{"id":2610,"date":"2014-04-04T14:08:21","date_gmt":"2014-04-04T14:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/?p=2610"},"modified":"2024-04-19T19:24:12","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T19:24:12","slug":"erg-chebbi-and-drumming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/?p=2610","title":{"rendered":"Erg Chebbi and Drumming"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jim, Lilly, and Ruby arrived for a week’s visit at the end of March. \u00a0Standard fare: Michlifen, F\u00e8s, Wal\u00efl\u00ef, Azrou–and then we took off for a couple of days down by Erg Chebbi. \u00a0We left Ifrane in the snow…
\n\"_DSC0833\"<\/a><\/p>\n

and a few hours later, we were on the edge of the Tafilalt oasis. (I was the only one cold-blooded enough to need a coat!)\"_DSC0872\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Jim got to have a wild experience driving across the hamada on the “Berber highway” (no photos, alas), and then it was the traditional tea before we got on the camels.
\n\"_DSC0894\"<\/a>\u00a0\"_DSC0898\"<\/a>\"_DSC0925\"<\/p>\n

To try to deepen the experience a little, I had booked two drumming lessons with Bakkar: one for the afternoon we arrived, one for the next day, when we rode out of the desert.<\/p>\n

We rode into the “deep desert camp” in order to have our first lesson there.
\n\"IMG_2079\"\u00a0\"IMG_2075\"I think it was the first time I saw rain in the desert.\"_DSC1020\"<\/a>We were so into the drumming we evidently missed a beautiful sunset. \u00a0So many precious things; so little time. \u00a0Still, we enjoyed a nice candlelit dinner in the tent, out of the wind and the rain.
\n<\/span>\"_DSC1034\"\u00a0\"_DSC1037\"
\n<\/a>The day before we arrived, there was an immense sandstorm that built up a massive new dune. \u00a0Luckily for us, we had a quiet night, and a quiet dawn.
\n<\/span>\"IMG_2180\"\u00a0\"IMG_2106\"<\/a>\"_DSC1069\"\u00a0\"IMG_2114\"<\/p>\n

The girls were pretty happy out there.
\n\"_DSC1091\"<\/a> \"_DSC1094\"<\/a><\/p>\n

They also invented a new sport–skipping down the dunes–that they eventually called “donkeying.” \u00a0Zo\u00eb’s most dramatic moment was the face plant.
\n\"_DSC1135\"<\/a> \"_DSC1137\"<\/a>Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, get on a camel again…<\/p>\n

After riding back to the edge of the dunes, we spent another hour or so concentrating on those drumming rhythms.
\n\"_DSC1219\"<\/a> \"_DSC1205\"<\/a>
\nBakkar was very patient; Ruby was especially focused. \u00a0In the end, he presented her with a drum to take with her. \u00a0A very generous gesture: Morocco at its best.
\n\"_DSC1221\"\u00a0\"_DSC1224\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Then we drove a few hundred meters to the Dunes d’Or to rest and recuperate. \u00a0This gave us time to luxuriate in the extravagant beauty of the sand (warning: Zo\u00eb does not fully share my fascination–and perhaps you won’t either…)
\n\"IMG_2111\"<\/a><\/p>\n

its patterns\"IMG_2153\"<\/a>\u00a0\"IMG_2128\"and its inhabitants.<\/span>\"IMG_2140\"<\/a>We also had one more opportunity to watch the sun rise over the dunes.
\n\"_DSC1385\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And to finetune donkeying skills.
\n\"_DSC1284\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Zo\u00eb insisted I would love it, so I tried to follow the girls’ lead, but the sand was a little too hard and too level.
\n\"_DSC1447\"<\/a>\u00a0\"_DSC1459\"<\/a>\"_DSC1460<\/a><\/p>\n

So instead, we tried barreling over the top of a dune into the softer sand below:
\n\"_DSC1481\"<\/a> \"_DSC1478\"
\n<\/a>\"_DSC1471\"<\/a><\/p>\n

OK, I confess: that was pretty fun.
\n\"_DSC1475\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jim, Lilly, and Ruby arrived for a week’s visit at the end of March. \u00a0Standard fare: Michlifen, F\u00e8s, Wal\u00efl\u00ef, Azrou–and then we took off for a couple of days down by Erg Chebbi. \u00a0We left Ifrane in the snow… and a few hours later, we were on the edge of the Tafilalt oasis. (I was … Continue reading Erg Chebbi and Drumming<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[7,9],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4JDdJ-G6","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2610"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2610"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2897,"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2610\/revisions\/2897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maghrebi-voices.swarthmore.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}