How many humps does a camel have??

Hello to all!
12 more days of this trip and it is so strange how it feels as if it's flying by, at the same time i feel like I've been here forever.
Thursday is where I left off so that is where i will begin.. After a day at the Orphanage, all of us as a good got all dolled up and went out to dinner. The restaurant was near the Orphanage so it took a little while to get there, but it was very very nice. I got a pasta dish (surprise) which was really good, but i could barely finish the massive amount of food. After dinner, we went to a place right down the street from the homebase called, "The Puzzle." It's a little lounge that just plays some music and when we walked in it happened to be Bob Marley, I knew right then i would like the place. After relaxing there for a little we came home, Liz Michelle and myself sat on their terrace for awhile and talked, because it was Michelle's last night. We had a lot of fun. I found that night that there is no way to stop someone from reacting when you tell them, "don't move," or "stay calm!" It just triggers a reaction. We were inside and Michelle had a towel wrapped around her shoulders when Liz and I followed her in we noticed the big black spot on her shoulder. Now, I'm not a spider expert but I believe it was a taranchala. Liz and I froze where we were and said, Michelle dont move!! Well of course that doesn't work. She came sprinting towards us saying What what what?? That in turn made us react because she was running at us with a huge spider on her shoulder. Everyone at this point was asleep in the house so we were all trying to be quiet, at the same time half yelling, "Stay there! No no!" Then Liz and I ran. Finally michelle dropped the towel but the spider was attached to her somehow so it followed her. It was choas in the hall as we tried to lose the spider. As soon as it fell the the floor i grabbed the closest object and smushed it. I don't think anyone has picked up that water bottle since. But, it was a pretty hysterical night.
Friday was a sad day because Michelle was leaving so we clung to each other the whole day. Around 3 the rest of us headed to the desert! We began our drive for that night and Mohammed came along for the ride which was very fun, he is such an amazing person. Once we got out of Rabat the view was utterly breath taking. And I don't want to sound like a tour guide, but I could not stop looking out my windows. Once we reached the Atlas mountains it was nothing but beautiful feilds of colors and hills that rolled until they met the sky. Off in the distance you could see snow covered mountains while it was 90 degrees down on our level. The colors changed each time you looked. Everything was green and covered with Christmas trees, they were the biggest cedars i have ever seen. Mohammed said you could wrap 6 people around the trunk at arms length, and still not fit around the base. Slowly the land wsa strewn with rocks and boulders as the green faded to brown. Gaping canyons began to form and we were inside of the mountains. Nomads wandered around and trees were scattered here in there, in the feilds it looked like something out of the Lion King. It became a hilly view again with red dust inextricably mixed in with green powder covering the land. My camera did not capture the colors or the beauty properly. We stopped at a town called Ifran in the Mountains which was so beautiful. It reminded me of the villages in Florida actually. All of the homes had re roofs and everything was so clean. It is actually called the Land of the Lions because that is the main place where they used to roam, so they had big statues of Lions around, as well as a beautiful lake. Chelsea is going to school there in the spring and is very lucky. After about three hours in the car we arrived at our hotel in the mountains called, Lion De'l Atlas. This hotel was so magificant. We had a whole floor to ourselves with three big bedrooms and a common room with three big couches on the walls. Chelsea Margie and I took a room that night, a storm was brewing so the wind put me right to sleep. The only trouble were the stairs, ha, i suppose they must have been further apart than normal stairs because I fell down them three times...
The next morning everyone was ready to go around 8:30 and we had a six hour ride to the desert. We stopped along the way for lunch and that was were Mohammed left us to visit his mother, we would pick him up on our way home. The ride, again, was not bad at all. The view was just as captivating as the day before. What i did notice were all of the huge, i mean the largest birds I've ever seen, all had nests on the rooves of the homes. Each house had a nest with three large birds hanging around. It was pretty amusing. We reached the desert around four o'clock and on the way saw some awesome sand storms in the distance. They looked like tornados...
We all took a little nap at the hotel becase it would be too hot to travel into the desert, so we waited until six. Each of us were given scarves to put on our heads and I was first. The man wrapped it around me and all i heard was margie's bursting laughter behind me. For the next twenty minutes as everyone got theirs, i kept seeing her peek around our friends to laugh and gawk at me. You can judge from my pictures if I was that goofy looking. Finally, we met our camels. Mine was Herman, Margie had Hank, and there were various other names. Getting on was an adventure in itself. I had to hoist myself onto him as my backpack weighed me down. When they get up they lean forward first then back, i almost flipped over him! He probably did it on purpose now that i think about it. I was the caboose of the camels as we headed on our hour and a half treck to the camp. The sand dunes and perpetual flowing orange was so beautiful. To me it's a very cliche word, but it was just so beautiful to look at. Once i got semi-used to the camel and all of its bumps and near falls, i could actually look around and take in the view. It was never ending hills and mountains of sand with the stray plants and lizards. The only difficult part was staying on the camel when he went down hill. I almost summer-salted off a few times.
