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(you can click on most photos to enlarge them)
There were some more cars at the campsite than before we left. One of them was a Unimog that was parked next to Snigel, she looked tiny compared to it.
We had a relaxing day at the campsite and then took our bikes to go see Bourak and Lahjal. We didn’t find the fastest route but we didn’t mind at all, it was really nice to go through the neighbourhood and everyone are so friendly. We finally found the place where the camels stay and stopped to talk to Riads dad, Amor, who’s taking care of them. He asked if we wanted to help feed Lahjal and Bourak and of course we said yes. Today was also the day for drinking water so we took them there, it was great seeing them again!
In the evening we went back to Ahmed’s shop and sat down with him and Riad to discuss about the price for renting Lahjal. Riad said it was one price up until the festival and then a higher price during the festival. We told him that we needed to think about it over night and that we could meet again around lunchtime the day after to make an agreement.
Me and Mike calculated how much it would cost and also included the cost for food for the camels. We had breakfast with Ahmed in the souk and then met Riad around midday, had some Swedish coffee and agreed on the price. It feels great to have an agreement and Mike and Ahmed will start the training tomorrow!
After a while we saw a familiar face, it was Walid that was with us on our 6 days in the desert last time we were here in February/March, it was so nice to see his smiling face again.
We bought some ingredients and then went back to Snigel, Mike made his first Brik and it was very tasty.
Yesterday Amor invited us for tea at the place where the camels are. Me and Mike took our bikes to go to see him. We really enjoyed sitting down with him even if we didn’t understand each other all the time. He speaks Arabic and French and we are doing our best to learn both. We ask Ahmed and his friends for a few Arabic words every day and in the morning we both do a French course on an app.
After a lovely tea we went back to the souk to meet up with Ahmed to go to Riad’s house. He had invited us for dinner and when we arrived it smelled so good! He showed us his horses, Arraf and his new horse, Samurai, they had a very nice stable next to the house. He showed us the new decorations that he had bought for Arraf for the festival in December.
We had a delicious dinner together and then sat down to watch some videos of camel racing:-) I think both me and Mike looked excited and a bit scared when we saw them:-) It was a great evening and we went to bed with a smile on our faces, tomorrow the next chapter of the adventure starts!
