Day 7 - July 12, 2013 - Best sleep ever!!!

I have finally typed up my notes from on Kilimanjaro ... I will post them as a post per day ... only because otherwise it would be a 10 page post ... which I think would be quite overwhelming!!!  Pictures will come shortly ... I promise :)  My little inserts in italics are thoughts I've put in after the fact.

Day 7 - July 12, 2013

I had the absolute best sleep ever of my life last night.  Absolute, hands-down best.   The rock under my back didn’t bother me, the angle of the tent didn’t bother me, the cold didn’t bother me and the frequent trips to the toilet tent throughout the night (oh yes, I haven’t mentioned this yet – when you are made to drink 3L of water a day plus they give you on average 2L of water through soups and teas, there is a lot of trips to the toilet tent required at night) of my neighbours didn’t bother me; I slept like a baby.  I wasn’t even awake when they came to do our wakeup I was peacefully and happily fast asleep.  Amazing.

We had another long trek today – 19.7km.  And, where it should have been absolutely beautiful due to the scenery and views it was quite sad.   Apparently while we had been on the mountain, the south side experienced a very bad fire and acres and acres of forest and moorland was just smoldering (some parts were still burning).   It was very sad.   The guides were extra saddened as the area is a place of worship for the native Chagga people, of whom a few of the guides belonged.  It put a somewhat sad end to our trek.

The fire hadn’t reached as far down as our first pause at Mandara Huts (2743m) where they had … *drum roll please* … a working tap and showers!!!  We didn’t use the showers, but some of us definitely used the taps.  I actually walked into the shower stall by mistake thinking it was a toilet and just stood in it for confusion wondering why there was an empty stall …so foreign was the idea of running water or a shower.  Oh, and when I did find the toilet (squat toilet that is) I just about got stuck.   Apparently 40 some kms of hiking in 48 hours and that whole summit business leads to getting stuck in a squat position.   Thankfully the walls had some texture and I was able to pull myself back up without just collapsing into the hole … phew!  Ahhh, yes, more toilet talk!

The last 8km were absolutely breathtakingly beautiful with rainforest, waterfalls, amazing vegetation and air so so thick.  It almost felt too heavy to breathe.  Amazing.

That ends the summary of our days on Kilimanjaro.  It was a successful trip and provided me the best and worst experience of my life.   I didn’t have any great career revelations but did find a new zen inner self that I did not know existed.  I also, again, realized that I love travelling and so need to have a career that can support a future full of adventure!

I will post the lessons that everyone should know next week.

And then I can start thinking of our next adventure!!!