I woke up in the middle of the night with my throat on fire and my and ribs feeling like a bomb had gone off inside. I have never had heartburn before but this had to be it. I laid there for what seemed like 30 minutes but was probably closer to 3 willing it to go away and myself to go back to sleep. Finally at least 300 seconds later I got up and woke up ASL because I really couldn't figure what else to do. He got up too and went with me to the bathroom (which had way too much odor to go inside) and stayed with me while I threw up. Did I mention that at higher altitudes lots of people throw up anyway?
After that field trip we both consulted our medicine bags and came up with Pepto Bismol. I took a couple and then propped myself up GERD style and attempted sleep. The next morning he disappeared for a bit while I was packing and came back with the Cambridge equivalent of Tums which would turn out to be life saving or at least an amazing relief. I later met the guy he got them from by going tent to tent, Ben from Cambridge. He was a really nice guy. I thanked him repeatedly.
Breakfast was as always delicious but this time very hard for me to swallow. Our guides suggested that from this point forward my food should be boiled. I was completely on board with this idea.
Today we weren't the first to leave. I am not quite sure why. We were ready. Finally we got the ok. At this point we had all been officially anointed by Kilimanjaro: intermittent headaches, stomach upset & today even brief periods of dizziness.
Our highest point today would be Lava Tower. We would leave the morelands and enter the alpine desert.
Climbing Kilimanjaro is about patience, being positive and pushing through.
Even the guides and the porters get symptoms sometimes although I don't think our assistant guide ever had them (did I mention he has been up Kilimanjaro over 200 times and at 200 he stopped counting? If I did I don't apologize, because this is incredible.).
On the way to lava tower our guide requested I put on some music. I complied with my 2015 run mix (Beyoncé, Jason Derulo and Odezsa were a welcome distraction from our loping Eyore-esque pace (which is how I will think of pole pole walking always)). Fortunately for me ASL was carrying my backpack which was he heavier of the two so this walk was much less hard than it could have been.
Upon our arrival to Lava Tower it began pouring rain (it was quite cold to begin with and this definitely added to it). Picture Mordor: barren, lava rocks and a dense cloud like mist. I had just laid out our lunches which were in my day pack when the rain started. We quickly scrambled underneath a rocky overhang.
Lunch was great. I heart "Glucose" cookies (kind of like short bread and easy to swallow). We also had chicken, a mayo cucumber and carrot sandwich (I picked out the veggies), mango juice, a banana and a muffin. It made almost everyone feel better.
While still under the rock we met a guy from San Francisco whose sister went to UNC (go tarheels!!) who asked me the panthers score. We suited up in our rain gear grabbed our umbrellas and off we went to descend to our next camp.
By this point it was pouring and sleeting.
Our descent was picturesque and a little insane. We repeatedly crossed what had likely only a few hours earlier been peaceful mountain creeks but we're now "rushing" and occasionally a smidge precarious if you will. Everyone's feet but mine got wet (thank you Lowa hiking boots). We descended quickly to escape both the altitude and the rain.
We arrived at Barranco camp and it was our most beautiful campsite yet to this point we had seen many beautiful things but this was unexpected. As we arrived the rain stopped and Kibo revealed itself. I didn't look at it for too long. I was unable to fathom that in 36 hours I would be going there. I kind of wished it would stay hidden.
For a brief while the sun was out and we sat on rocks and dried our clothes and watched the birds but then it started again and we were back to our tents. I propped myself up heartburn style and actually slept.
We were woken up for dinner and they had boiled some food. Sadly it was so hard to swallow I couldn't eat or drink very much. We all took ibuprofen and were urged to go to sleep since we would not really sleep the next night. It was around 8 pm
Today altitude 3950m and seven hours walking
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