(Bill narrative)
This morning we rose a little bit early at 6:30am. It was a beautiful morning. The camp was crowded. There were many other campers there, and some of them were dancing and singing African songs. Now THAT was an experience I will never forget!
We started the day at about a 13,000 foot elevation and immediately went to the Barranco Wall – a very famous and a very difficult climb. I must say that the views from here were spectacular. We could see the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro, and then down into the valley… the geologic formations were just incredible. We saw many waterfalls spanning hundreds of feet. The sun was shining and the sky was blue.
It took us an hour and a half to get up the Barranco Wall, and it was not as arduous as we were led to believe, in great part because of our amazing tour guides – Kurt and Sara. Everybody did a great job getting up the Wall, which brought us to an elevation of 14,000 feet. Over the next 4 hours, we hiked a series of ascents and descents ranging anywhere from 500-700 feet. After going up and down, and up… and then down again, we ended up at a place called “Karanga Camp” (Camp #3), which ironically is nearly the same elevation as where we started - 13,000 feet.
Along the way, there were many beautiful rock formations, a couple of zigs and zags, and a number of plants that we had never seen before. There were times that it felt like we were walking on the moon. Sometimes, the landscape was sparse, sometimes it was lush, and other times it was a hybrid of both. Sometimes we would pass large boulders which had smaller rocks piled one on top of the other. Our porter told us people built these as "good luck" mementos.
There were lots of other people on the trail as well from all over the world, and we enjoyed talking with all of them. There were people from Slovenia and Germany and other far away places, and it was fun comparing notes. Some of the members of our crew actually had mutual friends in some of the other groups, which was quite a pleasant coincidence.
We ended up returning to camp at about 2:00pm and then had lunch. Afterwards, we set up our packs and tents – as you can imagine, we have all developed our own routines in setting up our tents. During this process, it began to rain (pretty hard) for about an hour. We decided to play another game of Cardy with many of the porters, and had such a great time. It was great having fun with this wonderful group of people that we have gotten to know very well. We all laughed and sang and joked around with each other, just like it is back at home. It was a truly memorable experience.
Then at 6:15pm, we had dinner as we usually do, which worked out well because that’s the same time that Cindy and I have had dinner for the last 24 years! But the dinner was interrupted when the sun came out - it was so beautiful! We could see Mt. Kilimanjaro which was about 6,000 feet up - although it didn’t look like it was 6,000 feet up… but I’m sure we’ll be doing a great deal of climbing between now and the peak. We could also see Mt. Meru off in the distance, which was quite spectacular.
All in all it was another unforgettable day.
(Cindy narrative)
This morning, we woke up to a brilliant sunshine – similar to that of a bright, clear Los Angeles morning after a gloomy hard rain. We also woke up to some peculiar yet lovely sounds coming from outside our tent. We opened the tent and looked to find some of the porters from the other groups singing to each other on opposite sides of a hill next to the camp site. One group sings one phrase and the other group responds. Many are dancing and waving their hands. Perhaps they smoked a little “changa” this morning..? Of course you KNOW that Bill and I ran up to watch them, and....well before you know it Bill is right in the middle singing along and yes, dancing. It was a very fun song, and to witness this performance was really quite something. I just wish I had a tape recorder to capture the sounds of this memorable moment. Although I did take a few photos which you will want to see…
Duly noted… OUR porters were not a part of that wild group - they are hardworking, very respectful, and cheerful ALWAYS. Really a remarkable group of young men who told us often how appreciative they were to us for providing them with work. (Apparently after doing a climb, the porters often have to wait for a month or so before getting another climbing job).
One more thing - the head porter said BY FAR the Americans are the nicest and most generous people to work for. (I won't tell you what he said about the French).
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