The guides continue to tell us that it is an easy day, that Day 2 was the hardest, but everyday, I struggle a little more.
It might be that I haven't had a full night's sleep since last Friday (a week ago). First it was jetlag, then it was jetlag + altitude, now it is altitude + cold. It was definitely down to freezing last night, but this morning wasn't too bad, with just pants and long sleeves and fleece holding me until the Lava Tower.
But first, the routine. Porridge. Again. And eggs. Again. Variety is going to be great. I'm not even enjoying the Milo anymore.
We started off up a steep cliff opposite out acclimatization hike yesterday night. As we headed out over the hill, we thought we were halfway through gaining the altitude for today.
Two hours (and lots of moonscape later), we reached the real killer section. Sorry, I left out that there was an eagle and Stewart peed at twice the normal frequency. So two hours later, the fog rolls in and the giant tower in the distance disappears and we are just trudging. The last hundred meters, I was just repeating "To the top" over and over.
But to the top we were. It was long lunch (everyone was struggling up) and some great views of Kili and the Lava tower when the clouds cleared.
A couple people were dozing before lunch came into the mess tent, and I was sitting right next to Erin. After a few minutes, I decided to see if I could balance a full place setting on him. The knife, fork, and spoon went in his collar and... not a stir. The soup bowl went upside down on his head, and I'm sure my shaky hand from my laughter and everyone else's laughter would tip him off. Nothing. So the plate balanced right on top and Thomas came in right on cue to serve up and wake him up while the rest of us were catching the flying dishes and laughing until we had tears in our eyes.
After lunch, I popped on the rain jacket (thank you, Rosie) and kept the wind away as we scrambled though a slot on the rock before two hours of down, down, down.
Tracy had "hatchets in his eyes" as Erin put it because every meter we go down, we have to go back up. The landscape we were passing through, though, was my favorite yet.
It reminds me of Joshua Tree and dinosaur movies rolled into one. The trees are built like palms, where they build up leaf by leaf over time until they are a dozen feet tall (or four meters, for the Aussies). There were ferns, more of the songbirds from yesterday, steams we traversed, and even a waterfall.
The bad news was that we were going down. My knees, especially my right, were feeling it even with my poles bearing some of my weight. The rocky scrambles up are less fun as jumps down the mountain.
However, the rest of the group had even less fun as a chatterbox from another group walked next to us. She was chatting Bruce up, and I think all of us know a little too much about her now. At dinner, we all agreed silence was better than that. (Except maybe me... I was a bit entertained.)
Our campsite is a stunner though. A cliff wall on one side, the mountain just next to it, and a view all the way down to Moshi.
It was the typical water for washing.c tea, peanuts and biscuits (no popcorn, sadly), then chatting a bit until dinner. We must be either getting used to this little oxygen or it is driving us crazy, because there were some big laughs at dinner too. Warmth and pee bottles, airport horror stories, and a quote from the Kili book that cheered everyone up: "The walk from Stella's Point to Uruhu Peak will chill you to your bones, until your very marrow is frozen, and then it will freeze your very soul."
On that happy note, we had our cabbage, pancakes, vegetable sauce, and pumpkin soup (not as delicious as it sounds.. No soup until next winter will be too soon.)
As we were finishing up, Bruce came in for our debriefing. Just three hours, all before lunch tomorrow. And everyone is doing well in the group. Like "simba" (lion). We became the Simba Group right then and there.
Tracy's simba status was almost taken away when he jumped (retroactively) -after Thomas tripped over our tent cord. "Earthquake!"
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