Monument Valley

So after a 3 hour drive from Mesa-Verde we entered into Utah I would have something to say about this place however it is just desert. There are a few shrubs but that is about it. The mountains however are stunning and the ground is a vibrant red colour very much like mars! A little further down the road and we arrived in monument valley. We were speechless. I have seen photos of this place end even videos but nothing can do this place justice other than actually being there. The views, the colour and the incredible heat! We have never felt heat like it. We offloaded the trailer of the bits we needed for the night ahead, oh forgot to mention we were planning on sleeping under the stars away from any civilisation. Our off road vehicle arrived for the Jeep tour (which was actually a ford F350). We 

loaded up with our sleeping bags mats and ovecourse my camera! Lots of water later we were off heading straight for the desert. We had a native Indian tour guide that was a really nice guy and was showing us around the amazing natural structures. Driving deeper into the desert and getting sandier and loosing all sence of direction we came across a massive sand dune! Obviously the shoes came off and we ran around like we were 5 year olds, having races and rolling down it. Many mouthfulls of sand and bottles of water later we moved on to find our camp site. Our guide and his family had 

cooked us their typical dinner, it was a deep fried flatbread that was the size of a dinner plate. Looked a little like a massive Yorkshire pudding. It was filled with a layer of beans in a Mexican style sauce, topped with diced tomato, lettuce, onion, grated chesse and a big wedge of steak, heaven. It went down a treat with an ice cold coca cola. We were then entertained by the local music and tribal dancing which was great until we had to join in!! Fun and games over and we decided to call it a night as the sun set on the horizon. 

A bit of a breeze had built up and unfortunately it had clouded over so we couldn't see the stars, by the time we walked to the 4x4 and back with our bags it was very windy and it was picking up the sand aswell. Laura and me very quickly rolled out the mats and took shelter in the sleeping bags. By this time it was a fully blown sand storm, in the space of 5 mins it had gone from paradise to crazyness! Others were not so lucky in getting into their bags. Liam's pillow blew away and in the time he had taken to retrieve it his sleeping bag had taken off and his floor mat with it. This everyone found hilarious and couldn't stop laughing which was a bad move because we just got sand in our mouths. Our guide decided that this was going to get worse so called us to get in the 4x4 and we would head for his family's shelter, basically a mud hut. This was easier said than done in million mile an hour winds. I had the sence to put everythig inside my sleeping bag while I was in it and quickly get out and roll it to keep everything safe. Laura took the bags and pillow and I took the mats, again others were lacking in sence a little, Nicky lost her pillow and her shorts and were nowhere to be seen and as we were driving away Liam somehow managed to drop his phone out the side of the 4x4! That was found luckily. I also haven't  yet mentioned that this 4x4 has no roof, or windscreen, or doors, so you can imaging how we were getting sand blasted! We got to our hut after a 25 minute drive (we really were in the middle of nowhere) and legged it inside. This was much better however it was hot so we elected to leave the door open and got the occasional drift of sand on us. 

Eventually we managed to get a little sleep. At around 1AM I was awoken by the sound of a Laura needing the toilet. I didn't mind that much because I needed to aswell however this was no easy task as I had no idea where a toilet was and the sand storm was still fully under way. We ventured outside just wondering around trying to see where we were going and keep sand out of our eyes! We came across some buildings but all there was was a barking dog at which point I thought it a good idea to head back to the hut, we found a secluded area of sand that looked suitable and at the last second I could make out something that looked toilet like, GREAT SUCCESS! Laura went while I was on dog patrol and vice versa we ran back and went back to sleep. At somepoint in the night I was elbowed by Susanne but I didn't mind because she works for Audi and that made it ok. Just gone 5am and our tour guide came in saying it was time to get up, we dusted everything off and headed for a nice spot to watch the sunrise. Again speechless. When the sun was up we headed for some breakfast (only cereal) but there was Sunny D! Also we were on a mission to retrieve Nicky's belongings, I found the shorts and her pillow, the pillow was a bit of a climb ontop of some rocks, however the pillow case was nowhere to be seen... Then back to civilisation. Loaded up the trailer and went to the visitor centre to have a quick wash. I spent a good half hour deconstructing my camera and lenses emptied them of sand and have it a good clean, all seems to be ok though... Now back on the road heading for the Grand Canyon which again we are VERY excited about! Unfortunately the blog may only be updated after a couple of days as Internet is getting scarce out here!

Bye for now!