Where do I even begin this one… as I mentioned in my previous blog, the Sahara is just simply stunning. I did alot of soul searching in the desert. When you are stripped back to your core… it’s just you and your soul(or as I call it the little you inside the big you)
1. Keeping Watch.
I remember having to stay awake to keep guard… no one else around, just you and the the Sahara desert as your home. Being forced to stay awake and sit still is near on impossible. If you are moving around doing stuff.. that’s different, but sitting still keeping your eyes peeled left and right was really hard. I had no idea what the time was… therefore I had no idea how long I had to sit there for. I kind of mentally chopped the sky up into 6/7 chunks and decided that when the moon got to a certain star… that it must be time to switch over night duty. The moon is stunning. I felt guilty that all these years I had never appreciated how wonderful and amazing the moon was… always taking it for granted that it will just appear when night time does… It is huge, so huge that I could almost reach out and touch it… and it was so bright, almost too bright like a light that had been accidentally left on when everyone else has gone to bed. I thought about alot of things up on that sand dune, and this is going to sound odd to some but I felt like that calmness, that quietness and stillness of the surroundings all around me gave me immense inner strength… and it’s that inner connection with the little me that made me realise there’s more to me than I originally thought.
2. Sand Dune Sprints
This was so hard. One of the hardest physical challenges I think I have ever done in my life. I actually felt like my heart was going to stop beating. However, I absolutely loved it!! Those sand dunes are so tough, so energy draining, the heat is slowly sapping energy from your body bit by bit. Putting the gas mask on was even more ridiculous… breathing was super difficult. I try to run, but about halfway up, it becomes too tiring(not just wimping out tiring but kind of like passing out tiring!!) I carry on with walking up, slowly putting one foot in front of the other. My heart is absolutely going like the clappers, my breathing is hard and noisy… a reminder just exactly how much I am pushing myself. I get to the top, manage to touch the line, and start running downhill. I can’t feel my legs at all, I feel like I am about to fall over, balancing precariously on the top of the dune. My legs now feel that they do not belong to me, they are moving but I am not in control of them. Then I get a sudden burst of energy as I fly downhill. I am tired yet exhilirated at the same time, my heart feels like its going to stop at any minute, but my adrenalin is pumping. I get to the bottom and collapse… my recovery is quick and within minutes I am ready to go again… some may hate that exhausted feeling. Me? I love it, and I thrive on it because it makes me feel alive.
3. The drive to the Sahara
Driving from Marrakech to the edge of the Sahara took all day. Roughly 10-12 hours, maybe more. We drove via the Atlas Mountains, skirting around the edge of them… through so many villages along the way. Morocco is beautiful, very poor but beautiful. I saw so many children out playing in the roads, all laughing and looking like they were having fun. It is always very humbling to see people living in worse conditions than yourself. You realise how “easy” you have it, not having to worry about food or heating etc.
It kind of got me thinking how living in london kind of spoils you a bit. We expect everything now, we complain if things are not good enough or quick enough. People complain alot in London… start listening to the conversations around you… it’s full of people being unhappy, almost like people thrive on it. We aren’t happy unless we are moaning. Since my experience in the desert… I no longer buy magazines that have useless information in them, I watch far less TV than I did before, and I now get outdoors, enjoy and appreciate nature far more. It’s the little things in life that keep me amused.
A good friend of mine once said to me ” Carla, the people that have the least have the most”
I shall carry on with my next 2 tomorrow. The sun is shining and I want to enjoy it.
Bye for now x
