Friday, December 18, 2009

Day 6 and 7 - Up and all the way down!!

Firstly I would like to Thank you for your thoughts and prayers - it was definitely not easy - but we did it!

The night of the ascend to the peak - we didn't get much sleep. It was cold and all of us were anxious to get going.

After our warm cup of tea and cookies - we took off for the top at around 12.10 am.. It was pitch dark .. With the help of our head lamps we could see a few feet ahead.. I have no clue how the guide knew his way.. But we blindly followed..

The hike was definitely the most difficult we had done so far - not only was it steep but also the altitude made it harder to breathe..

Just to give a glimpse on how cold it was - I wore top and bottom thermals, 2 short sleeve tshirts, 2 long sleeve tshirts, 2 fleece and a winter jacket, sweat pants, ski pants,3 socks, balaclava, winter hat, inner gloves and an outer gloves.. Yet at times -I felt the wind..

We got to the peak in 6 hrs.. And the view was awesome..the glaciers were very eye catching..will upload pic soon..

We spend 10 min taking pictures and absorbing the view .. Then we headed down. In my opinion the way down was more taxing as the body was tired.. The assistant guide tried to show us a faster way down the slopes.. It was like skiing on sand using the walking sticks.. I don't even wanna tell you the amount of time I landed on my behind!!!..


We got to our camp in half the time - 2hrs.. The guides wanted to get us to camp asap because the longer one takes descending the higher the risk of altitude sickness...

At Barafu camp - we took a quick nap, packed up and headed for Mweka camp (3100 m - 4 hours).. We went from 5900m. (Uhuru peak) to 3100m (Mweka camp) in a matter of hours.. We got to see all terrains on our way down.. Which was a good way to recap the hike..

In Mweka - we ate and went to sleep - Although it was cold _ I got the best sleep so far - maybe because I was wiped our, or not being anxious of getting to the peak..

Day 7 was short - we got up and headed to the gate ..the highlight was we got too see some white colobus monkeys in the rain forrest..

We got to the gate at around 11am and rode the bus to moshi town..

I just wanted a warm shower ( just an fyi there was no showers during the hike) , maybe some food that stays warm after 5 min of being served.. And anything besides water... :)

It surely was not easy - but worth the experience.. Who wants to do it next year or maybe in 2 years??

I am off to Kenya for a couple of days for a mini vacation ( I am blogging this on the bus).. When I get back I will keep you posted regarding the orphanages ...

Touch base in a couple of days....


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

2 comments:

  1. I am so jealous. I so wanted to see the glaciers Can't wait to see the pictures.

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  2. I would love to be standing at Uhuru!! Trip to Kenya..suweet idea!

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