Poa kichizi kama ndizi

Kilimanjaro Day 3

Day 3 was one of my favorites. It was a long day, and we hiked from Shira Camp 2 to Baranko Wall, but it we really got to know our guides, I began my quest to become fluent in Swahili in a week, and the views were incredible. 

View of the summit as we ate breakfast.

Good morning, world. 

Our awesome group, my dad, and one of our Turkish friends singing and dancing to start off the day. 

Every morning, our group sent us off by singing to us/with us. Some of our group, especially Dickson, Bima, and Erick, had beautiful voices. My favorite part of the day was the singing in the morning. We we all together, everyone was having such a great time, and the songs were just so pretty.We sang so much on that mountain, and there are some songs that will always remind me of Kilimanjaro. 

Everyone started at the exact same time the morning of Day 3, so the path was pretty crowded. I liked it though, because we had so many people to talk to for the entire walk. On this day, we made friends with two young couples: one from Israel and one from Italy. They were so cool and I learned a lot from talking with them. 

Dad, Me, Epa, and Erick

Me chillin in front of Lava Tower.

Lava Tower.

At this altitude, there isn't a huge variety of plants, but these flowers are common. 

I almost didn't want to post this picture because it just doesn't do the actual scenery justice. This was our view from our campsite on the third night. The campsite is called Baranko, and it was my personal favorite site. 

It was this day that we really bonded with our guides. I taught them a little Spanish slang, and they taught me some more Swahili. The young Tanzanian guys who dress well and are street smart are called "sharobaro." As we were walking down into this valley shown above, Erick and Epa taught me some street slang on Day 3, including the caption of this post. "Poa kichizi kama ndizi" roughly translates to "Cool, crazy like a banana" and is a response to when someone asks you "mambo?" or "whats up?" We laughed so much, and it is one of my fondest memories of the trips. I was so lucky to have two such fun guys walking with me the entire time, making the hiking so enjoyable. There wasn't a moment on the entire trip where I wasn't having the time of my life with these two. I easily could've landed two guides who only wanted to do there job: get me successfully to the summit. These guys were more than guides, they were my friends. If anyone ever wants to climb Kilimanjaro, you'd be missing out by not having these guides. You know how to get in contact with me and I can make sure you get in contact with them.