Snows of Kilimanjaro

July 4
Last night was a great night for both of us. We were feeling good, so we did not need the Diamox and therefore no frequent trips to the bathroom in the freezing cold. Hurray! The Larium, though, gave us some really vivid dreams. Scott’s involved floating Cabbage Patch Kids that he thought were his neighbors’ children until the neighbors thanked him for finding their Cabbage Patch Kids.

My dreams involved relaying our progress on Kilimanjaro to a plastic clown toy which repeated the message when you pulled a cord on its back. The report was given to an elderly couple who were mysteriously murdered, and Mariah Carey was blamed for it :). She was hiding from the people who were coming to take her away, but they found her sister instead, who was taken away in a van, her hair turned white from fear.

In the morning, we were packing to the smell of pancakes or waffles. We were starving! I’m not sure if we imagined it, because breakfast turned out to be the same mushy oatmeal and cold toast :(. We were devastated. The day’s climb started at 9am with an uphill climb (not too steep this morning, though). Nothing is growing at this altitude, and the landscape looks Martian. We passed the time by talking about the first season of “Lost” followed by some lengthy discussions with Moses in Swahili.

We arrived at Barafu Camp just 2 hr and 45 min later. “Barafu” means “ice” in Swahili … not a good omen. This camp was very different from the others. It is set in a huge rock outcropping. The clouds had rolled in, , but after lunch and a nap the clouds cleared revealing a gorgeous view of Moshi and Mawenzi, one of the other two peaks of Kilimanjaro (we are heading to Kibo). After getting a few photos, we wanted to download everything to our iPod to make sure our card was empty for the final ascent up to the crater. We were VERY glad we had been rationing our photos, because the iPod would not start! It just made this sick “ka-chick, ka-chick, ka-chick” sound like the hard drive could not locate the right track. The screen just showed an unhappy iPod and said to visit the iPod web site for technical support. There would be no downloading of the photos to the iPod today. We debated whether we should even bring the camera; if our photos on the iPod were compromised the only copy of any gorilla photos would be on our memory card. We finally decided to take the chance and bring the camera along with us but would take precautions like keeping it under my coat and inserting a hand warmer in the outer camera case to help keep the temperature reasonable.

Tonight will be the final ascent to Uhuru Peak (“Uhuru” means “freedom” in Swahili … how appropriate for today! Happy Independence Day!). Our gear is finalized. Monica is wearing a balaclava and stocking cap on her head; lined mittens with an extra North Face liner glove; a nylon undershirt, a quick dry T-shirt, long sleeve quick dry shirt, polar fleece, and winter jacket; long john pants, gray cotton pants, gray quick dry convertible pants, and rain pants; and gaiters, boots, and heavy hiking socks. I wore a similar set of clothing with the addition of an extra pair of liner socks. With our headlamps, toe warmers in our boots, and our CamelBaks underneath our coats, our outfit was complete. It was time for dinner: mushroom soup and spaghetti. Between us all, we cleaned the plate quickly! We retired to our tents for a short night.

July 3
Last night was crazy again. Monica had to wake up thrice to go to the restroom (Diamox again!) and is terribly jealous that I can just walk over to the grass when I need to go instead of trekking all the way to the outhouses in the freezing cold. We also finally decided to use our toe warmers last night, which was heavenly, but after 3 hours the heat was gone and the feet got cold. My night was fairly horrible. I woke up several times: one time nauseous, another blisteringly hot, once with a crippling headache, and one other time freezing. The Larium dreams did not help, nor did the fact that my rented sleeping bag’s (funk bag) zipper broke in the night. At least I had 11 hours to get some sleep. The morning was rough, too (the doctors later said that my lips were blue), and Monica was very cold when she woke up. Neither of us ate much breakfast. The lack of appetite was a bit disturbing. Once we were moving, we both felt MUCH better. The “breakfast hill” above Barranco is not nearly as bad to climb at it looks, and we were over it before we knew it! The views were gorgeous! We could soon see the tents of Karanga Camp in the valley below us. We were excited that we were so close … we thought. Unfortunately, we soon realized that a deep valley (Karanga Valley) lay between us and our goal. The descent (mteremko) was steep, but we all managed with no major accidents. We crossed a stream at the bottom and started the ascent (mlima). Monica’s lack of appetite in the morning caught up with her, and she was starving as we started up. We were both bundled up when we started, and Monica had only removed 1 of her 6 layers by the time we had topped the breakfast hill, but by the time we reached the volcanic escarpment near the top of the valley, she was down to only 1 layer. After a quick rest, we continued to camp – a welcomed sight! We both collapsed on a rock and let our bodies rest a little. They soon announced lunch, so we dragged ourselves up. A feast of chicken, broiled peppers, and vegetable-filled pies greeted us … heavenly! We devoured them (Scott ate twice his portion when Jim did not want his food), and we retired afterwards to our tent. We threw open the flaps of our tent and had a wonderful nap in the mid-afternoon sun. We woke up later and took stock of our hand./toe warmers (30 toe warmers and 12 hand warmers). We went to visit Jim and saw his formidable array of cold weather gear; we felt inadequate . A porter came at 5:15 to announce dinner. Jim was not hungry and skipped dinner; his stomach is hurting. This is not good.

