Travel

Where the desert roses grow

May 10, 2015

Whenever I feel stress or any discomfort, I’m trying to bring my mind to the place that can calm me down and bring me immediate joy. I’ve always used to do it. Few months ago, I felt too busy by all deadlines, plans and noise around me. Despite many good things in my life I hardly had the time and peace to appreciate them. In that moment, I started to see myself at the desert. The place that represents mystery, peace and majestic beauty for me. Excitement and serenity at the same time. I started dreaming about new adventure. A place where I can share the moments with my companion and still have plenty time to dive into voluntary solitude on one of the sandy dunes to hear that inner voice, always knowing what we need to do right now (or to do nothing at all). I even made a quick painting of myself at the desert and it helped, for that moment. I didn’t start searching for excursions to desert though. It came to me, as always, naturally and effortlessly.

Random choice

One day, few months later, I got the info about great deals for the flight tickets to different places and it took me exactly one second to decide that the destination for my escape from European cold weather will be Morocco. In another second, my man agreed with that idea and I booked the tickets. Surprisingly my first thought wasn’t that Morocco is one of the best options to make a trip to desert (shame on me). As I never really started to search for any desert destinations before and let it go with flow, I realized that just another day and couldn’t believe that once again my dream may become true in such a short time.

Finally, our holiday was much more than the desert, although Sahara was absolutely the top of it. During the three day trip from Marrakech, we travelled more than one thousand kilometers through snaky roads, snowy High Atlas Mountains and, just a little later, dry and beautiful Berber village Ait Benhaddou or canyon Todgha Gorge .

We reached Sahara and after riding camels for an hour, we were on the place. The desert has atmosphere exactly like it had in my imagination. We spent a night in the tent under the stars, being so close that I wanted to stretch the hand towards them and touch. Feeling small, like I did at Sahara, can miraculously strengthen me.

The place to return

Obviously, the trip was far too short for the desert to be completely satisfying to me. One can feel it could be enough only in case the main goal is to make a picture. My opinion was supported by our guides, Berber boys, when they stopped on the way back by camels and said “Picture, Facebook” (while laughing) as they were trained. “Oh, the world went crazy with all that social media. I want to travel for myself, not for my facebook friends”, was my thought. And tried to capture all that beauty and ambience into my mind.

But I admit, I couldn’t resist to let my mate take a last moment picture of me, the same one like my mind created few months ago. And keep it to remind my special affinity to this place.