Surprisingly, day 2 was one of the more memorable days of the climb. First of all, it was the first day we woke up on the climbing route to good-natured African staff knocking on our tents, offering “bed tea.” If my recall was correct, we were offered tea, coffee, or hot chocolate. I don’t care for tea, but on this first early morning on the climb, I opted for the tea. It is called “bed tea” because you drink it in your tent before you get up:
If you read Day 1’s post, you will know that The Badger is NOT a morning person, but I recall being quite tame with the poor guy that woke me at whatever-time-it-was. I was nice, even! I didn’t bite him–hard! 🙂 Actually, I was very appreciative for the gentle wake-up and the beverage. It was time to get the day started and face my continued fears of climbing closer to Kili, who was looming off in the distance. I noted with some concern that my sleep had not been great, but I recognized that this would probably not be the last time that I would be sleep-deprived on this climb (stay tuned for the summit night post).
I rolled up my sleeping bag and put all the gear that wasn’t going in my day pack into the expedition pack for poor Eli, my porter, to carry–a routine that would occur with greater difficulty each day due to less oxygen availability, lack of sufficient, quality sleep, and increasing Badger irritability and disorientation. After that, I stumbled out of my tent and headed towards the mess tent for breakfast. I don’t remember what we ate, but it was good. I think I remember some porridge and possibly some toast and eggs. I had a good appetite this morning, so I ate heartily, got my 3 liter water bladder filled and put into my backpack, and headed out at the designated time to meet the rest of Team Alpha (basically Amilya Antonetti and me) to start our climb and get a head start on the faster climbers. Here’s Amilya looking like she’s having far too much fun:
The night before, Jeff had described day 2 as “stairmaster.” His description was pretty apt, because we spent hours climbing up a steep rocky route until we reached our lunch stop. I started to settle into the routine, which allowed me to relax just a little and really notice all the porters and guides for the first time. Amilya and I were both amazed at how much the porters carried and how they carried it — often on their heads. There was an ostensible weight limit, but I swear some of those porters looked like they were carrying much more. I felt very badly for them, especially because some seemed to be laboring as hard, or even harder, than me. After all, they were carrying more than twice the weight I had on my back. Some of them looked downright ill, which caused me concern.
This day was notable because we also got to know our African guides a little better. As we climbed the stairmaster before lunch, we were entertained by Larick aka RG 3 aka Smiley aka Cheka (Swahili for “laughter”), Dastan, Netod, and Goodlove. At some point, RG 3 broke out into a song and dance routine, eliciting laughter from everyone nearby. What a ham!
To my great amusement, I and others received a few marriage proposals from my “Tanzanian husbands,” which included one proposal for 20 buffalo and another for five elephants and a giraffe. Dastan proposed to the Badger first and was disappointed when RG 3 “stole” his “wife” (mke in Swahili). Too funny! After receiving RG 3’s competing proposal, I commented that I couldn’t possibly turn down five elephants and a giraffe! Here is Dastan showing his disgust at being outmaneuvered by RG 3: Badger receives competing proposals
And here is a great pic of my two new Tanzanian husbands (apparently polygamy is not an issue on Kilimanjaro!):
They also joked around quite a bit in general, clearly part of their excellent training in making climbers feel at ease and relaxed. More importantly, they put up with our shenanigans and nonsense. It worked. It made the slog up the hill more enjoyable.
As we neared the lunch spot, the temperature got pretty unbearable for me–too hot. It sucked the life force out of me, but eventually we did get somewhat of a breeze and a reprieve. We continued to climb up until we reached a set of exposed “stair” rocks that made me very uncomfortable due to my fear of heights. I wish I had a picture! Anyway, I just scrambled over them as quickly as possible, and the lunch spot came into view.
Lunch was welcome and delicious. After eating and adding more water to my backpack bladder, Amilya and several others who had joined us headed out to do the remaining climb to Shira Camp. Unbeknownst to me, this would be the most difficult part of the hike in terms of my acrophobia. I can’t describe what we climbed over, but let me just say that there were spots that were like ledges hanging out over the ether. Navigating them required putting your trekking poles down and using your hands and legs for what RG 3 called “monkey business.” A few spots scared me so badly that RG 3 noticed, and he quietly and calmly reassured me, showing me exactly where to put my hands and feet to get across. I gritted my teeth and did it. Eventually the guides told us “no more hard stuff,” and we did a little dance to celebrate it.
I don’t remember the exact sequence of events after that, but I remember wanting to get going, and RG 3 continued to lead me. (As it turned out, he was my dedicated guide for the rest of the climb–you’ll hear more about him in future posts.) We finally reached Shira Camp later that afternoon and got checked in, but not before taking the obligatory “victory” snapshots:
Shira Camp stood out to me probably more than any other camp because the view was spectacular. It was also an “opportunity” to enjoy the rarified air at 12,500′. Fellow climber Stevi Gelinas and I took advantage of the beautiful views, and she captured these photographs of the Badger on the last time that she felt somewhat human:
And here’s a picture of me and Stevi enjoying the moment:
After forcing myself to eat something, I retired to my tent for night #2 on the Machame Route. Sleep was elusive and would only get harder to attain. But I did get some shuteye, with Kili standing in the distance daring me to wake up and continue onward the next day.
I love reliving the experiences through your blog posts!