Dinner was as wonderful as lunch, though, we were still both full from lunch. The potato and vegetable stew they brought us was mouth-watering. I don’t know if it was just that I was finally hungry or the cook pulled out the stops, but it was very tasty and salty. We left dinner pleasantly full, and we stopped by Jim’s tent to see the cold weather gear actually modeled! We went to our tent and decided to test out our stuff, too. It seems very warm, and we are hopeful that it will get us to Uhuru Peak. We like it so much we’re wearing it to sleep tonight!

July 2
This morning we felt fine. I was so glad that my headache was gone. We packed, ate a good breakfast of oatmeal (not as good as the porridge) and toast followed by eggs that all but 2 of us were quick enough to say we did not want. Jim ate barely anything and was feeling nauseous. Scott set himself up for a similar fate by eating the egg.

We started off around 8:30 and soon realized that though it was relatively flat, it was rocky and desolate and would be a long day. Scott and Jim were really dragging, and Scott complained of not being able to get enough air. I’m not sure if I’m just used to getting little air or what, but I didn’t have much trouble. The landscape was much like what I would expect the moon to be like. It was not that interesting except that it was so different.

We made it to Lava Tower junction in 4-1/2 hours and stopped for lunch. The ravens visited again, as did a few very tiny birds. Lunch was a hard-boiled egg, pineapple juice, orange banana, and a deep fried bread sandwich (tasted like Yorkshire pudding). We took turns visiting the choo (bathroom), took a vote on whether to go to Lava Tower or bypass it, and ended up agreeing on Lava Tower, as it was at 4600m and supposed to help with acclimatization. The going was much easier than we expected, and everyone was feeling much better after lunch. The view reminded me of Frodo and Sam’s journey up Mount Doom in the “Lord of the Rings”. The Lava Tower itself was quite impressive. It was an almost sheer cliff of rock rising about 100m from the slope of the mountain and was striking against the backdrop of the glaciers atop Kilimanjaro. We saw people on top of the tower and worried that we would also have to climb it, but we just needed to get to the base. We later discovered that the group at the top had been the crazy Lebanese group (who was carrying most of their own stuff themselves).

We took the opportunity for a group photo at the base of the Lava Tower then headed for Barranco Camp (a 2 hour journey). We had a massive downhill part, followed by a steep uphill hike. It was another downhill part after that, but the time passed quickly because Moses spent most of the time trying to teach me new Swahili words. He is a good teacher.

Finally, we could see the camp, and we entered this absolutely beautiful valley with the long-awaited Lobelia and Senecio trees spread out throughout the rocky expanse below us – the Barranco Valley. A small stream flowed through and off to the left was a steep, shear slope up to the top of Kilimanjaro. It was amazing! Even though the rest of our group was going quickly so as to get to camp ASAP, Scott and I slowed down to enjoy the scenery and take some perfect photos, since the sun was just right! We got to camp at around 4:30 and used the warm water the porters had cooked to “wash up”. Scott even washed his hair. Tea came next with hot chocolate, burnt/unsalted popcorn (much worse than the last batch), and biscuits. The sun had been very strong, but as soon as it disappeared behind the mountain, it grew very cold very fast. Scott had just settled down to nap when it was dinnertime. Once again Scott and Jim were not hungry (not good). We had pasta with sauce and a white pie (cabbage wrapped vegetable pie that I did not like). The soup that started dinner off was quite good, (zucchini soup). We took our Larium after the doctors told us how terrible it is to take it at high altitude. We took Diamox along with it to ease any problems.

It was too cold to do anything after dinner, so at 6:45 we decided to go to sleep. Today was not bad, but it is getting harder and colder day by day. Tomorrow is an acclimatization day, which we hope will recharge us. We have made it to 4600m and should be proud of ourselves!

July 1
Scott and I slept relatively well last night even though it was very cold. I just slept with the covers up over my head. I only had to get up to use the restroom once in the night. We woke around 6:30 and packed up our things. Breakfast was quite good, consisting of a wheat porridge (slightly sweet and very good), tea, bread, avocado, mango, and eggs with sausage, tomato, and cucumber. It was an amazing amount of food, and we could barely touch it.

We got started around 8:30 and by this time the sun was shining. It was going to be a beautiful and warmer day. The trail started out steep and stayed that way for most of the day’s journey. Even with this I found the going just as easy as yesterday. So far so good. The scenery changed several times, and we had some fabulous views of the mountains jutting above the clouds. It was beautiful! The terrain became rocky with brush and occasionally some lobelia and small flowers. We were all in a good mood, and I was enjoying William and Moses talking together in Swahili. I think I’m catching some words now. We stopped for lunch in a small valley. This consisted of chicken, a vegetable sandwich, a hard-boiled egg, biscuits, orange, banana, muffin, and juice. We both were full and ended up giving our chicken to Moses and William. We also had several visitors at lunch: large, white-necked ravens. They wanted our lunch and Renata’s in particular. She kept talking with one in German, telling them that it was not their food, yet every now and then she would feed it. It was very amusing to watch! The sun was blazing, and I put on my 3rd layer of sunscreen (you never how strong the sun is up here). It felt so nice, so I laid down on the rocks and basked in the sun until it was time to continue on.

