Now what?

Our trip has come and gone, so...now what? I was all prepared to tell all my family, friends and any strangers that have been reading my blog, that this was it, the end, I have nothing else to write about. I mean I don't lead a very exciting life on a day to day basis. It's not every day we're climbing mountains or sleeping with hyena's, so I told Dan that I would post one more blog saying that I was done. However Dan said that I can't stop blogging becuase he wants to give me things to write about, and that can only mean one thing: MORE MOUNTAINS?? So who knows where we will go from here. Many people have asked me if our cruise has been booked. Not yet, but it will happen! We don't have a date in mind, but he is prepared to go, and I will be sure to let you know when we do. I hope you've enjoyed reading about our adventures, as much as I've enjoyed writing about them. He's already planning some hikes this summer, so I guess the title will remain the same for now: you owe me a cruise (still)! 

Safari

After our climb we had a 5 day safari. I'm wont do a day by day blog for that, but I'll give you a brief recap. The safari was such an amazing experience, we saw so many animals, including the big 5! We stayed in a hotel the first night, then the second and third nights we were in a tented camp in the middle of the Serengeti. The tents were canvas, and big enough for our king sized bed, shower, and bathroom. But it was a tent, in the Serengeti, so you could hear everything! Before bed you would hear lions in the distance, and hyena's laughing hysterically just outside your tent. Like what's so funny? Of course Dan slept like a baby and didn't hear anything, every sound I heard would make me sit right up. I was so paranoid that if I made any noise it would attract the animals to our tent.

There was even a time when the hyena's were laughing (hahahaheeheehee) and then there was a bang into the side of our tent, I'm telling you it was a hyena but there were no other witnesses, so of course no one believes me. It was quite an experience, the second night in the tent we heard lions going crazy outside and found out the next morning that it was a pride of 30 enjoying a kill, just down the road from us.

Another guy staying at the camp peaked out his window during the night to see an elephant just hanging out in our camp! But they told us not to worry as they had security...a guy with a flashlight! Needless to say, I didn't sleep that great those nights. One day during the safari, we saw a pride of 9 lions attack a wildebeest for lunch, we watched that in amazement for over an hour. Also saw a family of about 45 ostrich. Did you know that ostrich can have up to 50 eggs at a time? Crazy! At one of our stops, two monkeys got into our truck (we were out, don't worry), they almost stole our boxed lunches...which would have been ok. By the end of the safari we had seen all there was to see, and took a whole lot of pictures. Our vacation was definitely a trip of a lifetime. One that I will never forget!

Day 8

We were woken up at 6:15, and had one last breakfast of porridge, toast, eggs, and the meat. Our only complaint was that breakfast never changed! Every day they would bring us 8 pieces of toast, and we would leave 8 pieces of toast, they just never caught on! Before heading out on our last hike, the porters and guides sang a traditional Swahili song for us. It was a great ending to our time together. Then Shabaz thanked us for being great clients, we also expressed our appreciation. There was no way we could have done the hike without them. They went above and beyond to make our climb a success. After that we were on our way by 7:30. Although it was very painful on the toes, and slippery and steep- the beautiful scenery of the rain forest really distracts you from all your pain. As happy as I was to be at the end of this adventure, there was also a part of me that was going to miss being here.


It's funny but we actually had the most conversation with our guides on the last two days, then we did the first six. It's much easier to talk going downhill at lower altitudes. It was great to hear about their lives and about how much they love and appreciate their jobs. Basil has been to the summit 115 times, and Shabaz over 200, fascinating! After walking a few hours in the rain forest we finally reached the gate. It felt like crossing the finish line after a long race. What a great feeling! We quickly signed out, and we're in our van (with the most comfortable cushioned seats) and on our way back to the hotel. Once we got there, we had to figure out the tips for our guides, porters, the cook and waiter. Then we had a little awards ceremony, where they gave us certificates for our great accomplishments! After that we said our goodbyes, what a journey, a trip I will never forget...but my shower couldn't come fast enough.

YAY, I did it!

Day 7- To the Summit!

