Camel Trekking and Arabic Lessons

Camel Trekking and Arabic Lessonsby Chris BeauchampCamels!May 14, 2010There is only an hour or two between the pre­vi­ous entry and this one. Since I wrote the last bit, we have eaten the day’s lunch. Rashid pre­pared and served us what he called “Berber Omelette,” an egg and tomato dish with peppers, onions and the usual spices that was remark­ably like Turkish menemen. The camels are nearby, con­ten­ted from the water we drew from a well right before lunch, and feeding on scrag­gly shrubs. Rashid is washing the dishes, which gen­er­ally involves splash­ing some untreated well-water on everything and slosh­ing it around a basin. I try not to think that it’s the same basin the camels have drank out of, or that Rashid washed his feet in, or that Laura and I have also used to wash. Desert hygiene is not city hygiene.At least he’s using soap.Our guide, Rashid, drawing water for himself, the cuisine, clean­ing, and the camels. Laura and I stayed to mineral water, mostly. Rashid’s body can handle the microbes, whereas ours are accus­tomed to com­pletely dif­fer­ent ones.We came across essen­tially one well per day, which may sur­prise some, but we were tech­nic­ally on the edge of the desert. Beyond our final des­tin­a­tion (Erg Chigaga) there are no wells.Laura helping fill one of the two 10L gerry cans that got us through.Shariff (“Sha-reef”), the camel. Shariff is 20, and like his buddy Mimoun, will likely be doing this for ten more years. The nose ring is actu­ally used by the camel guide to lead the animal.Mimoun (“Mee-moon”) the camel. Mimoun is 19 years old, and will likely live to about 30. His job is to walk back and forth in the desert, poor guy.Laura and I are actu­ally feeling spoiled and content on our rug in the shade. The day has already cooled some­what and soon we’ll be packing up to con­tinue the day’s journey. We haven’t actu­ally ridden the camels yet, as they have been loaded down with our baggage to begin with, but we’re think­ing we may this after­noon if the sand is too hot on our sandaled feet. Rashid has said vaguely that we will ride them apres, apres, “after, after.”The after­noon winds are picking up a bit after the calm morning, and if we can expect the same hard winds as we exper­i­enced last night at the bivouac, then we will be heading west­ward into the setting sun and blowing sand, so the after­noon may present its own challenges.I wanted to mention that we have been enjoy­ing some very basic Arabic help (and I mean very basic). Our com­mu­nic­a­tions with Rashid now span French, English, and crude Arabic, but we’re able to com­mu­nic­ate most things well enough. We also got some primers last night from the other fellows. Unfortunately I only pulled out the note­book part way through, so most of our impromptu Arabic lesson has been lost, strings of foreign syl­lables that simply don’t stick in my mind. This is all that remains, based on my notes and my memory:La bass = HelloLa = NoChukran = Thank youGh’la = watermelonSchwee-ah, schwee-ah = little, littleSa-ha = CheersBis sa-ha = Bon apetiteSabah-hak-hairh = good morningYella! = Let’s go / Hurry upWa-ha = Okay*Spellings are phon­etic inter­pret­a­tions. Try to pro­nounce each letter. The H’s are some­what guttural.Okay. Now, just walk to the other side. Simple!morocco culture,moroccan food,morocco food,moroccan cuisine,morocco beaches,moroccan meal,beaches in morocco,moroccan culture,hercules cave,hercules cave morocco