Hike Day 1 - Hurry up and "pole pole" - Feb. 19

We had our 7:30am pick-up after a final once-over our packing and a breakfast we were both too nervous to enjoy.

At 7:25am, one of the hotel staff came up to Alisa and told her a driver was downstairs with her coat! That delightful news was a brilliant start to our day, and we were off.

We took the same sketchy road to the same garden of paradise, but today, it was all abuzz. There were probably a hundred fifty people milling around, most hikers like us, some guides, some hotel guests, some hotel staff. We found the Kentucky Three (Tracy, Bob, and Erin) as well as Bruce, our guide. After bags-here, receipts-there, storage-way-over-there, and a cosy bus sit-and-wait, we were finally (30 minutes behind schedule) on our way to the registration area for Kilimanjaro.

The bus ride was a little sweaty, a little bumpy, and pretty merry as people were chatting about their reasons for coming, their backgrounds, and their concerns. The chatter (including some with some UK blokes) was nice, but about three hours in, everyone was ready for it to be over.

The countryside we were passing was fascinating. I was expecting arid land that was dusty and mostly deserted. We got roadside stands along a busy road with markets and huts. We got rolling countryside with carrots, potatoes, and cabbage being planted around indigenous tree for reintroduction. There were sunflower patches, and kids coming back from school in there uniforms and enthusiasm. Flocks of stork-like birds were in bare fields while termite mounds emerged from the earth every few hundred yards. It was much more picturesque than I expected.

Our weaving, dodgy drive discharged us at the registration station. Alisa and I, last off the bus, were the first to be taken to the register. We hand-wrote our names and sat down to get our box lunch. Not a minute later, we were told to find our bags. I marched over as Alisa watched our daypacks before returning to our white box of goodies.

The first treat was a bun, followed by one of those delicious little bananas and a lime-green fruit that tasted like an orange. Next was a mango juice box, a slice of cake, a hard-boiled egg, and (still stored in my bag) some sweet biscuit cookies. A hearty lunch for just sitting around so far.

And the sitting continued. First for an hour in the shade until we were a little chilled. Then for half an hour in the sun until we were toasted. Then another twenty minutes in the shade until they told us to pile back on the bus. "Pole pole" (poh-lee) is their mantra - slowly, slowly. That and "hakuna matata", which nearly everyone knows from "The Lion King." Except Stewart (an Australian traveling with his friend Duncan).

The eight of us (Duncan, Stewart, Bob, Tracy, Erin, Alisa, me, and another Aussie, Talitha) were anxious to get moving, and so we finally were at 2pm or so. When we got to the trailhead thirty minutes later and still had a four hour walk ahead, I was a bit leery.

But we started trotting along, chatting while climbing some steep grades just to come right back down. Stewart marked with his GPS watch that we climbed 700 meters and did six miles by the time we arrived at camp after sundown. We were shown our tents, fetched our stuff, and were given some warm water to wash with before heading to the mess tent for a pre-dinner snack of popcorn and tea. I didn't realize the Milo (Nesquick-like chocolate powder) was there until my third cup in.

Our meal was a starter of egg salad sandwiches, followed by salty cucumber soup (which was better than it sounds). The "mains", as the Aussies called them, we're potatoes and fish fillets, with a vegetable sauce (more like stew) on the side.

The eight of us chatted in the fifteen-foot by eight-foot tent while being served by candlelight. The only issue with the tight space was the crunched finger (Alisa's by me and my chair) and the squished toes (Tracy's by Aaron and his chair). All told, we had some laughs, did some cultural comparisons, and ate our heart out

Dessert was a slightly too-long speech by Bruce about our itinerary for tomorrow. We'll be exposed after the first two hours, so I'll be taking the sunhat Alisa bought and bargained for me. Talked them down from $15 to two for $20. It's a wonderful start, especially for someone that doesn't like bargaining. You go, girl!