desert

As soon as we told the hotel owner from Riad Ajebel, Corinne, that we were renting a car to drive to the desert she freaked out. At the breakfast before our departure she told us she couldn’t sleep at all because she was so nervous for us. “You have no idea how crazy the road is, and the drivers are terrible.”

But we wanted an adventure so we dismissed her fears and eagerly awaited the rental car representative. Corinne came with us to inspect the car, since the rep only spoke French. Just as I got in the front seat and was about to sign the rental agreement she pointed to the stick shift and said she was surprised I knew how to drive one.

Ahem. I don’t. And neither does Mike!

At that moment the representative called the agency and got us a personal driver for $35 a day! Corinne jumped up and down with excitement, saying, “now I can sleep well knowing you won’t drive off some cliff or end up in Libya.”

Thank god we got a driver because the road was insane. On the first day, we drove a distance of about 60 miles, but since there were so many switchbacks, it took over four hours. Every time we made a sharp turn (which is every minute) it looked like our back wheel was going over the edge and all I could see was a 1000 foot drop below me. Also it’s impossible to know what’s a restaurant along the main stretch, or how far apart the gas stations are, so for this country I would definitely recommend a driver.

Also we had someone to take pictures of us!