The bed
tea wakeup call is slightly later than normal this morning. Don and I are both up already when Emmanuel
comes by, but we figure we’ll laze in our warm sleeping bags for a bit. I suddenly realize that I desperately have to
pee and when Emmanuel “knocks” with his cheery morning greeting I stumble out
of my sleeping bag into my shoes and head toward the nearest lavatory. Suddenly, I remember yesterday and hastily
head instead to a rock behind the toilet.
When I get back to our tent, Don is up and seated on one of the stools
with a cup in his hand. He looks well
rested and much cheerier than last night.
I join him and sit on the other stool and we sip our bed tea. The concoction this morning is ginger tea –
basically, water boiled with fresh ginger root.
Julio says it’s good for altitude sickness, and I find the hot ginger
water with a tea bag in to be really invigorating. Don drinks the water plain without the tea
bag.
It’s
overcast and cool outside the tent and I can tell that it will rain again at
some point. Ha, what’s new? After brushing my teeth and washing my face
with the warm water I decide I’m going to change into fresh clothes. Crawling into the tent I change my underwear,
put on a new undershirt and a fresh polypropylene top. It feels good to be wearing clean clothes. I debate whether I should pull on a fleece
jacket as well, then decide against it – it’s a bit cool but I know I’ll warm
up once we start walking. Plus I’ll
probably be donning my rain jacket pretty soon anyway.
Breakfast
is ready and we head to the mess tent.
It’s the usual porridge, eggs, bread and sausage. Don looks much better than he did yesterday
and tells me that he feels better too.
He’s not sure what it was from yesterday that didn’t agree with his
stomach, but decides that he too is going to pass on the sausage – he’s
convinced that it’s making him burp!
Some more hot tea and we are ready to hit the road once we’ve packed up our stuff. The porters begin dismantling the tents as we
set off.
 |
| The entire crew: shrouded in morning mist |
Incidentally,
I’m slowly starting to recognize many of them in addition to Ricky and Lucas. There’s John – the oldest of the bunch. Unlike most of the porters, who look in their
early to mid-twenties, he is probably in his fifties. I take an instant liking
to him. He doesn’t speak any English,
but he is a cheerful, and really, really hard-working guy. Apparently, he’s one of the experts with the
equipment and tents and he clearly knows his way around. At the other end of the spectrum there’s a
young, fresh-faced kid called Mahamud who looks to still be in his teens. I find out later on from Julio that this is
his very first trip on the Kilimanjaro trail and he’d just been hired from an
orphanage or home of some kind. The
veterans are keeping a close eye on him to see how he does. There’s a guy called Dickson and another one
called Cornel and another called Alex.
Still not sure about the other two guys – Julio had introduced them all
to us but I can’t remember their names right now...
We set
off around 9 AM and head up a smallish hill leading out of the camp site. Today’s walk will be the shortest of the
trek. It’s only about 5 miles and over
relatively flat territory on the famed Shira plateau. Normally we’d knock that off in well under
two hours, but Julio says to plan on 3 to 4 hours. We’re only going to be gaining about 250
meters today to a final altitude of around 3850 meters (roughly 12,700 feet)
but apparently, this is the altitude that helps best with acclimatization. In fact, the next two stops will both also be
around the 13,000 feet range.
 |
| On the way to Shira 2 |
The rain
starts almost right after we set off, so of course, on comes the rain
gear. Julio offers up some cock-and-bull
theory about how the time when the rain starts is related to the time when the
moon sets or the sun rises or some such thing.
Frankly, I find it ridiculous, but I don’t argue. All I know is that I detest this weather. As
we walk on, I observe the scenery around me, and it is pretty damn spectacular:
rolling hills and mostly grassland and heath/moor. I can’t believe that just yesterday morning
we were trudging through a dense rain-forest.
Most of the growth is just a few feet tall, but it’s pretty dense. And there are hills of various sizes and
shapes rising up all around. Don and I
are both feeling pretty good and we pick up the pace, but Julio and Abdallah
are much more deliberate and slow, so we slow down and amble along. Polepole
– remember? The trail pretty much follows the lay of the land gently rising
and falling, but with just a little bit more rising than falling. The vegetation is interesting and some of it
reminds me a bit of the California desert: strange looking succulents with
interesting flowers, small shrubs, and clumps of grass. A little before 12:30 – some three-plus hours
since setting off – we crest a small hill and right below us we see the next
camp: Shira Two.
As
usual, the rest of the gang has overtaken us long ago and set up shop. Julio tells us that a hot lunch awaits
us. Don and I are feeling pretty good. In fact, we’re regretting that this was such
a short day – both of us are ready to do several more miles! Other than this infernal rain, we’re in decent
shape, although I still feel a bit stuffed in the head from my cold. Don has fully recovered from his stomach bug
from yesterday and we’re both ready to eat.
Shira Two is also not a particularly busy camp site. A highlight of this location is that it has –
by far – the cleanest toilets of any site on the trek! I decide to take
advantage of this fact...
 |
| Camp at Shira 2 |
After
lunch - a pie of some sort, slightly sweetish flatbread with some sort of spicy
stew that tastes faintly Indian, and fruit - we debate what we should do. I’m not particularly tired or sleepy, but the
rain’s coming down as a faint but steady drizzle. Boring as it sounds, it seems like the best plan
would be to get into our sleeping bags and sleep. So that’s what we do. I’m
amazed with how easy it is to sleep; Don is envious of me – in general, he
doesn’t sleep as much or as well as I do!
When we
awake, the sky has cleared and it’s nice outside. We walk around a bit and soon enough,
Emmanuel announces that “soo-poo” is ready.
Dinner tonight is a vegetable “soo-poo” of some sort that I really
enjoy, followed by pasta and sauce that Don really enjoys. And of course, mango slices. All in all, we are both feeling SO much cheerier
tonight, despite the miserable weather. Maybe
we’re getting used to the cold and damp? Julio comes in when we are finishing
up and inquires about the water situation – Emmanuel will be coming in before
we sleep with enough hot water for us to treat for the next day. Julio is almost obsessive with ensuring that
we have at least 3 liters on us each day, and frankly, I’m okay with that. He informs us that tomorrow will be a long
day. “No really steep hills,” he says, “But we will be getting pretty high
because we will be going through Lava Tower, which is at 4600 meters. You need to rest so that we can start
early. We will be carrying lunch with
us.”
 |
| Morning at Shira 2 |
We duck
into our tents and get ready for bed.
Emmanuel comes by around 9 PM with two flasks of boiling water for
tomorrow. Don fills up his bottles and I
hold out my Camelbak for him to fill up.
Just as Emmanuel leaves, disaster strikes! I guess the hot water was too much for the
cold Camelbak bladder to handle, and all of a sudden water starts to squirts
out from its sides. I swing it out and
away from the sleeping bag just in time but it’s pretty obvious that the damn
thing is finished - the seal has simply melted away in a couple of places. So now I’m down to just the two water bottles
that I had brought along. My other water
supplies will have to be stored elsewhere.
Got to talk with Julio tomorrow, I guess. Right now, it’s time to sleep. I pop a couple
of NyQuil tablets to hopefully help clear my sinuses and get a good night’s
sleep. Don remarks that after tomorrow night we’ll be more than 50% done –
yaaay!
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