February 4th, 2009

When it was time to get up this morning I wasn’t sure I had ever really even gone to sleep. I looked out the window and could see mountains not too far off in the distance covered with snow and could see rain coming down. I knew today was going to be a long day full of different kinds of weather, so most of us took out stuff we didn’t need from our backpack and put them in baggies leaving rain jackets, coats, snacks, scarves, beanies in such in our backpacks to carry for the day. 

 

After having some what looked like oatmeal and cereal for breakfast, we said our good byes to the little girls and the old man ready for our six hours of hiking until our next village. 

 

We walked and walked getting hot and then ocld crossing river bed and river bed and going from village to village until we ended at the base of the forest. At one of the villages we stopped at a few of the kids had cuts and scrapes Mohammed gave them first aid from our med kit which was nice since none us had any really use for it yet.  Our tour guides gave us breaks with what they called “Magic Mix”full of nuts, dates, and figs it was very delicious and everyone grabbed handfuls. 

 

We headed up into the forest with some little boys from the village following us until we got too far up from their home. This was by far the hardest part of our hike and my legs started to burn. I moved slowly but steadily up to the top where we took one more break from some “Magic Mix”. Once to the top we walked for another 30 minutes along a dirt road and passed a large group of sheep being herded through the forest. It was very foggy this entire day and at points if you would stop walking and look into the mountain side it was hard for eyes to adjust and you felt like you were in one of those mystery puzzles you have to stare at until you see the picture.

 

We then got to a large hill that we had to head down to the bottom where our lunch was waiting for us. The only problem was the hill was pure mud. It was interesting sliding and slipping down the mountain side and when I finally got to the bottom looking up and seeing how far we had come down I could believe how I hadn’t slid down the entire mountain side. We then had another amazing Moroccan lunch from our chefs. 

 

After lunch we continued on our walk walking through mud. At some point our shoes looked so covered and heavy it reminded me of walking with moon shoes. We kept walking up the mountain side into some more mud that finally let us to the mountain top looking into a gorgeous valley. This was the moment that every hiker gets when they get to the top and see the view that makes all the hard work worth it. The view was breathtaking and Jerry tried to interview me at the top but I seemed to be at a loss for words ( and it wasn’t because I was on camera). 

 

We continued our walk until we finally arrived at our next Berber Village where we would be staying the night. At this village we were again greeted by an old man, and offered tea and biscuits. We had a routine down and after tea went outside to explore and play with the little kids. In this gite the women and men seemed to be more reserved and soft spoken keeping to their work and not having much interaction with us. In this village also we found a lot more little boys then little girls so it was the boys turn to make friends. Reed automatically bonded with the little boys teaching them hand shakes and getting them to play tricks on his brother Greg. 

 

After playing with the kids some men from the gite built us a fire that we all sat around trying to dry our feet from the wet long day. Our feet were cold and wet as it was about 35 degree outside. All of our shoes were also covered in orange clay from all of the mud we had walked through throughout the day. We then had another amazing Moroccan meal and sat around the first talking. We all seemed to be getting really close with another from spending so much time together and now showering, as well as peeing in holes (that is what all the toilets were like). We laughed told jokes, stories, and kept wondering what kind of experience other SAS kids were having because nothing anyone did was going to be able to compare to the things we saw and experienced with these local villagers. We again went to bed around 10 although this night Kelly, Allison, Erica, Bev, and I pushed the cots together to try and cuddle for body heat. It didn’t work as well as we would have liked and we spent another night up freezing enjoying the sounds of the donkeys, and cows sleeping in the room below us.