From the Bathroom Floor to the Saharan Desert

The plan was to get up at 7 a.m. and get to Tammagroute (sp?) to check out the ziwaya/library. I woke up at 6 a.m., slightly sick, but I was hopeful that some immodium would make the illness go away swiftly. I woke the others up at 7 and began to get ready for breakfast.

By 8 a.m., I was exhausted. I took more ibuproferine and immodium. I was pretty much limited to lying on my back, as sitting up was too draining. I had a fever, but I felt fine. I told the others to go on without me, but to pick up some medicine if they saw a pharmacy along the way.

The turn of events gets blurry after their departure, but this is what I've pieced together:

I do remember getting really sick soon after they left. The kind of sick where you just move everything into the bathroom because you know you're gonna have to camp out there for a few hours. At one point I remember laying down, but then not being able to get back up.

When Sidney got back from the daytrip, she went into our room to use the bathroom. According to her, she opened the door and hit my head. She called for help, and then they brought me to bed and called for a doctor.

All I remember is being so cold. The bathroom tile was cold. The bed was cold. Everything was so cold and hurt my body all over. Sidney and Jafar got all the blankets they could and put them on me. I was a little girl all over again, and I kept asking for more blankets and "aquita." I was really concerned as to whether I'd be able to go to the sand dunes. Jafar said to wait and see.

Finally a doctor came to check me out. Jafar, Dr. H., and the Moroccan doctor were in the room during the examination. The doctor said I had a nasty case of food poisoning. He wrote a few prescriptions for me, but since it was Sunday, it was difficult to get them filled. When the drugs finally arrived, he administered the shot and left. I began to feel better soon after, but I was still exhausted and dehydrated. But God bless them all -- everyone was so nice. My friends stopped by to cheer me up and tell me how funny I acted when I was sick, the hotel staff came by to ask how I was feeling, and the instructors did as well.

But going out to see the sand dunes was the one thing that I had looked forward to doing while in Morocco. I had even re-read The Alchemist, imagining the desert the shepard crossed as he went in pursuit of his destiny. I've always had a childlike fascination with the Sahara, and I was so sad that I had come so close and wouldn't be able to see the dunes for myself.

But God bless Dr. H. He arranged to have a 4x4 come pick up Jafar and I, and take us out to the dunes -- if I was feeling well enough. By early afternoon I was tired, but still getting sick too frequently to go. By early evening I felt exhausted, but able to go. The others had already departed by camel, but we would meet up with them at their campsite.

We drove off towards the dunes as the sun was setting during a sandstorm. During the hour and a half drive, Jafar and I had the most amazing conversation. I felt incredibly touched to be able to open up to him and vice versa. I'm sure that he will be a lifelong friend.

We got to the tents just as the others were having dinner. Afterwards we heard Moroccan jokes (I thought it would be of the "two Moroccans and a camel walk into a bar..." variety, but they were actually moral-type stories that weren't very funny), listened to Saharan music, and then we all walked into the dunes to watch the stars.

I have never seen so many stars. If you make a circle with your fingers and held it up to the sky, you couldn't count the number of stars within the circle. I sat atop my own dune, and realized how small a part I was in this great earth. I am just a small speck of sand in the desert.

I feel like I'm at a crossroads right now, and not certain whether its rational or even reasonable to go after the things I want out of life. Do those things I've been hoping for even exist? After that evening -- after talking with someone who has traveled and really learned about people and really loved...after seeing the Saharan sky and sleeping on the Saharan sand -- I'm certain that these things I want from life do exist, and I'm even more certain that I'm deserving of them.

Posted 11:59 PM (GMT)