Day 1: Machame Camp

We made it to Tanzania! 

Our flight landed the night before we were supposed to start the climb. When we arrived at our hotel in Arusha it was pretty late. We had missed the pre-climb briefing with out team and  everyone had already gone to bed. We knew we should hit the hay too, but not without one pit stop along the way. Hell we were in Africa! 

The morning came bright and early. We met our lead guide Evans in the lobby to make sure that we hadn't forgotten any crucial pieces of gear. He didn't even ask if we had remembered the important things- deodorant, underwear and beef jerky. We were ready to go! There were 11 climbers in our group. Here's the quick run down:

Cindy- Holland
Jamie and Eric- Washington DC 
David- Baltimore
Mark- Nairobi
Deb- Boston
Najaf and Kristina- Azerbaijan
Dan- Miami

They threw all of the gear on top of a bus and the group piled in. Someone started playing the guitar and the crew started singing a song Pole Pole San San (slowly slowly now now), which is the phrase you hear over and over again on the mountain. Then they sang the Kilimanjaro theme song, which my dad already knew all the Swahili words to. He would have loved it. 

After we left the city of Arusha we had an hour drive to the mountain. Having spent my entire life inside the USA bubble, I spent the entire ride with my face glued to the window. There were people tending fields, small boys herding goats and cattle along the streets, women carrying an absorbent amount of weight on their heads, little girls carrying buckets of water to their homes. It really did seem like another world. Every so often there were small stores selling beer, gasoline or internet cafe. Some people were dressed fancy walking to church. Few cars, lots of bicycles, and just walking, and walking and walking. Miles and miles. 

Finally we arrived at Machame Gate. There were porters everywhere outside hoping to get called in. Our company, ClimbKili, was one of the companies part of the Porters Assistant Program which promised fair salaries to all their porters. We hopped of the bus and went through registration. Kilimanjaro is a National Park which keeps track of every climber on the mountain. There were many other groups assembling to climb too. The closest one to us was a giant group from Canada which carried the Canadian flag with them the entire climb. After a quick lunch of orange, plaintain, cucumber, muffin and mango juice we were off! We got a great group shot with Dan's camera and tripod. This was one of many things he carried in his pack which was twice as large as anyone else's. Dan was 55 years old and used to mountaineer quite a bit. He got snowed in on Denali once and is now always prepared for anything. Not a bad guy to have around! I got one photo with the good luck sign and then it was up, up, up. 

notice the creepy looking vulture on top of the sign, that wasn't ominous or anything.

 

Right away we dove into the rainforest. It had down-poured for three days straight before us, so we were told to be prepared to be drenched. To our luck we enjoyed blue skies and a hot sun all day. Evans said he was sad for us because it was not an adventure without rain. With no rain there would be no mud and no one falling and sliding down. Oh well! Somehow I didn't feel like I missed out on anything. The hike was under an incredible canopy of moss covered trees with the sounds of birds and monkeys singing everywhere. 

Porters would pass us along the way. They wore old clothes mostly donated from climbers. They carried giant loads on top of their heads or on the back of their necks. It was unbelievable how strong these guys were. Most did not speak english but occasionally one would stop and talk to us. They taught us many Swahili expressions along the way. The most popular was:

     Mambo?  (How are you?)
     Poa kachizi kama ndizi!  (Crazy like a banana!)

Evans must have chanted pole pole (pronounced po-lee po-lee) one hundred times today. The trick to beating altitude sickness is to go super dooper slow at the beginning to let your body adjust to less oxygen. Most of our group went much faster than us, but I just stayed with Evans. Pole pole. My mom would be so proud of me for going slow and not having to "win"! 

Halfway through day 1 Dan came up to me and told me my face and neck had broken out in hives. Fu@# Sh&^ A@# !!!!! I was having an allergic reaction to Diamox, the only prescription drug to help prevent altitude sickness. Almost everyone in our group was taking the drug, it's recommended for Kilimanjaro. I'm SOL now. Bring on the headaches and vomiting. My guess is by day 4. 

With our Lead Guide, Evans

Eric and Jamie

The blogs that I read described day 1 as an easy walk in the park. Boy was I in for a surprise. It was steep, rooty and long. The legs started burning around 7000. The lack of breath occurred around 8000 feet for me. Not sure if it was the jet-lag or heat, but I was pooped by the time we reached base camp at 9,300 feet. 

It took us over 5 hours to reach Machame Camp. When we arrived we had to register again so the park service can track us. Then we went to our camp where out porters had sent up tents and two chemical toilets. Thank god! Let's just say those drop toilets are disgusting as they look in Slum Dog Millionaire. After unpacking our gear we were given hot water to wash our faces and hands. This went lovely with our wet wipes we brought for our "showers." As soon as the sun set the temperature dropped immensely. Time to bundle up before dinner. In the mess tent we all ate together via candlelight. Tonight's dinner menu was spicy cucumber soup, pasta, potatoes with a veggie stew, and watermelon. Not too shabby. We filled up a Nalgene with boiling water to put in our sleeping bags. This clever tip kept me warm all night.