My camel, Herman, did not cooperate very well... He liked Margie a lot and kept going up to her leg and trying to, Im not sure bite her or lick her. Personally i think he just wanted to be pet but she refused and shunned him. But it's ok, he was smelly.
We arrived at our camp, and it was actually a few camps next to each other. They were right beneathe a giant dune that covered veiw of anything and made it feel very private. Once we got there, we saw the camp full of Marines next to us start going straight up the dune which posed to be very difficult. it took them a long time and they took a few breaks. We went up on a slant which was much more difficult than I assumed it would be, I took some breaks myself. Chelsea and I stopped at the first peak while Margie and Nicole made it all the way to the second one even higher up. I had lost my motivation by then. But the view was very beautiful. After we ate a very good chicken dinner and it was completely black, we had planned on sleeping outside but the omnipresent clouds covered the stars and the wind picked up furiously. We sat for awhile and played drums with the berbers with little success. As soon as i started carrying a rythm and they began to sing, my fingers would get all jumbled and we'd lose it. So we just let them sing their song which was actually very good- vamos a la playa!!
After that we headed into the tent for a good nights rest and shelter from the wind, but that was far too hot. So a few of us grabbed our matresses and headed out again to feel the wind. I live in a house that is 68 degrees every day so its hard to sleep in the heat... well once we got outside the wind snatched my matress and blew it across the sand. Let me tell you... chasing a matress with no contacts in the pitch black desert is not easy. The whole way i heard margies laugh from the tent. Once the wind stopped, it appeared it was just taunting with me because as i nearly grabbed it, the winded got it again and off i was! Eventually i grabbed it... And trying to sleep outside only left me literally buried in sand, so i ended up in the hot tent after all. I kept waking up half asleep not knowing where i was, which was disorienting, and Margie was sleep talking and poking me.
The next morning we got up at five and headed back out to see the sunrise. Its very hard to find a bathroom in the middle of the desert, but Margie and I had a lot of fun trying. My camel was very irrate that morning, and i was apprehensive to get on him. The only one hissing and kicking. He hated me to being with! So i got on and the soreness from the day before was almost unbearable. Again he annoyed Margie the whole ride, only giving me a lot to laugh about. He looked so sullen when she shooed him away. We reached the hotel again, had a yummy breakfast and left the desert for a ten hour ride home. I slept most of the way and we stopped at a monkey forest. None of us were that interested because we had seen zoos before, but once we got there we had a lot of fun. The monkeys were just sitting there! They didn't even move when you went near them, so we got some good pictures. Margie tentatively moved near one to sit down, this particular monkey only had one eye, and couldn't see her. As she got close he must have sensed her because his head spun around so that he could use his good eye to look at her, she fell over! It was the highlight of my day, aside from the donkey we saw.. but i wont go into details about that.
We got back to Rabat around 730 and ordered Dominos which hit the spot perfectly. The trip was so much fun, and I am very glad i went. The veiws, the music, everything was just very fun.
Today we were back at the Orphanage, and when I arrived I found Zubir outside the room laying down. His face was so pale and his eyes sunken in. For the first time since i met him he did not smile at me. I picked him up immediatly and his body was beyond feverish. I have never had a feeling of fear for something the way i did when i found him that way. I spent most of the day trying to hold him, and each time i did he fell right asleep, i got him to smile once. We put a cold wash cloth on his head, and by the time we left his fever had gone down and his color back. I have been thinking of him and his little defenseless body all day, I can't wait to get back there tomorrow.. We took some pictures with the nurses today to remember them, and I had Margie and Chelsea help me and the nurse who taught me, make the beds. I think it made her day that she had extra help. She's warmed up to me a lot, today she kissed me twice! She's a sweety once you crack her shell.
After that, Margie Chelsea and I went to the Medina to do some shopping for our families, and we found a man who makes all of his own jewelry right in front of you who helped us a lot. We got some really cool things... All i have to say is, girls are so much easier to buy for than boys, that sums up my afternoon.
So this week is the orphanage and some day trips around Rabat, with a calm non-traveling weekend. A new group of volunteers come so that should be interesting.
All in all, my weekend was great and before you know it, this trip will be over. I'll post again soon.
-Lace