Day One Hundred Three - Solo Once More

Tomorrow will bring the separation of myself and my travel companion, Daniel. While he wishes to stay here in Marrakech in order to sort out his financial situation I have more grand plans: the desert awaits me! It is not completely without sadness that I will bid my new friend goodbye but all things must come to an end at some point. It will be interesting to continue in this country alone. Things will be especially different since Daniel can speak some French, a very helpful skill in Morocco. Almost all of the people here speak French as well as Arabic or Berber. Myself, I know nothing of this nasal language. Perhaps it is time for me to learn. My apprehension of even basic phrases would go a long way in making my life in this region much easier. Although it may not be very necessary since the farther I go north the more useful my Spanish will become. And I have never spoken Spanish better than I currently do on account of my conversations with Daniel in the language, of which comprises about fifty percent of all our speech to each other.

The desert being my next destination I've been trying to mentally prepare myself for my surroundings being blazingly hot all the time. Even here in Marrakech today it's really hot, so much so that Daniel and I have retired to our hotel room until the sun goes down. The desert can only be worse. But there is some comfort in knowing that I will be going to the high desert which is not as hardcore as deep Sahara. I will be traveling near the Atlas Mountains mostly. I have plans to go to the Todra Gorge which is supposed to have some awesome slot canyons for hiking. My time in the desert should last about four or five days, I hope, then I will finally be in the Fes/Meknes region, finally in the north of Morocco, making my way towards Spain.

A couple nights ago we were at the Cascades D'Ouzoud, a beautiful waterfall in an equally stunning valley. If you're in Morocco you have to check this place out. You can camp at the bottom of the falls and literally watch the Cascades from your bed. It's a really cool place. Watch out for the dude with crazy jerry-curls (did I spell that right?) though, he's only trying to get money out of you, no matter how friendly he seems to be. He acted like some kind of Moroccan gangsta thug. A weird character to encounter at a place like the Cascades D'Ouzoud.

Yesterday came and went like most days. If it wasn't for all the wonderful birthday wishes I received from Facebook, email, and various other means, there would be no way of knowing it was my 22nd birthday. I'm pretty sure that's the first birthday I've had outside of the US and it sure is different that way. It really made me homesick. But a friend told me during a chat on Facebook that, "I would give my left nut to do what you're doing. Everyday is like a birthday." That got me thinking about the whole situation and helped me to remember that I really am in the midst of quite the opportunity. So what if my birthday was a bit uneventful, party wise? It was in Marrakech! How many people from the US can say that? I'm doing my best to not sound like I'm boasting. That is surely not my intention. I'm just trying to say that I realized since I'm having many unique experiences all the time I need to remember that they are all special even if they are common. Since I've been traveling for three and a half months now all these experiences have just become daily occurrences. Sometimes I forget that other people would love to have the opportunity to travel like I have been doing. I lose perspective of that sometimes.

I swear I have a million and one awesome photos to share but it takes bloody FOREVER to get these uploaded. I certainly can't be paying for that time at a cyber cafe. I have to wait until I can get free internet access somehow. I really want to show you guys what Morocco looks like and I also have some great ones from Germany.