We started around 1pm, and I spent most of the time talking with Moses in Swahili. I think he’s finally realized that I do know some Swahili…if one talks slowly. About 2 hours after lunch, we arrived at Shira Camp! We also noticed another group who had decided to hike without shirts. We kept joking about how they would become “Wazungo Choma” (barbecued Europeans).

At camp, we used the nice weather to its full advantage and washed hair. Today’s tea time was hot chocolate, mini scones, and peanuts. I was not hungry or thirsty, but we’ve been told to keep eating and drinking in order to prevent altitude sickness. Scott had a headache, so he had some tea and then left to rest. I decided to experiment with my hair and create two French-braided pig tails. Now I will look even younger! Scott got up, and we walked around the camp until the cold wind eventually forced us to find shelter. We snapped some quick photos and met with Jim, who was also freezing. We retreated to Jim’s tent and discussed how strange/crappy we felt and decided to ask the doctors what they thought about us taking our Diamox (it’s so nice to have doctors with us). The consensus seemed to be “Yes”, as it is a prophylaxis as well. We took some and went to dinner, a tasty layout of cucumber soup and chapatti, follwed by fish, rice, sauce, and green beans. We ended dinner with some chai, and we decided we were still not feeling well so we took some more Diamox (we had only taken ½ of the recommended dose before) and tried to fall asleep. My head was hurting me so badly by this time that getting into my sleeping bag was a production! I managed to get to sleep fairly quickly but had to get up every 3 hours (almost exactly) to go to the bathroom – an unfortunate side effect of the Diamox.

June 30
Kilimanjaro is waiting for us. I’ve awoken pretty early getting the previous day’s journal entries. Today was “pole pole”. We didn’t end up leaving the hotel before ten. We made a few steps before reaching the Machame Gate, and then there was an hour or so before we were ready to begin.

There are five of us hikers: our guide, William, and approximately 15 porters! They were busy shuffling luggage and handing out box lunches. We got started around noon about twenty to 30 minutes before the orders. I began by walking by “normal” (this is what I thought was a slow) pace. I quickly realized that I was walking much faster than the two German ladies who have done this before. Their names are Margaret and Renata. But Margaret has done this once before and Renata has gone eight times! She is 66 yrs old! It was very difficult for me to walk THAT slowly so I had to spend all my concentration on that. We were going PAINFULLY slow, yet I was told that we would be grateful in the end. After William had to physically pull me back so I would not go so fast, I decided to stay behind the ladies.

The forest was AMAZING! It was just how I pictured it would be, very lush and moist with lots of ferns, and moss on the trees. During the first two hours, I was frustrated, not because of the hike, but because I can’t seem to understand Tanzanian Swahili at all! They speak faster than in Kenya and with a different dialect or inflection. It just made me feel so dumb! Scott said he had the same problem, yet he seemed able to easily carry on a conversation with both William in Swahili and the German ladies in German. I felt so inadequate! This put me in a bad mood for quite some time, but at some point the mood lightened and the last 3-4 hours were great!

After a few short breaks, we arrived at camp around 6pm. The hike today had been very easy, albeit a bit colder than I had anticipated, and we could detect the air getting thinner. We also had a few pleasant surprises. We discovered they have outhouses every few hours (who knew!) and the trail is very wide and open (I pictured something much different since having a guide is required).

Machame Camp consisted of a metal hut where you sign a guest book, several toilets (outhouses), and about 10 tents, which were already prepared for us when we arrived! After we picked a tent and started getting settled in, we were told that “tea” was ready and found biscuits and wonderfully salty popcorn with a selection of tea or hot chocolate! Dinner was still to come! The five of us chatted and the German ladies explained what we had in store for us in the way of food. Dinner is generally potatoes, vegetables, soup, and meat; teatime is always before this, boxed lunches are our lunch, and breakfast is toast, porridge, eggs, sausage, and fruit! I’m not going to be able to handle this! Apparently, they bring enough food for each person to have 4000 calories/day! I can’t even eat half that! They also told us of a time last year when they were on the mountain and the largest storm since 1955 hit the area. The tents were flooded, there was hail, etc and they had to evacuate the mountain. Crazy! Crazier still is that they decided to come back!

Dinner was very good, although no one was hungry. We had very yummy leek soup with bread and butter, followed by goat, potatoes, and cabbage. Just as we were finishing up, William and Moses (I didn’t recognize him in his winter clothes) came in. They began speaking to us in Swahili. I was finally starting to understand some phrases, but Scott’s Swahili brain had gone to bed already and all he could muster were some confused looks. Now he knew how I had felt all day!

At some point, something was said (I can’t remember what) that prompted William to start preaching about God. He kept going on and on and much of it wasn’t making sense. Everyone (including Moses) was looking uncomfortable as he prattled on. Scott just kept looking at him, not knowing what to do. Finally, he finished and they both left. How strange! Then it was off to bed. It was sure to be a cold night!