Hello From Fez

We have been busy and have travelled quite a bit. We went to Mergeeza and rode camels in the evening and then again at 5:00 A.M. the next morning to watch the sunrise. After the camel ride we drove most of the day to Tirnest which is a remote village that has had limited contact with Americans and probably never a group of eight at once. After our visit there, during which we meet with lots of people and played with the children, we drove to Fez where I am now. Mergeeza was extremely hot, since it is at the edge of the Sahara. The temperature there reached 110 degrees while we were there, and the tents where we slept did not cool down enough to allow sleep until 2:30 AM which was challenging since we were awakened at 4:45 for the camel ride. The experience was amazing and completely worth the effort. I climbed to the top of the Erg Chibba and saw a fantastic sunrise with the others in our group. The great news for us was that the village of Tirnest, where we were lat night, is part of the way up a mountain so the temperatures were much cooler. It was about 70 degrees at night which made sleeping easy. Mike, the other male on the team, and I slept in a house that has been converted into a barn. In the next room were sheep and other residents were goats, cows, chickens, rabbits, and a donkey or two. It was quite an experience. Tonight we had dinner at a restaurant near the famous Blue Gate in Fez and got to see thousands of birds swooping around having their dinner. It was amazing!!! Here are a few pictures. The first two are from Mergeeza. The second has the dune that I climbed. The third picture has a few of my roommates from last night and the last picture shows some of the country surrounding Tirnest.