By far the coolest thing I’ve done so far this semester has been the camel trek in Morocco. Even factoring in the fact that we drove 13 hours across the entire country. Literally, across the entire country. We were nine miles from Algeria.
So we get to the hotel and pretty much get right on the camels to start our trek into the desert, which is where we camped the first night. The sun had set already so the sky was darker than I’ve ever seen it, the stars were brighter than I’ve ever seen and I saw the Milky Way.
Once we got to the camp site (only about 20 – 30 minute camel ride away), we all ate dinner in a tent and just laid outside and looked at the stars afterwards.
It was just incredible – to lie on a sand dune in the middle of the Sahara Desert with a group of people, with no one saying anything. Because there couldn’t possibly be something better than what we were experiencing.
We ended up sleeping under the stars instead of in the tents and were woken up early enough to watch the sunrise from a sand dune the next morning. I could try to describe it a million times and I don’t know if I could convey how amazing of an experience it was. I think this is one of those things where it’s just easier to look at pictures. So here you are!
On our way back to town, we stopped at a sugar cane farm and we got to eat sugar cane. It was straight from the ground and cut into about six-inch pieces with a machete. No joke. A machete. I think our driver just found it on the farm. Or it was his. But that’s neither here nor there.
Anyway, the sugar cane was delicious, surprisingly juicy. The last thing we saw was a rubber plantation and then returned to town. It was an absolute highlight of this trip.
The markets in Ghana were some of my favorite things. Similar to Morocco, nothing, and I mean nothing, had a set price. Even taxi rides, we always negotiated the price before we got in the car. It also was not unusual for the taxi drivers and store owners to grab your arm to try to get you into their store or near their cab. So the markets were a cultural experience all on their own. It took about a day to get used to haggling and not feeling bad about not buying something, and the lack of personal space.
But I feel like even though we were only in Ghana for four days, I got a really good understanding of the country and the people in it.
Of course there were times that I was out of my comfort zone, but I never felt threatened or anxious, I just had to learn to adjust to their way of life. The difference is that in Morocco, there were times that I felt uncomfortable and super aware of my behavior, mostly because of the gender roles in that country. And I didn’t necessarily realize it until I was in another country. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Morocco. But I don’t know if it’s a country that I will visit again. I could see myself visiting Ghana again.
