lub Salam Hotel Erfoud

I have so many good memories: Staying at this crazy hotel, drinking Moroccan red wine in a phony Amazigh tent, while the static made Federica's hair stand on end. Watching the sunset atop the highest dune in Morocco, chatting with Max and then talking God and other things of equal importance with Kyle while watching the ...

... the boss' son, a little better. M'het was 14, and was treated deferentially by staff and shopkeepers at every step. In fairness, he was a long way from as spoilt as you would expect the scion of a wealthy travel company magnate to be. He was being educated at The American School in Marrakech, a school, he explained without any excess pretense or haughtiness, for parents who want their children to Be Somebody. Tuition at his school is entirely in English (25 ...

... a variety of diverse ways to use it. That night we shared our camping area with a young Dutch couple. After the sun set and another wonderful dinner, we all went and laid under that stars. There were more stars out that night then I have ever seen in my life. I honestly did not even know that so many stars existed. However, we quickly tired after such a long day and not much sleep the night before. To avoid the sweltering midday heat ...

... question approach. We were trying a variety of responses: Victim: England thanks Captor: Oh England! Lovely Jubbly ho ho... you come look at my carpet / jewellery / poorly crafted hash pipe? (Insert would be form of offloadable tat here) Victim: Italy, Grazie Captor: Oh Italy! Spaghetti, Ferrari ho ho... vuoi vedere mi... Victim: Australia Captor: Oh Australia! Kangaroo, Koala ho ho... you come look at my... The answer to this conundrum was sublime in its ...

... buy some peanuts from this guy there and feed them. They were pretty cool. Then we headed to a Kasbah in Medelt for lunch. It was weird being up in the mountains at lunch time where there was snow on the ground and knowing that we would be on the outskirts of the Sahara desert by dinner. By now the the bus rides were getting more interested with people becoming more open with their dietary situations and how the food was affecting them ...

... we would be making on our drive down south. Our first stop was the a town our guide called the "Switzerland of Morocco". Situated high in the Middle atlas mountains, the town felt more like a European ski resort than desert town. In fact, there is even a Ski resort just outside the town. Very hard for us to imagine snow on the dry hot mountains surrounding us. We carried on weaving through the Middle Atlas mountains admiring the view before Rashid ...

... inspired renditions of Sound Of Music, and thanks to Yousef, the head Berber cameleer, we learn a song about Mustafa and his love... most of which simply involves repeating, Mustafa, Mustafa, Mustafaa'aa ... Mustafa, Mustafa, Mustafaa'aa ... Just before midnight we clamber the shadowy dunes, sliding and slipping and carrying on by the light of the silvery moon. With one of our party buried up to his neck in sand (2 mins will cure rheumatism) it's time for our Berber beds.

... attempt. Not too long after that we cozied up inside our Berber tent, a kind of pieced-together outfit of blankets and canvas. It looked pretty well covered.... 1 am, we wake up to howling winds and I find I have difficulty lifting my head, as it turns out, mostly due to the 30 lbs of sand weighing it down. A flick of the flashlight soon reveals that the whole place now resembles a very lifelike sand sculpture. I also had some hearing issues that appeared to ...

... about 35 dollars each, we got our camels, a guide, meals, and a tent at the oasis. We headed out at around 5pm, and rode for about two hours. I must admit that the actual riding of the camels isn't particularly fun. In fact, it is pretty painful, especially when the camels are going downhill. Camels just weren't designed to carry humans. And they make really crazy noises when they are angry. I had been warned that the ones behind you might try to ...