Holy macaroni and cheese salad sandwiches, it has been a red hot minute since we updated this thing! Let's start where we left off: leaving the beautiful city of Dar Es Salaam, TZ. We made our way north to Arusha via a ten hour bus ride. Being that this was the beginning of our adventure and we wanted to be well rested for the hike we opted for the ''luxury'' bus that claimed to have air conditioning - we soon found that to be a HUGE lie! But we did have comfy seats, windows that opened and even seatbelts! When it came time to watch a movie they first put on a recording of some pathetic, unknown American boy band - we had a feeling it was for us- the only ''mzungu'' a.k.a. white people on the bus.
Once in Arusha, we were able to take a hot shower for the first time in several days. We stayed at a cute hostel with great staff who asked if they could upgrade us to a larger room with private bathroom because they had painted the other rooms earlier... would we mind? humm, Yes please! That evening we met with the man who would guide us on our hike and one of the office staff for Team Kilimanjaro. They inspected every single piece of our equipment for the hike, muttering good or a resounding disaproving mmm as they examined each item. After all hiking matters were squared away we had the (and I quote Casey) ''most bomb'' soup freshly made for us at the total cost of 200 Tanzanian shillings (roughly 18 cents in USD). We love to eat in Africa!
Bright and early we were scooped up, hauled to off to the Team Kili office to meat with our guides and crew. Interestingly enough, even when you try to cut out the fancy crap and ''rough'' it for a hike it still took a crew of 12 to get the 2 of us up the mountain! Ha ha! From the beginning there was distinct separation between crew and client. Clearly, there was a huge language barrier, given that we don't speak Kiswahili but we really tried to assimilate with the group as a whole. The hike itself was an incredible experience and the route we took was known to be challenging but one of the most beautiful because we trecked through all 5 temperate zone of the mountain, ranging from agricultural to arctic. Each day we were served 3 course hot meals 3 times a day! What?! we don't even eat that much at home - but then again we don't hike 10 plus miles up several thousand feet on a regular basis at home. The day prior to our summit night we hiked for 7 hours - blazing our own trail for none existed across the alpine desert which we treked. This day was full of teases as each time we figured to be within an hour of our camp another tremendous valley governed by sheer cliffs would emerge and dash our hopes. Finally, we reached Barafu camp where most of the groups camp before they attempt the summit. We were given 3 hours to rest then an early dinner followed by roughly 4.5 hours of rest before they woke us at 11 PM to eat again and get ready for the summit. At 11:30 we heard a strange sound outside the tent and were the opposite of relieved when we found it to be the sound of snow falling... a major snowstorm had just commenced thirty minutes before our scheduled departure. This weather change brought a new definition to hell and high water... The following 6 hours were, well, for Casey (who was very adversely affected by the altitude - insomnia, lack of appetite and fatigue) ''the most grueling 6 hours window of my life.'' It wasn't as hard on Erin but by no means was this a cake walk for anyone other than our guide who has summitted the Kibo peak of Mt Kilimanjaro over 200 times. The moment we reached the summit was literally indescribable. Tears of joy, gratitude and pride... possibly exhaustion as well appeared on both our faces. Watching the sun rise as we stood on the world's tallest free standing mountain is something we will keep with us forever. Our guides were so proud of us that they decided to tack on an additional 8 hours of hiking immediately following the summit. A terrific 14 hours later we were met on the trail by 2 of our fav porters with a light picnic lunch in the rain... great weather, eh?
After recuperating for a few hours in Arusha, we woke at 5 AM and headed to the bus station. As two sleepy mzungus we were taken for twice the price of the standard ticket to Mwanza - in the states we call this cheating or theft but in Africa we call it getting the mzungu price... a lesson learned. This was THE MOST HELLACIOUS bus experience - to put it in perspective it was like being on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland for 10 hours in a child's sized car seat while someone threw buckets of dirt and sand in your face ever 4.5 minutes. Hell. We were graciously met by the sister of our Kili guide as he had volunteered her and her family to put us up for a night in their home in Mwanza. They were incredible people and we were beyond grateful that they would open theirn the rain... great weather, eh?
After recuperating for a few hours in Arusha, we woke at 5 AM and headed to the bus station. home to two total strangers. The evening was full of political and environmental conversation, tasty homecooked food, a shower and a clean place to sleep. They had gone above and beyond what we consider standard hosting duties - waiting 3 hours for our delayed bus and passing it off as just one of the problems with their country and that it was to be expected - what??!? they even arranged the best way for us to continue our travels to Kigali, Rwanda where we were to meet up with Nicholas, Casey's friend.