Not Your Ordinary Holiday Season Pt. 1

Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

First, I would like to wish everyone a late Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! This Holiday season was my second here in Tanzania and one I will never forget for the rest of my life J

Why, you ask, was this celebratory part of the year so memorable!?!? Well let me tell you…

Skyler, the greatest brother anyone could ever have, had been planning to come visit me ever since I stepped foot in Tanzania and he showed up just in time for Christmas, December 19^th. I left my village a week earlier because, well, it takes 3 to 4 days to get to Moshi (the city famous for Mount Kilimanjaro) from my village and there was a new training class of Peace Corps Volunteers swearing in Dar es Salaam and I had been invited. This was super exciting, it’s not too often PCV’s get invited to swearing in’s and the more ‘seasoned’ PCVs are always excited to meet the newcomers! Meeting the newbys, going to swearing in was a nice getaway from village life and I also got to take care of some housekeeping issues during a long overdue visit to the Peace Corps office. Then I was off to Moshi to wait for Skyler to fly into Kilimanjaro International Airport! This was the first time I’ve ever been to Moshi, it’s a small city but full of conveniences and I was living it up! Burgers, real coffee and lattes, even came iced, real cake, swimming pools, fast internet, showers…etc. But best of all my friend Danny from Indonesia, who is Studying at LCMC Hospital, I met him when he did a practicum for a month to the Bulongwa Hospital which is about 30 min walk from my village. It was my guide and kept me busy while waiting for Skyler to come. He also showed me this really amazing Chinese restaurant the was so mouth-watering I think I dreamt about it that night! Haha

As soon as Skyler landed we started preparing for the greatest adventure of both our lives so far…climbing Mount Kilimanjaro!!! Picking him up from the airport was a happy time; I made him a sign the said ‘Karibu Sana Tanzania Skyler!’ and prettied it up with balloons! The driver from Moshi Expeditions and Mountaineering Company we booked with took pictures of this heartwarming reunion. Then we were off to get the party started! I didn’t know the details of the package Skyler bought for climbing up The Mountain but was soon living it up even more. They took us to a what would be 4 star hotel in America and told us we had one night here before the climb and TWO nights after we came down! WHAT!!!! I haven’t stayed in anything other than hostels for the past year and half!! We got all our stuff in the room and figured out the packing list for climbing then, because it’s a very important tradition of min, we had to jump on the beds!!! Yes plural there was two king sized beds, along with a shower AND BATHTUP, air conditioning, real toilet, swimming pool and restaurant/bar…what more could a girl ask for?!

I hadn’t seen Skyler for almost two years so we had A LOT of catching up to do. We talked for hours until he passed out from exhaustion and jetlag. Bright and early the next day we started our trek up this beautiful, challenging mountain.

Mount Kilimanjaro, Marangu Route (yes, the easiest route, we were beginners :P) is an hour drive from Moshi. On the way we met our guide and porters, the people who would ensure our success and if necessary carry our bags or us to the top.

The first day of hiking was not very difficult trekking. We hiked for about 3 ½ hours until we reached the first check point called Mandara. It was so great to be with my brother! We talked literally the entire day everyday on the way up…except when we were struggling to breathe from being at high elevations.

The second day we hiked close to 6 hours and reached Horombo point. We once we arrived werested for an hour then hiked around for a couple hours at that elevation to get used to the thin air. We camped here two nights to get acclimate to the altitude. The next day, still at Horombo, we hiked to a really beautiful place called Zebra Rocks.

It’s a cliff that the side is black and white stripped. After a second night at Horombo we continued on to Kibo Hut which is the last check point before the summit. It took us about 7 hours to get to kibo hut but along the way we met some really awesome people that were encouraging us to keep on going.

There was a huge group from Switzerland that were completely amused by me and Skyler. Every day at the checkpoints we would all eat together in the dining halls. We were laughing and joking all the time. We even had a tower building competition with a couple from Italy. We used everything that was on the lunch table to build a tower from the table to the ceiling. This took concentration, agility, creativity and a steady hand. But the best part was when it came crashing down! We shared the huts we slept in with a couple from Germany that were on their honeymoon. They are awesome and great company!

One MAJOR thing I forgot to mention, we planned to summit on Christmas eve! Around midnight on the 23^rd we all started our summit! It was really tiring considering we were having trouble breathing and tired from the previous days hikes. But it was also so beautiful.

At Kibo Point we were at 4703m and very close to the sparkly starry sky! It was a five 1/2 hour hike up to Glimans Point, which is the start of the peak. Another 2 hours from there is Uhuru Peak, the highest point in Afrika! We made it to Glimans Point just in time to see the sunrise.

It was breath taking! Skyler was really feeling sick from altitude sickness and was struggling. At one point he wanted to go down and me go on to the top. But we were gonna make it together and WE DID!! TULIFIKA!!!!

We made it to Uhuru peak around 7am on Christmas Eve wearing our Santa hats (compliments of the lovely Tonja Rice!) It was really rough getting to the top but once I was there I had to make my mark some how…soooo I made a snow angel!! When I was explaining to our guide what I wanted to do he called it swimming in the snow! And thus Skyler and I managed to have a white Christmas Eve in Afrika.

Once pictures were taken and Skyler was about to pass out we began going back down. I think because we climbed this part in the dark I didn’t have a measure of how far it would be to go down. It was harder than I thought. And the most difficult part for me. We stopped to rest at Kibo Hut for a couple hours then continued going down to Horombo where the air was a little more tolerable. Once we were there and able to rest it sunk in that we made it and were very proud of our awesome accomplishment! Merry Christmas from Uhuru Peak, Mount Kilimanjaro!

Our joy was only short lived unfortunately. Once we were rested I turned on my cell phone I wanted to send a text to everyone saying we made it to the top. But instead received a text from our Dad that our step father, Hank, was not doing well and we needed to call home ASAP. Hank had been sick and in the hospital for months and a couple times my Mom had talked to me about coming home to see him, but things always bounced back. This time though, we found out he was not going to be able to bounce back. They wanted us to come home…We had a huge choice to make because Skyler had been planning this trip for a year, now he is finally here. Yes, we climbed the mountain but he had not yet experienced true Tanzania. So we decided we would cut his trip short a week but still go to my village so he can see where and how I live. We had to cut out going to Matema beach on Lake Malawi for New Years and a luxurious, exotic get-a-way to Zanzibar.

In Part 2 I will elaborate on Skyler’s journey to my village. I’m running out of time with electricity because the bus is coming and I have some errands to run.

With Love!