we're wandering around and I see an old rusty weathered sign saying Musee (Museum) with an arrow. So we head down this dark alleyway, and sure enough there is a museum. Nobody around, so we went in and had a look.
Sadie and Ruth in the museum.
Sadie!
They had mannequins to display clothing.
Down another dark alleyway.
Some of the ruined areas.
It's quite a maze in there and it's easy to lose your way. Sometimes we would head down an alleyway to find it leads to someone's front door. We could hear talking inside. So back down to find another one. I had gone down an alleyway alone, and when I came back, Ruth and Sadie were talking to a teenage girl.
In English!
So we had a little conversation. Her English is quite good. We asked if she lived here, and she said "yes... do you want to come inside?" as she led us to the entrance to her home.
There, we met her grandmother and her mother. They speak only Arabic. They asked if we wanted tea, so of course we agreed!
The girl's name is Soumaya and she is 17 years old. She has learned English totally on her own by watching youtube instructional videos. Amazing! She really is quite good.
We sat in the living room area. There is hardly any furniture, just a stand that the old tube television is on.
Sadie and Ruth.
They sit on the floor, with carpet. All of the walls are that mud/straw mixture. I asked Soumaya if they have leak problems when it rains, and she said yes, but it rains so rarely that it's not a problem. They like when it rains.
It was great to be able to ask her questions. We asked if she had traveled in other parts of Morocco. She has an older sister going to university in Marrakech and she went to visit her sister a few weeks ago and it was her first time in Marrakech. She also has an older brother who works in the next village, and a younger brother but we didn't see any sign of him.
Public universities are free in Morocco. You just have to pay a small fee for registration, and your accommodation costs. Soumaya is in her last year of high school and wants to become an English teacher. Oddly, she does not speak French. She said when she had to take French in public school, she hated it!
Her mother made us tea and some bread and jam.
Unfortunately they didn't want their photo taken. But, they invited us to come back with Lindsey and Cameron, so that will be a good experience for them either later today or tomorrow. Really nice people, and we're glad that Soumaya invited us in for a visit.
On the way back, Sadie was surrounded by a group of about six or seven young girls all about her age. All smiling and friendly, but obviously curious. They wanted to touch Sadie. She was a good sport about it all.
Then we saw on the road walking towards us, a group of camels. This is the first time we have seen camels since Lindsey and the kids arrived. Ruth asked one of the guys if Sadie could pet the camel, and the next thing you know he hoisted her right up onto the seat!
Sadie's first camel ride!
Back at our guesthouse.
It was pretty warm yesterday. Max has an indoor/outdoor thermometer and both readings were at 37C (99F). But the wind picked up in the afternoon, and there was quite a lot of Sahara sand dust blowing around. It was too hot to close Max up, so we ended up having to wipe everything down. That stuff gets everywhere!
Here is Sadie's version of yesterday's events...
Day 10
On day 10 we had a really good breakfast, we had pancakes mmm... after we went into town, we saw an alley so went into it and we saw a few kids, so nice! After we met a man and he said you can go in an alley, so we did, so cool. We saw a girl and she speaks English, she let us in her home and we got tea. Her name is Soumaya, sadly we had to go back to the hotel.
But, on the way we saw 4 camels, two people let me ride it, like what? It was so cool.
When we got back I played with the girls, fun! We watched Survivor and after that we went to bed.
Record low deal on this Cordless Robotic Pool Cleaner.
And in Canada...
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