I have been VERY busy since I got to Morocco last week (WOW- time flies!!). I ran some errands in Marrakech before we came out to Imlil. We got here early evening Tuesday, and had a GREAT BBQ.
The people that I have bene with are Swiss-- Greg, Tom, Lo (??? not realllllly positive of his actual name, so I avoid saying it outloud), Ksenia (another hard one...), Luca (dating Ksenia-- VERY cute couple- not annoying), and one Australian named Erica. Erica talks A LOT- very chatty, but super friendly. She has been traveling around for the past year and a half, and still has ~3 months to go.... Ellen, can u imagine??? Apparently that is very typical of Australians and she seems completely unfazed by it- kind of inspiring, but I still don't think I could do that. She got to Morocco the same time that I did and is going to leave only 5 days earlier than me....
Wednesday was a preparation day, so we (the volunteers) spent a lot of time on the Kasbah du Toubkal terrace. We ate great omelets and salad and lounged a lot. Then we all had a meeting about the trek. It didn't sound too bad. We were instructed that we would leave at around 9 am to begin. We went around the area of the Kasbah and the house. It is SO green and beautiful. Not TOO hot (but still definitely hot...). Very hilly and country house-like. There is also a water irrigation source running through the villages- very different than any other place I have been in Morocco, AND definitely Jordan too. Very refreshing.
After we hung out at the Kasbah, Rachid took us to the waterfall. A lot of Moroccans were hanging out around it and swimming in the water. The water was VERY cold but refreshing.
THURSDAY- TREK DAY
This is a pic of basically the beginning of the trek (still going through the towns surrounding Imlil....)
A long "plateau" that was a huge tease. I asked one of the guides if this was the terrain till the top- he laughed a lot....
Rough terrain
Rest stop #1. It was nice and cloudy and occasionally drizzled, which made the trip MUCH easier. I think he pink building is called the shrine of Sidi Chamharouch (?? not totally sure though). It is a place where people come when they are haunted by a Jin. We saw someone who was definitely haunted by one in on a mule on the way back down- very interesting.
It was also VERY windy. This is our lunch being attacked by a wind/sand storm. It was funnier like 3 seconds before I took this picture... We had salad and rice for lunch. One Moroccan said that we were eating like rabbits- TRUE, and funny.
WATER
Second rest stop. By this time it had come out that I take Arabic. The guy next to me (in the white) was SO excited by this, and talked to me in Fusha A LOT. I was actually excited because before I met him- it was a lot of French speaking. Basically (except for Erica) everyone speaks French as their first language, which is very intimidating. They speak English too, so it's not that bad for ME, but I wish I could speak with them in French- too intimidating.
Happily trekking. This is genuine, not just for the camera. Also- note the SEEDS!! Muhammad's brother was nice enough to get us some green melon seeds after we tried them and LOVED them. We got them the night before we left. I was anticipating snacking on them while I trekked- they totally met my expectations. Not only are they delicious and similar to sunflower seeds, they are VERY salty, which helps with dehydration. Very similar to my softball days- practicing mindless sport while chewing on seeds. The seeds were a hit among the Moroccans too, but don't worry- I still have some left.
This is the refuge we stayed at. Once we saw it, it seemed SO close, but it was SO far still. I hated that about trekking. you can see things, but your eyes deceive you and they are never really as close as they appear.
The group had special snacks awaiting our arrival. Two of my favorites- TANGO cookies and (warm) Spéciale beer. We had a pasta dinner (before the marathon) and a canned fruit dessert. The boys were VERY unhappy with dessert, it was funny, but there was nothing we could do about it... and went to bed pretty early. It was like 10 o'clock, so the stars hadn't even fully popped out- there were still more than I've seen in a loooong time. It was INCREDIBLY hot sleeping in the refuge. I had my cocoon which I was very thankful for (a lot of peeps got bedbug bites, mais pas moi !!!), but not thankful for the sweatpants and long sleeve that I was wearing. I was also VERY sore throughout the night- I woke up everytime I tried to turn over in my sleep because I was in pain. We had a wake up time of 6:30 to make it to the summit- lets go!
The day before I looked at a map and it seemed that we were over 75 percent of the way to the top, I thought I heard someone say that it was only a half hour away.... I realized later that it seemed that way because the map was flat and sure we had gone far in terms of milage, but we did not make a great progress in terms of altitude. I geared up (cold weather gear... the sun hadn't come over the peak yet) and we all met outside. I had a huge blister (that has now become even bigger) so Greg wrapped it me for me and then we were off. We were probably walking 10 minutes (totally uphill and definitely already hard) when Erica decided that she did not want to do it... I was okay with that because she was a little complainey on the way up yesterday... I was really winded already too, but I kept on trucking. I really had NO idea how far up it was, so I kept on taking breaks whenever I wanted to and eventually I fell far back enough that I lost my friends... its funny, but doesn't look that funny when I type it.
Some Moroccans passed me, and they asked if I wanted their ski poles, I didn't. It was a lot of uphill walking, but I really never even considered not getting to the top... I also was not particularly negative at all... I feel like normally I would be cursing in my head the second that I felt out of breath, but not today- I was determined!
There was a part that was like ACTUAL rock climbing, which I did not like (I do NOT like rock climbing...) and I looked ahead to see if it was going to be like that for a long way, but it was just one bigger rock that I had to climb up. There was a point in the treck up that I started to meet up with strangers who were descending. They were all very encouraging, and I didn't ask, but I assumed that they woke up MUCH earlier than I did... One group from London (that I KNOW woke up at 4 am) came down at one point and the girl seemed VERY frustrated and unhappy. The boy told me that I had a long way to go, and that the train just gets harder, which was discouraging because I had already come a very & hard long way..... Don't worry though! I kept on trekking.
I ran into Kate, a REALLY nice girl/lady/woman (she says that she is older than she looks...) from the UK. She is in our group, and is really awesome. She left an hour before us but was WAY ahead of my pace. She gave me some delicious cereal trail mix, and was very encouraging. They told me not to look at the peak because it is farther than I think, and it was actually OVER the mountain peak- very deceiving. It got hard, and at one point I literally did NOT know how to go up any higher (a lot of graveley, dusty, SMALL rocks on a steep hill...). I honestly never thought of stopping, but I did get a little loopy at some points and kept taking a lot of breaks... At one point I saw this ANNOYING boy/man RUNNING down the mountain with his ipod in (ahead of his guide). He stopped and told me not to worry and that I was about 10 minutes away. I smiled politely and kept trekking- knowing that his 10 minutes was probably AT LEAST an hour for me... I took (what I thought was) my last break and then kept moving.
THESE sheep crept up on me and would NOT move out of my path. I took a video which I will show in person because I don't know if I have enough internet to upload vids, but basically it's me screaming/laughing at them saying "MOVE!!! GO!!! SEEER!!! YALLA!! I HATE YOU" It probably was only funny because I was so loopy and so ready to get to the top.
Then I passed the rest of my group- they were VERY encouraging (obviously). They clapped as I approached, so I got a serious boost and BOOKED it the rest of the way.
... until I FINALLY MADE ITTTTT
I stayed up there with some Mountain Propre Moroccan friends. We snacked a lot and had fun. It was a BEAUTIFUL sight-- endless mountains. It was cold, but not too cold-refreshing. I was VERY happy and proud of myself for doing it essentially alone... We stayed up for a while and enjoyed the view. Stay tuned for the story of my descent...
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