Hamed woke us up around 11pm, ( this is still day 6...but it will change soon enough). I was able to sleep a little bit, but the wind was going crazy and it sounded like a blizzard outside. I was actually worried that we wouldn't be able to go up, but things always sound worse in a tent, it was just windy- no blizzard. We slept in our base layers, so it wouldn't take that long to get ready. We were served some porridge before we went, but it was different then the normal disgusting porridge, so thankfully, we were able to swallow a few bites along with some biscuits.

Normal, disgusting porridge

We were all bundled up and ready to go by 12:30 (now it's Day 7). Shabaz recruited 3 extra assistant guides to help us up, and carry our bags. Unfortunately he wasn't able to go to the top with us, he had a really bad ingrown toe nail that was causing him a lot of pain, so he was staying at camp. The 8 of us were ready to go, and of course I was in the lead. With our headlamps on, we started out pole, pole, and saw a trail of lights heading up the mountain ahead of us. A few things greatly frustrated me during this time. First of all, my waterproof pants were a bit big so I felt really restricted trying to step up on the big rocks. I had to stop a few times to try to pull my pants up and tie them tight. Another frustration was that I didn't have a water bottle on hand. I didn't have room to shove it in my jacket like the others, so Dan and I shared his. Which meant anytime I needed to drink, I had to stop the group to get it from Dan. Going up, I felt VERY dehydrated, my mouth was extremely dry, so I had to drink a lot, which meant stopping a lot. They say you get very irritable and grumpy at higher altitudes, and it's true. I was getting so upset at the fact that no one else was stopping, I was thinking 'Are they not thirsty? What's wrong with these people?' Ok, so maybe I didn't just think that, I kind of snapped at Dan once. I hated being the one who always had to initiate the stops, and it made me look like I was so weak (which I was, but I didn't like it). So anyways, I was really upset about this for a while...I think some steam was coming out of my nose. Rob later made a comment that there were times when he wanted to stop for a break, but he knew I would stop soon so he never said anything. Thanks a lot Rob! It's ok though, I'm over it now...kind of. Back to the climb- the higher we got, the steeper it got so we had to do switchbacks (back and forth) to help get up. I was getting so tired and exhausted, there were moments when I could barely lift my feet, I was just dragging them behind me. My head was also killing me, and I would look in the distance and it still felt so far away, I just wasn't sure if I had enough energy to go all the way. I did a lot of praying at this point, I knew I wasn't making it up there on my own that's for sure.Even though I felt like quitting, and felt like my legs would just stop moving at a moment's notice, I kept on going. We finally stopped for a tea break, and Christine gave me two red magic pills. I say magic pills because after taking them I got this immediate renewed energy. Then I found out that we were just 3 hours to the top! That's it? For some reason that felt like a short distance, and I thought 'I really CAN do this'! I asked Basil what he thought our chances were to make it to the top, and he said '80%'. Oh come on Basil, have a little faith! But I was determined to prove him wrong. Those magic pills did wonders, and I felt great for a good while, I just continued to put one foot in front of the other, and we kept on going and going and going and going and you get the point. 

The sun was slowly beginning to rise so we didn't need our headlamps anymore, and the views were beautiful! The summit seemed to be getting closer and closer. However the more we walked, the more the magic pills wore off. My headache was gone, but the exhaustion came back, and it came with a vengeance. Man was I tired, but before I knew it, I saw the sign for Stella's Point (5739m) the last checkpoint before the summit.

It was at that moment that I knew without a shadow of doubt, that I was going all the way! I asked Basil again what percent we were at now, '110%!' Finally! Some people only make it to this point, as it's still another 45 minutes to the summit. I started getting emotional, but quickly stopped myself as I wasn't quite there yet. The last 45 minutes were hard, very hard. I would put my pole in front of me and take two steps, move the pole ahead, take two steps, I did this for a while. Sometimes I would put the pole in front, take two steps, rest my head on the pole and repeat. The others were feeling great (I hated them), but they still lingered close by me so we would reach the peak together.
 Even though I knew there was never a point I actually would have given up, and I always said I would make it all the way, I was never really convinced until the moment the sign was in view. I was overcome with emotion, and these weird sobs (I blame the altitude) came out of my mouth, along with 'I can't believe I did it!' All the praying, talking, preparing, planning, finally became a reality. It was absolutely one of the best moments of my life, and the best thing was that I got to share it with Dan. Without him, I would have never dreamed of doing anything like this. Throughout the hike he always knew when I needed to hold his hand, or some words of encouragement. I just love him. It was great sharing the experience with Rob and Christine too. It was 7:15 by the time we made it to the summit, took us just under 7.5 hours.

