Morocco: Bedouin village, ceramic shop & camels

I figured it would be pretty easy to hook up with a day trip from Marrakech to the Atlas Mountains, which was a "must do" for me, but ended up being somewhat more difficult then I expected. I ended up meeting a lady who pointed me in the direction of a company she had gone with, so I felt comfortable with. I paid my 250 dirham ($30-ish) and was picked up the next morning at 9am on the back of a motorcycle- the very ones I swore never to get on. They zoom thru the Mendina at terrifying speeds.... As my mom would say, its a "danger!" (actually my mom would have said that about many things I did on this day trip!) ... I did thankfully survive and scored a prime front seat space (benefit of being a single) in our tour van.

Our first stop was a very touristy Bedouin village, which was somewhat cool:

And our next stop had an amazing view...and was a combination cafe, rug shop an clay/pottery shop.
Rug shop:

Clay/Pottery shop:

THEN, we got back in the van and headed to this place, which I am not at all sure what it was (honestly) but it was cool, none the less and had an AMAZING view-

and there were some kids playing on the side of the road that were adorable-

 but we had to cross this bridge...sorry mom...

and ended up here, which, like I said, I have no idea what it is, what the purpose was but it was a cool building and the bridge was fun, too! 

Needless to say the people on the tour (there were 6 others + me) were quite put out that we kept stopping at stores... Obviously they were in with the tour guide somehow. But no one bought anything and they didn't hassle us as we took loads of pictures so I guess it was okay.

Lastly, we stopped at a camel ride on the side of the road: camel rides were a mere 200 dirham ($23-ish)!! Needless to say no one got on a camel and we were on our way again. I was slightly bummed that I never got on a camel, but I was not about to pay $23 for the privilege. I even tried to negotiate to just get on the camel, take a picture and get down, but that was not happening for less then maybe $10... So I declined. On the bright side this totally inspires me to go back to Morocco for a Sahara tour someday, which I will absolutely be doing- hopefully someday soon! I met loads of people who were in Morocco for like 4-6 weeks and I would love to do that in some upcoming summer, it would jut be so cheap and amazing. Anyway here are some camel pictures, isn't the baby the cutest?!

I guess if I am being honest I kind of regret not getting on the camel for a picture but honestly I also did feel bad about how they were treated so I am glad that I didn't contribute to that. :/

And, thankfully, that was our last stop before the Atlas Mountains!
Whew. Long post. Josh (my wah wah baby brother) told me the other day that it was "difficult" to keep up with my blog because there are so many posts! Yeah well just imagine how DIFFICULT it is to post this much! Especially when I have a measly TWO followers (love you mom & Erin) and feel that it is completely unappreciated. Seriously! If you love me, follow the blog it's like totally the validation that I need. Honestly when your own Dad, Aunts, Uncles, siblings, and BFFs aren't following it's PATHETIC. Almost as pathetic as me trying to guilt them into following just so I don't look pathetic with my 2 followers on my google thing. HOWEVER, for the record, I am also making this blog so I can prove someday to my kids/grandkids that I was (AM) awesome :)