Pumoja Bab!

Well, we made it to the highest point in Africa, all three of us!

Last Sunday we started our climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro, and I'll say it, we had no idea what we were getting into! We new that it was going to be physically challenging, so we'd been running in Kowak, but other than that, we were clueless. So it was a bit of a surprise (and a relief-we thought we would carry our own bags!) that when we met with our guide the day before we left, we found out that we had a team of 10 people to take us up the mountain. There were 2 guides and 8 porters to carry all of our food, bags, tents and general supplies! We thought we were being spoiled, but soon found out that how everyone goes up the mountain!

While we weren't sure what to expect, we had no idea how crowded the trail was going to be. Each day, about 150 people start their climb up Kili on the route we took. On average, most groups have about 3 porters per person to assist with the climb, so if you do the math, that's

A LOT of people hiking on a pretty small path- the majority of them being Tanzanian porters walking much faster than us! Now just a word about these porters, because what they did was pretty amazing. They each carry up to about 50lbs of supplies, and it's not in fancy trekking bags. They would combine all the supplies into a large plastic bag and carried them on their shoulders or heads! It was so impressive how fast they walked, managing such heavy loads. It was pretty interesting to see the different things they carried- everything from tents, tables and chairs, to fresh fruits and veggies, to 3 dozen eggs (I mean, who would even think to bring eggs on a week long hike?!?!)

Our trail took us up and back down the mountain over 6 days. The first 4 days we hiked about 5-8 hours a day, through gorgeous scenery- each day different as we ascended. It was mostly uphill, and /*on a whole it was tiring but not too difficult. The only downside was starting the first night, we got quite a bit of rain, aka every night and most morning we started walking in the rain! We definitely looked pretty stylish as we climbed in our ponchos! We had fun though, especially talking with all the various groups climbing.

Last Thursday was our summit day, and it was definitely the hardest. We started from base camp (4800m) in the dark at around 1am. Luckily, it was the first night it didn't rain and we had great weather for the whole day. It was a steep walk, pretty much straight up the mountain with a little zig-zagging, through the snow. We have never walked so slowly in our lives and still felt so tired! The altitude definitely was the biggest challenge, making it harder to breath. But we made it (it only took us 9 hrs to go up 1000m!), and we got to enjoy our first beautiful sunrise on the way. The views on top were stunning- bright blue skies against glaciers and snow! After taking a few pictures, we turned around and walked right back down to base camp. It was almost as hard as walking up- trying not to slip! After resting at base camp for about an hour, we finished off the day by descending to a lower camp site. It was our longest day, walking about 16hrs, but it was definitely the most rewarding!

It was great to get off the mountain and back to our hotel. We were all ready to take long, hot showers and actually sit on a toilet seat rather than use a squatter!