The whole gang

After our little celebration, and some pictures we were on our way down. Now you would think that going down would be a breeze, and for some people it was, but not for me of course. The rocks that were frozen solid on our way up, were now loose scree, so you just had to shuffle your feet through it kind of like skiing and you could go as fast as you dared. But every time I sped up I felt my body leaning forward, and just imagined myself doing somersaults all the way down, so I took the slow lane down. Besides I was the slow one going up, why change things now? Keep in mind that we just spent the last 7.5 hours hiking uphill, so I'm tired, I just want to be done. But true to myself I'm being extremely careful going down, and so I fall a few times. Hamed (our waiter, who came up with us), saw I was struggling, so he took my left trekking pole and held it in his left hand, and linked arms with me and we walked together, arm in arm down the hill. I didn't care if I looked pathetic, I needed help, and he helped me down. We finally made it back to camp at 9:15, and we were greeted by a few of our porters who had orange juice for us. Everyone was so happy and congratulated us for making it all the way. Shabaz was there with a big smile on his face, very proud of us, and was even impressed with our time as he wasn't expecting us so soon. I thought I went up extremely slow, so I guess I didn't do that bad. We were told we had a few hours to nap and rest a bit, as we still had a 3 hour downhill hike ahead. This was the moment we all felt our worst. We had really bad, pounding headaches, and the sun was just roasting us in our tents, and we could barely move an inch without being breathless. All we wanted to do was to get out of there. So by 1:30 we were on our way down, and moved at a good pace. The more you went down the easier it was to breath.

In case of emergencies, this is your way down

Last night!

You still had to keep your eyes to the ground though as we were heading down on slippery, muddy rocks. After a little while we were out of the rocky, desert land and into the rain forest which is much nicer to look at. However still steep and slippery, your toes are constantly jamming into the front of your boots, which feels like non-stop bruising. So each step hurts, and you just want to be done so you pick up your pace, and start slipping so you slow it down, but you want to finish so you speed up again. And this rhythm goes on and on until we finally reach our final campsite at 4:30. It was probably my favorite camp, not only because it was the last one, but it was in the middle of the rain forest with trees and greenery all around. Shabaz wanted us to be away from all the other groups so our tents were further away to make it nice and quiet for us. We had a good night of reminiscing in the mess tent, we couldn't believe it was almost over, and it felt like the beginning was already a distant memory. They wanted us to get an early start tomorrow, so we went to bed for the last time in our tents!

Day 6

I can't believe it's day 6, the night we go to the summit! But before that happens we had a good hike this morning, over a lot of rocks. Which means you keep your head down to avoid tripping. It took us just over 3 hours to get to our camp- the highest we'll sleep at 4641m.

Our highest camp

We all have headaches now, hoping a little motrin will do the trick. We had some macaroni for lunch, and now have the afternoon to rest and prepare for tonight. We'll probably have an early supper as they want us up by 10:30 to get ready to leave by midnight. Now, since I had a slow/weak start, the guides always made me be at the front of the group, which got old, real fast. After a break I would try to linger, and fall into place behind someone else, but without fail Basil, or Shabaz would always say 'Monica (pronounced Mooneeka) to the front', or 'Mooneeka, behind Basil please'.

Lots of rocks

Argh! I hated being up front, but that was my calling, to be the leader. But, ever since taking the extra diomox, I've been feeling a lot better, and have gotten used to not being able to breath. It's very weird to completely loose your breath just walking to the bathroom, or should I say the bucket in a tent. Or to get completely winded just by packing up your bag. It's a very odd feeling, but something I can handle now. However tonight will be the true test as we hike up to our highest point at 5895m or 19,341ft. I'm actually excited right now, most nights I go to bed nervous about what lays ahead, but now I just want to get up there already! I'll be patient for a least a few more hours, and get some sleep before we go.

Day 5

The wall!

