Day 2: not so pole pole

The plan was to wake up early at 6 am, eat breakfast and depart by 7 am. This was to avoid the masses who apparently all leave at 8 am. 

Breakfast was huge. One rule of thumb seems to be when you think the meal is done you should expect at least two more courses. All meals with breakfast as no exception begin with hot water that can be turned into coffee, tea, hot milk, milo, or hot chocolate. Usually next comes some type of soup situation (at breakfast a porridge made from white corn and condensed milk). Then we had eggs, sausage and bread with peanut butter +/- honey. 

As soon as we finished breakfast and stopped at the bathroom (yes there are bathrooms which was a pleasant surprise save the smell. The bathrooms consist of a hole in the floor. The difference between the men's and the women's is that the ladies have blocks to stand on.). 

We were the first out of the camp which turned out to be genius because we completely missed the rain. 

Today we hiked through the moorlands to Shira Camp for four hours. 

At the end of the day we were told that we were not very pole pole (pronounced po-lay. Pole on its own in Swahili means sorry. Pole pole means slowly. One of the ways to successfully summit Kilimanjaro is to walk very slowly. This helps with acclimatization and hopefully keeps you in the "mild category" of Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS)).

 Yeshua was our pacer and had our best interests in mind. We decided that we needed to heed his advice.

Upon arrival to the camp we had a snack followed by lunch and then were told to take naps.

They woke us several hours later to take us on walk to Shira cave, a place where the original campers used to sleep and then to the top of that rock formation to survey the campsite.

It was here that we caught our first view of Kibo. It seemed far far away and unreal. 

After a really delicious dinner which I will definitely try to recreate upon my return. The main course was veggies and fried fish in a tomato based sauce served on rice with a sautéed cabbage on top. Other items in this meal included fried bread. 

I can confidently say that in the last few days I have consumed more deep fried food than I have consumed up to this point total in my life. 

Off to sleep we went to attempt the same plan of early to rise and early to leave the next day.