The alarm rang at 5:45 a.m. I stumbled out of bed, went to the shared bathroom, and saw a shooting star on my way back to wake up Pallavi for our sunrise date with the dunes. That is as far as we got. We couldn't make ourselves get up.
When we finally woke up, we stepped out of our room, to see not just dunes, but mountains of dunes everywhere. How had we drive past these in the dark?
Pallavi decided to catch up on a bit more sleep and I decided to go and hike the dunes. I got my Bad Backpacker/Girl Scout skills engaged. Water. Check. Sunblock. Check. Keep track of where I'm going in the dunes so I don't end up like some Unsolved Mystery. Check.
That is where my skills ended. As I walked in my flipflops, I thought, what happens if I get lost? Are these the most strategic shoes I could be wearing to go and walk to rescue? Maybe not. Okay, let's not get lost.
Then I thought, wait, I don't even have a cell phone. Again, what happens if I get lost? Then I'm the dumb girl who walked out by herself in just flipflops and one bottle of water!
Did I let this stop me? Of course not!How could I get lost. Isn't the name 'Sahara' just like 'Sarah-a'? I can do it! I just kept diligently looking behind me for landmarks so I knew where to come back. And did I let these thoughts keep me close to the hotels? No. I decided to walk to the highest point that I could make it to.
I figured I would just keep next to either the camel tracks or the 4x4 tracks. As I went up a dune, it suddenly struck me that a 4x4 might just fly over that dune at any moment. Okay, maybe I should stick to the camel tracks.
On and on and on I trekked, singing Climb Every [sand] Mountain until I finally made it to the top of the dune. The view was spectacular! When I finally made it back, I decided I'd join Pallavi in a nap. We slept all afternoon!
We only got up to get a late lunch/dinner, go out into the desert to try to catch a sunset, and then chill around with our hotel guys, who treated us to local drumming. Operation Sahara: check.
When we finally woke up, we stepped out of our room, to see not just dunes, but mountains of dunes everywhere. How had we drive past these in the dark?
Pallavi decided to catch up on a bit more sleep and I decided to go and hike the dunes. I got my Bad Backpacker/Girl Scout skills engaged. Water. Check. Sunblock. Check. Keep track of where I'm going in the dunes so I don't end up like some Unsolved Mystery. Check.
That is where my skills ended. As I walked in my flipflops, I thought, what happens if I get lost? Are these the most strategic shoes I could be wearing to go and walk to rescue? Maybe not. Okay, let's not get lost.
Then I thought, wait, I don't even have a cell phone. Again, what happens if I get lost? Then I'm the dumb girl who walked out by herself in just flipflops and one bottle of water!
Did I let this stop me? Of course not!How could I get lost. Isn't the name 'Sahara' just like 'Sarah-a'? I can do it! I just kept diligently looking behind me for landmarks so I knew where to come back. And did I let these thoughts keep me close to the hotels? No. I decided to walk to the highest point that I could make it to.
I figured I would just keep next to either the camel tracks or the 4x4 tracks. As I went up a dune, it suddenly struck me that a 4x4 might just fly over that dune at any moment. Okay, maybe I should stick to the camel tracks.
On and on and on I trekked, singing Climb Every [sand] Mountain until I finally made it to the top of the dune. The view was spectacular! When I finally made it back, I decided I'd join Pallavi in a nap. We slept all afternoon!
We only got up to get a late lunch/dinner, go out into the desert to try to catch a sunset, and then chill around with our hotel guys, who treated us to local drumming. Operation Sahara: check.
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