What a difference a day can make. I felt like it was my strongest day yet, I was even able to shout out 'baba kubwa' a few times!


We left camp around 9:15, tackled the Barranco wall, which looked much scarier then it was. I actually enjoyed the climb very much, and felt like a warrior!

See the people?

After the wall, we had a long downhill hike in the rain. Which made it slippery, and made me fall...just once this time. There's something about going down, steep, slippery rocks that makes me very tense. I try to be extremely careful, I think too careful at times. But after the steep downhill, we just had a steep uphill to our camp. I felt fine, short of breath of course but we made it to camp around 1. It was pouring off and on, so we spent a lot of time in our tents and the mess tent. For lunch we had grilled cheese, chicken, omelettes, and veggies. My appetite has actually gotten better the higher we get, so that's a good thing. After lunch we had a good nap, we're trying to get as much sleep as possible to prepare for our big night tomorrow. TOMORROW! Oh dear, that just sent shivers through my body. But I'm not going to think about that now. After a while Hamed was at our tent calling us for 'dinnertime'. We weren't that hungry since we just ate a couple hours ago, but they want us in bed early. Shabaz said tomorrow's hike will be short but steep, and they want to head out by 9.

It wasn't that bad!

Day 4

What a day! We are now a little past the half way point. We hiked to the Lava Tower today. Started at 9:15, and yes we had the same breakfast...I ate a granola bar instead.

The hike wasn't as bad or hard as we were expecting, which was a nice relief. It even started to hail and rain for a bit, but that didn't stop us. We eventually made it to the Lava Tower at 4,630m, with mild headaches. Last night, Shabaz told us that they normally bring boxed lunches to the Lava Tower, but since it's usually cold and windy he's sending our cook and waiter up with the mess tent, so we can have a hot lunch. Unnecessary, but very appreciated. We were served macaroni and cheese, and it was delicious! I think it was the first time that we finished the whole pot of food. We stayed there for about 30 minutes, then had a 3 hour, downhill hike to camp. We passed some nice plants, streams and a waterfall (which made me look for a giant rock, if you know what I mean).

We made it back to camp around 4:30, and relaxed until supper. We were served carrot soup, pancakes, rice and chicken sauce. It was alright, I enjoy the soups. However they tend to taste the same, so I'm pretty sure it's the same soup, with a different name...you can't fool me! Shabaz and Basil came in for our briefing. They said they were a little worried about me, but noticed a difference since taking the extra diamox. They said I haven't been taking as many breaks, and noticed I don't give up and keep on going. So I guess that's a good thing? Tomorrow we tackle the Barranco Wall. This is the hike I was nervous about even before coming. Shabaz said it's very steep and the path gets very narrow in parts, so we have to be careful, we'll also have to use our hands to climb up in some spots. Yikes! Do I look like a rock climber? We can see the wall from camp, and it looks very intimidating. But after the wall, there's a few ups and downs and we should get to camp in good time to relax for the rest of the day. Besides the big rock jamming into my side, and constantly sliding to the front of our tent, I'm sure we'll sleep just fine tonight.

Day 3

Hamed woke us up at 7:15, we went through the same routine of tea, hot water for wash and breakfast...which didn't change. Again, I just tried to force a few bites down. I'm a little worried because they say your appetite decreases the higher you go, that's not a good sign for Christine and I. We were finally on our way by 9:15. Our hike started out pretty level for a while, then we crossed over some streams and a river, which made it fairly muddy at times. Shabaz and Basil constantly reminded us to go 'pole pole' and don't you worry, I did. I read about how slow they take you up the mountain, but nothing really prepares you for it. I mean you go super slow, like take a step count to two, take another step count to two...and even that felt too fast at times. Yet again, our guides wanted to take us on a different route to help us acclimatize...they seem to know what's best for us, although I prefer the shorter routes. So what could have been a 3 hour day, wasn't.

Top of the Shira Towers

We headed up to the Shira Towers, which was a rocky, steep climb and a little dangerous at times. Man, it was hard to breath! But I kept  on going, I am definitely the slowest member of our group, the weakest link so to speak. Quite a few times I would have an image of this lady with short, red hair and glasses saying 'you are the weakest link, goodbye'. But I tried to ignore her, and just kept on going pole pole. The views at the top always make the hike worth it, so we had a short break before coming down, and then continued on to our camp.

