On a road from Erfoud out to the Sahara Desert, the guide on the bus announced that he would take anyone to Timbuktu.

I remember feeling ecstatic, just imagining myself riding a camel to that sand-surrounded signpost in the middle of nowhere. It was then that the concept was sealed in my soul: anywhere is reachable…and, I must follow the paths that urge me onto them.

Later that evening, I stood on the ridge of a Sahara dune; an unruly camel was resting nearby, while I held the setting sun in my hands and quietly uttered a grateful prayer and promise “Goodnight Sun. Bye for now Morocco. ‘Til next time, Sahara.”

Had I known beforehand that excavations were underway, I would have stayed in the presence of the epiphanies I was encountering.

I don’t know why I needed to go to Morocco. One day I saw a photograph with pyramid-shaped cones of spices standing as tall as the dark skinned, slightly built man who wore a deep blue turban on his head; the whites of his eyes just cast a spell on me. I knew I must go.

Everywhere I roam to these obscure, seemingly off-the-beaten path places, pieces of my puzzle come together. In 2017, this was the farthest I had ever travelled; in awe, I found that Morocco isn’t just a barren endless desert of sand!

The rains pour, the rivers roar, the Atlas Mountains stand tall, a million date palms spread far into valleys… and the people are incredibly resourceful at growing all the crops they need. Primitive aqueduct chutes usher water down the mountain sides, and within the vast desert there are massive oasis areas that thrive. In the end, it was because of being here, that I discovered what can only be explained as the ancestor who mentors my soul in this lifetime.

I am under the influence of Gertrude Lowthian Bell. A never married, single woman who marched through the deserts of the Ottoman Empire by foot and on camelback. An esteemed scholar, a graduate of Oxford University, who kept on learning and eventually translated ancient Arabic dialects into English books. She did much more than that: making a difference by her difference. 

A traveler, a writer, a photographer, a mountaineer and an archeologist, she knew where she belonged. It was not in society and not in cities.

Truly, Gertrude belonged to no one but the desert. She was totally seduced by  the vast ever changing landscape and the Bedouin tribes that lived there with a simple dignity. She studied them for years; understood them, and truly loved them. In 1921, the borders that exist today between Iraq and Jordan were basically defined by her.

For me, I have been uncannily following in her footsteps starting long before Morocco. 

I’m totally drawn to raw landscapes, rocks, fonts, poetry of foreign dialects and about life somewhere else. Almost anywhere off the beaten path away from civilization calls to me. I have learned to listen deep within and follow the lead. 

Caves, rock art, mountains, forests, fossils, sand dunes… any place and part of nature that is wild and free! All of this is driven by me needing to find where I belong in this world. I am searching for my Nirvana. Where there is balance and respect for all of life; not what societal living is like.

What about you? 

What beckons you?

What is it that lights you up?

What would mean the world to you?

Peace. Equanimity. Quiet Stillness. 
Would mean the world to me. I would find my Shangri La.

At some point I plan to keep my promise to Morocco and be back for fossil archeology and a camel trek to Timbuktu. But for now, Africa is on the horizon; and it is India that pulls at my heartstrings. With over a hundred orphaned children at a boarding school, we’ve begun Art from the ♥️ workshops, gaining skills to express ourselves while having fun being creative. 

How is it, that, there I fit in?

In all of my simplicity, within a culture so foreign to what I grew up with? I have been wondering about this for over two years. With questions and gaining revolutionary answers, I go back; awakening more each time. 

And here I invite you to follow along with me where the roads lead. Interact, comment, ponder along… CLICK the comment link below.

Let’s share our paths to our own Nirvana’s and find Shangri La. I’m not hiding anymore. With purity and strength of knowing who I am; my difference makes a difference. And so does yours!

Maybe the journey will come back full circle to the dune in the Sahara?

LINKS: 

• For a contemporary visual experience of Gertrude Bell’s life, I recommend the movie “Queen of the Desert”, a 2015 Werner Herzog film.
  (Learn more here- https://www.herself360.com/articles/woman-pioneer-gertrude-bell)