Twende

Kilimanjaro Day 4
Twende means "Let's go", one of the most commonly used phrases on the mountains. 

This was the singing on Day 4 to send us off. I didn't take a video to preserve camera battery from the top, but I'm regretting it so much. 

This was the view from our campsite. Only one more day until we reach that summit. Time absolutely flew by. 

After Barranco camp, you have to climb Barranco wall, which is a steep climb that is kind of like rock climbing. I thought it was super fun. This is the hugging rock, you basically have to hug the rock because behind you is a huge drop off. 

This is the view of Barranco camp from Barranco wall. We got started really early, so most people were still packing up. It was so cool to look back on that multi-colored city and see all the people wandering around. Everyone who we came in contact with was ecstatically happy and ready to make friends, so a lot of those people are probably milling around, making friends with strangers, comparing stories, checking if the others are taking diamox/getting altitude sickness, etc.

We passed over the level of the clouds on the second day, and so every time we turned around there was a shelf of fluffy, clean cotton. This is Mount Meru, Tanzania's second highest mountain peeking over the clouds.

Porters scaling a wall will 30 kilos of weight balanced on their heads. Casually. 

Just me and my friend Mlima Kilimanjaro.

Epa, me, Dad, and Erick at the top of Barranco Wall.

I find Yankees fans wherever I go. My dad offered this guy trail mix, and then said he'd only give him some if he said he hated the Yankees. I don't think he cared if he got the trail mix or not, but he said he just liked the hat.  

I spent the entire afternoon previous to this learning more Swahili slang from my group. It worked out so that we were at the same pace as the rest of our group (besides the guides, who have to stay with us, everyone else moves at a much faster pace so that they can pack up your tent after you leave and set it up before you get to the next site), and so I got to hang out with them. One of the guys told me that now that I know Swahili I should just stay in Tanzania. Not such a bad idea....

Kilimanjaro is a volcano, and much of the rocks and landscape around Kilimanjaro are reflective of that. After this point, Erick put on some music, and he and I literally danced up the rest of the way to the camp. Some songs, like "Tonights Gonna Be a Good Night" and "I'm Coming Home" will always remind me of the climb. It was weird because we were at the last camp before the summit at the end of a long day of hiking, and were at about 15,000 feet, but I still had plenty of energy and breath to dance and sing with Erick. DJ Erick was so.much.fun to be around.  He, Epa, and the rest of our group is what made the climb so enjoyable and memorable. 

Means no complaining. 

Tent shenanigans. Making posters for the summit, journaling, reading Long Walk to Freedom, chugging my 6th liter of water. You know, getting crazy. 

Dinner the night before summit. Still no appetite because of the altitude, but ate it all in order to make Bima happy and because I needed to carbo load for the summit. To be honest, pasta has never tasted so good. Dickson was a sweet cook. 

 Erick being philosophical and watching the sunset.

 Sunset above the clouds. Every night we had an amazing sunset to watch.

Mlima Kilimanjaro segregation. It would be awesome if tourists and porters could share bathrooms, huh? I mean, they are carrying all your stuff. And, they're human too. Why can't everyone on the mountain just be on the same page? Porter payment and treatment is something that you should be wary of before you go. If you expect them to just serve you and leave you alone, don't climb. Get to know your porters. They're most likely awesome, and have a lot they can teach you. Some tourists think that these porters are poor Africans and they should be thanking the tourists for giving them a job. Are you kidding me? We are so indebted to them for happily carrying up our stuff. And its not easy for them, either. No matter how acclimated you are, weight is still weight, and I saw countless porters working up a serious sweat so that we could be comfortable. Americans tend to stereotype Africans as uneducated and poor. I've seen countless examples of people being surprised when they're not. Why is that? Does the media portray the continent in such a way? Its frustrating for me. 

Anyways, if you climb, make a point of asking porters how they are, letting them have the right of way, and learning a bit of their native language. You're in their country, after all. 

"Life is not measured by how many breaths we take, but of the moments that take our breath away." – Maya Angelou

John and I went for a walk up to the park ranger huts so I could sign my Dad and I in. We had a great chat on the way in broken English and Swahili, and ran into my friend Jordi, who recommended I take the picture above. I took the picture, but it was Jordi's idea to get the moon in. Jordi is from Barcelona, and I practiced my Spanish with him occasionally. Made me realize how miserable I actually am at that language...maybe I'll just switch to Swahili permanently. Why doesn't Villanova offer it??? We also ran into some of John's friends who got a kick out of a white girl speaking Swahili, especially because I used slang. I loved everyone's reactions when I would speak Swahili.

John took this picture of me. The clouds snuck in there. Clouds moved so fast on the mountain. You'd look at the summit, turn around, and five seconds later it would disappear behind thick clouds. 

Tents looking over the clouds. We went to sleep early that night so that we'd be ready for the summit at midnight.