Heading down

We got their by 2:15, and lunch was ready for us. Up until this point I haven't had much of an appetite, however as soon as I saw what was for lunch my mouth instantly started to water. It was a huge plate of french fries! Now, for those of you who know me well, know that I haven't eaten a french fry in over 10 years (due to french fry overload in my McD working days). So now I have this dilemma. Do I break my 10 year streak to satisfy my hunger? YES!! It really didn't take that long for me to come to that conclusion, I was hungry, they looked delicious, and so I ate them...and man they were good! I don't plan on eating fries when I go home, this was a mountain only exception to my rule.   

After lunch we were able to relax a bit, and take a nap. Then before long we were back in the mess tent for supper. Shabaz and Basil came in after supper for our Day 4 briefing. Shabaz said tomorrow will be a long, tough day as we are headed to the Lava towers at 4600m which will be another good acclimatization hike. We've heard that if you can make it to the lava towers, there's a good chance you're going all the way. So we'll see what tomorrow brings, makes me nervous thinking about it. Shabaz decided that it was time I started taking an extra diamox to help with the altitude. We were all taking a half pill morning, and night. But they wanted Christine and I to take another half pill at lunch as well, so tomorrow I'll start that. They said we're a good group and have no worries about us. Which is good to hear, however they may just say that to every group. We were in bed by 9pm to be up at 7 the next morning. 

Day 2

At 6:45 we got a knock on our tent, it was our waiter Hamed "Good Morning, hot tea to drink". So we opened the tent, he handed us two mugs and poured us some hot tea. Then about 15 minutes later Hamed came back again and said "hot water for wash". This meant there were two red bowls outside our tent for us to clean up. After we washed up, he calls us into the mess tent for breakfast. There we were served porridge, toast, eggs and sausage/hot dog/pepperette type things. It may seem like a good breakfast, but it was very, VERY hard to stomach. I managed to get a few bites of porridge, and I'm not talking Maple Brown Sugar Quaker Oats, mmm, that would have been great. This porridge was a very odd colour and texture, along with a very weird taste. The toast smelt like smoke. I think they just held it over a burner to toast it, just the smell made me want to gag. It would have been fine if we had stuff to put on it, but we didn't have anything...just plain toast. I could only have a few bites of the eggs and the meat. The guys were able to eat fine, I don't think Christine ate much of anything; she couldn't even look at the porridge. So after that ordeal, we are really hoping for a different breakfast tomorrow, we finally started our hike around 9.

Today was not any easier, and I've already had moments where I thought that this was just way too hard, too soon! But I realized its best not to dwell on the days ahead and take it one day at a time. So on and on we walked. Our guides taught us the phrase 'baba kubwa' which meant super duper. So they would ask us 'Everyone baba kubwa?' and we would reply 'baba kubwa'. I asked if there was another option, because honestly am I ever going to feel super duper? They didn't respond, so I resorted to giving a thumbs up if I was ok, and if I was struggling a simple grunt would do. Very rarely could I shout out 'baba kubwa'. Our hike to Shira camp took about 4 hours. Christine and I have been feeling pretty weak today, due to our lack of appetite, and Dan and Rob have been feeling great so far.

Our guides thought it would be a good idea to take us on an additional hike this afternoon to Johnsell's Point at 3962m to help us acclimatize. I wasn't too keen on the idea, once you make it to camp you kinda want to stay there and relax. We hung around for a bit in the mess tent, wondering when we would be going or what the plan was. 

