Brand New Camel

Left to Right: Bailey Porter, Jessica Bringhurst, Daniel Murdock, and Lauran Lloyd.

I am proud to admit that I took this amazing picture from atop a moving camel. With the pyramids in the background and everything. This photo was voted "one of the best" for the semester slideshow dvd that we're all getting. I am so proud. Ahaha.

I am however sorry that no one got a picture this good of me when I was on a camel. If there are any pictures of me on a camel I haven't seen them. : ( Ah well. The important thing is that I have in fact, ridden one. And I have.

For you beginner camel cowboys I will elucidate the finer points of riding. You mount the camel when it is kneeling down, and lean forward as far as you can when it stands front first, so you don't go sliding off the end. Then, if you want to do it properly, do whatever your Bedouin guide tells you to do. (For full explanation, watch Lawrence of Arabia.) They cal the camel the "Ship of the desert" because it glides across the sand with a rocking motion--quite similar to the sensation of riding in a small boat. Hold on and enjoy the ride. When it comes time to dismount, prepare yourself; dismount is the hardest part of the ride. Lean as far backwards as you possibly can. Trust me. Because when that camel starts going down, front first, it feels like the ground has evaporated. Suddenly you're falling--pfoom! So lean backwards as far as you are able and enjoy that lurching sensation. (For a demonstration of a perfect dismount, observe Omar Sharif in Lawrence of Arabia. I couldn't believe it when I re-watched that movie and saw how he dismounted from the animal. Unbelievable class!)

And I don't know what the deal is with camels "spitting," because I never saw any of that, but their lips are certainly pliable. Extremely pliable. They'd flap them around and around at you in the oddest form of communication--but you know they were trying to send you a sign for something. I'll say this for camels: they are intelligent. Too intelligent to put up with some people. And when they're mad--don't be near their head. They have teeth! Other than that, I've observed that they are in fact sweet, and "adorable" as Evelyn said in "The Mummy." They are playful too--when they aren't looking at the world through lethargy glasses. I really liked it when the camel's owner would open a liter water bottle to give to the camel. It woud grab it with its teeth and tilt its head back--draining the bottle! It would actually do that! So cool.

Oh--and--almost every girl on our tour had offers of marraige from Arabs who claimed that they would pay our fathers a thousand camels for our hand. "You such pretty girl, I pay one thousand camels for you!" He'd say with a smile. To which my awesome friend Shannon said, "I'm worth TWO thousand." Ha hahahahaha!