Been through the desert on a horse with no name...

Thursday, March 30
9:28 pm
Ubari Camp, Libya

Three more days. Then the journey home begins. So excited, I can taste it.

The past 24 hours have been rather taxing, on mind, body and spirit. We spent a total of 8 hours driving today to visit ONE site for an hour plus lunch. The drive was arduous, the terrain unforgiving. Fumes, kicked up dust and sand, broiling hot. A quarter of the drive took us over a minefield of scattered shattered rocks, a landscape Herodotus appropriately referred to as "the end of the world" and is now known as the Ocean of Stone. My driver for today, Mohammed, ably navigated the protruding obstacles, but not without jolting my back and stomach in every direction. It was a drive that led me to thinking, what in the hell are we doing out here?



The rocks littering the flat flat FLAT ground are black like lava on top, earthen red on bottom. Not sure what the story is on that, but I snagged a few specimens to ask those that might. Our epic trek came to a bumping halt at lunchtime, high noon, at which point it was decided to forego the meal and go straight to the site, under the sizzling sun. Animals incised in the rock face. Yay. I love me some giraffes, I do, and it's cool they're here and they're 8,000 years old and well-executed. But, I and my 2,000 parts did not deem it worthy of 8 hours of vehicular hell, enhanced ever more by the voracious flies.



The enterprising Tuaregs (the nomads of the Sahara) made sure to set up shop just beside our picnic table. I swear, they must have a secret smoke signal or something because they have materialized out of thin air to sell their wares at just about every stop we've made, including the gas station! Persistent bunch, they are. Most speak French, too, so I've had reasonable success on the bargaining table.



Came back to the camp, exhausted, deflated, sand-ridden. Had a little drama with a sick traveler. French chef asked for my telephone number (??) after dinner. Ugh. I wrote a whole entry about that situation in my head in the car today. It'll find it's way onto paper soon enough. For the first time on this entire trip, I was scared.

Bon soir.

Nearing the end

Saturday, April 1
10:12 pm
Acacus Camp, Libya

Though technically we will be here for another full night, this feels like our last night in Libya, and thus the trip. Crazy. We spend all day into night traveling tomorrow, first driving from the desert to Sabha (thankfully no hotel stay there...), then a night flight to Tripoli, then the first leg of our voyage home begins at 4am, if not sooner. There will be no sleeping tomorrow night in the cushy Corinthia bed. I'll never get up.

Today was spent on the road, again. Scenery was, for the most part, jaw dropping. Temperature, idly scorching. (The thermometer in the car read 42 degrees C. That's about 110 F.) We were traveling into the depths of the Acacus Mountain range to see some ancient rock paintings. We've been seeing these images on paper and reproduced in museums throughout the trip, so it was coming full circle to see them in situ. With the end of today, I officially retire my "archaeological shoes". Thanks, Onitsuka Tiger!







A part of me is sad, and maybe even not quite ready to be leaving. This past week in the camps has been really fun, and I've grown quite fond of the boys driving us silly folks around to these remote locations at the end of the world to look at rock scribbles. It's a familial atmosphere, still a boys club by all means, but they're good-natured kids doing the best and making the best of what they've got. (And given that they're all about my age, they're a welcome respite from the incessant talk of ailments, medication, and grandchildren among my group...) I'm going to miss them all, each one having such distinct personality traits. Salem and Abrahem were my homeboys to joke around with, Khalim's like the Libyan Justin Timberlake with a thousand-watt smile, Khalid's the wildchild, Abdullah and Mohammed have this quiet, dark intensity that melts when music plays, Awad is the reluctant leader of the pack. None of them spoke English, but we still managed to communicate in broken Arabinglish. My Arabic vocabulary is in the double digits now. Yala bina!


Some of the boys: Khalid, Awad, and Abrahem

Sahara

Wednesday, March 29
about 6:45 pm
Ubari Camp, Ubari Sand Sea, Sahara, Libya

We've arrived at the first of our desert camps, and oh what a ride it was getting here. Another one of those jaw-dropping, never in my life would I dream I'd be doing this moments. (I'm happy to note that despite the abundance of those moments, each is just as thrilling as the next. Not jaded, yet.) Our desert chariots greeted us at the door to our hotel, which I was elated to be leaving. We reached the edge of the desert in about ten minutes, and from there it was a rollercoaster of undulating sand dunes. Seriously. The Jeeps roared up and over the hills, sometimes at 50, 60 degree angles. Butterflies in the tummy, cool breeze blowing through the windows, racing through the sands, bump bump bump. Unfrickinreal. The landscape is two colors: sand and sky. Nothing else, anywhere, in any direction. I'm hurdling mountains of sand in the Sahara in a Toyota Land Cruiser driven by a Libyan named Abrahem who doesn't speak English. WTF, is this my life?



Oh yeah, and then around noon there was a little astronomical occurrence that was garnering a bit of fuss -- a total solar eclipse. Some groups came to Libya to specifically witness those four minutes, but it was just a pretty nice side benefit for our trip. Our location was about 150 miles from the total path, so we saw about 85/90% eclipse. Still pretty cool. The sky turned an eeerie shade of blue/gray and Abrahem had the special glasses you need to look straight at it.



After our impromptu science lesson in the sand, more dune-buggy antics ensued. One of the 4x4s got a flat, and I wish I timed them because I've never seen a tire changed so fast in my life, in the desert sand no less. like to see the NASCAR chumps do that.



We stopped at the four main Ubari lakes, sprawling oases rising out of the sand. They are stunning! Palm fringed and completely calm and still (except for the unabashed Germans swimming in their skivvies), with amazing relections of the surrounding trees and towering dunes. They're as salty as the Dead Sea. Postcard material, no doubt. The weather has yet again been amazing, not too hot and downright cool at first, very little wind.



Our convoy of six 4x4s (plus the grub truck) works really well together, each of them looking out for the others. It's enthralling to watch the other cars up ahead scale a steep wall of sand only to find yourself doing the same ten seconds later. The drivers are fantastic, brothers and cousins and friends all of them. At our frequent stops, they goof and pal around like ten year-old boys, and that spirit extends to the sands. No doubt they'd be going at double speed over these hills if they weren't toting a bunch of old folks (+ me) around the desert. They've all already learned my name (thanks to Salem, I'm sure). Wish I spoke Arabic! The chef at our camp is Moroccan, and speaks French, so I can parler avec him a bit.

Camp. WAY exceeds expectations. I have my own tent, and when I say tent think mini-circus big top. Two centered poles anchor the enclosure, and the circus-hued cloth drapes down about ten feet to the ground around the perimeter. Two twin beds, at least twelve feet apart, center table (with bowl of almonds and raisins and a banana), two side tables, armoire-ish thing, overhead light, POWER OUTLET, lantern, and two sitting chairs and a table outside. Facilities are way above average, too. Flushing toilets! Haven't seen the showers yet, but I hear there's hot water and good pressure. There's a 24-hour bathroom attendant, too.

All in all, this is just amazing. Reflecting on the past two or three days, the things I've seen and experienced and the people I've met -- I'm pretty effin lucky.

Sun is about to set. Can't miss this!


Saharan sands surrounding our camp, at sunset

On the road, again

Tuesday, March 28
5:57 pm
Driving through the Sahara to Sabha

I've unknowingly and regrettably stumbled into the world headquarters for Celine Dion fans. This is a new kind of hell.

Favorite rip-off, lost-in-translation items:

- Crust toothpaste
- Boreo cookies
- S & Ms candies
- Tayo Auto & Suzy trucks

and the winner, listed on a hotel laundry checklist:
- breast hanger