The mess tent

Finally around 5:30 Shabaz came and said we should get going before it gets dark. They said the hike would take about 3 hours, so we knew it would be dark before coming back. Rob asked if we should take our head lamps and they said we wouldn't need them, and so we didn't. This hike was hard, and boy did I struggle! I had a lot of trouble breathing, and I had to stop a few times to try to catch my breath. All along I was looking at the top of the hill thinking almost there, almost there. Then I realized we were headed towards a different peak, which seemed much further away, and a lot more steep. So that was really discouraging but eventually we did make it to the top, and the view was beautiful. I didn't think I could make it, so it felt good to get there. We looked around a bit, then started down...and it got dark real fast. This made for a very frustrating hike. It was steep and slippery, so because I couldn't see anything I fell- again, and again, and again. I was getting so angry at the thought of breaking my ankle on Day 2. They saw I was struggling so gave me one of the only headlamps available, which helped a bit. But boy was I fuming; I did NOT enjoy that part whatsoever, and the lights from the camp seemed so far away. We did eventually make it back close to 9 and had supper. We were served zucchini soup, which was good. Then there was a huge plate of rice with some vegetable sauce to go over it. I skipped the rice and sauce, just couldn't do it. After supper we were in bed by 9:45, had a pretty chilly night but dressed warm enough to sleep well.

Day 1

We woke up at 6:30 to have lots of time before our 8:30 departure. However we found out early on that things move very 'pole pole' around here, which is Swahili for slowly, slowly- words used very often over the next 8 days. We didn't actually leave the hotel until close to 10. Then we stopped for gas, stopped to put air in the tires, stopped to put a new belt in the engine, and stopped at a convenience store, and then we were finally on our way...at this point I just wanted to get started! We got to the Lemosho route entrance around 1:30, had our first boxed lunch (something we would dread by the end of the week). There were a lot of people there from other hikers, to guides and porters, we had 17 alone in our group. 

We started out so clean

We finally started our hike around 2pm, our assistant guide Basil led us as Shabaz finished organizing things with the porters. We read that the first day would be a pretty easy 2 hour hike, and it was nice hiking through the rain forest, even saw a monkey in the tree. However after 2 hours, Shabaz met up with us and told us that we were now at the beginning of the trail. 

So what we thought would be an easy, short day, actually ended up being 4 hours...and a lot harder then expected, considering we were already at 7742 ft altitude. One of the first questions our guides asked us was what altitude we lived at, that way they would know what we were used to, and that it would take us some time to adapt at this level. Which was obvious by the way the porters just hiked right past us, carrying loads up to 30lbs on their heads and backs. 
We finally made it to our first camp around 6pm, and our tents were already set up, along with our private toilet! We had a good wet wipe bath, and it's crazy how dirty we were just after one day...not good, considering we still had seven days to go. After we 'cleaned up' we went to our mess tent for some popcorn and hot drinks. A little while later we were served potato soup, bread, fish and mango's for supper. After supper Basil and Shabaz came in for our briefing of the next day. They said we would be woken up at 6:30 as it would be a 4-5 hour hike, and much steeper, so we'll see how it goes. I'm trying to focus on one day at a time. It was a fairly chilly night so we were in bed by 9pm. 

Lots of tents!

. 

Arrival

Yikes, that's a big mountain!

Well we are finally here in Tanzania. We left Toronto about an hour behind schedule as they had to deice the plane, which made our layover much shorter in Amsterdam. Just enough time to stretch our legs and use the washrooms. We arrived in Tanzania around 8:30 Saturday night...and it was hot! We drove about an hour to our hotel, along a very bumpy road, not just your typical bumpy road, I'm talking giant craters. The drivers just go wherever they want on the roads to avoid the bumps. We checked into our hotel and were in bed, under our mosquito nets by 11:30. We slept good considering the heat, and no AC, and were up by 7:30 for breakfast. We got our first glimpse of Kilimanjaro, right outside our bedroom...and it looks huge! Are we really climbing that? Like seriously? It looks much bigger then all the pictures I've seen. After breakfast we decided to head into town for a little tour. Our helpful guide Hamassi took us to the local market, and all throughout Moshi. The people were really friendly, but some a little pushy trying to get us to buy their products.

We eventually stocked up on souvenirs, and then headed back to the hotel. Most of the people at the hotel have either just climbed Kili, or are about to. I was eavesdropping on a guy who was doing the same route as us (8 day Lemosho) and he had to come down on the 5th day...yikes! That could be me, or one of us. But, we are all pretty positive so far, besides feeling a bit off from the Malaria medication. We had a meeting with our head guide Shabaz, he seems like a nice guy, and wouldn't ya know it, he has the same goal in mind for our climb- to get us to the top! At least we're all on the same page. He said we were to leave by 8:30 the next morning, so we went to bed early to be ready for our first day of hiking.