The Road to Moshi
Corrine and I woke up bright and early this morning to pack up and head downtown to take the Riverside shuttle to Moshi, Tanzania our starting point to begin our Kilimanjaro ascent. Along the road we have seen farmers working in their fields wearing their traditional bright colored cloths, we've seen several stray donkeys, lots of cattle, and we've stoped for a herd of goats crossing the street. We have encountered all sorts of landscapes from the flat savannah, to large beautiful mountains comparable to Oregon, to the occasional town or small mini mart and larger towns like Arusha buzzing with excitement as women sell fruits or garments on the street, children in uniforms walk home from school, and UGH I have about 200 mosquito bites that just interrupted my train of thought.
As I write this we are 36 kilometers away from Moshi and I feel like a little kid Christmas morning waiting for Kili to appear. Although it looks as though it could be lost in the clouds, I read that there is usually a window of time in the mornings and evenings it clears up enough to see the snow covered summit. I'm excited. My body knows something crazy is about to happen. Weeks and weeks of planning, reading blogs, REI trips, emailing with the treking company, medical visits, Skype sessions with Corrine, and of course a Costco Trip to find the perfect energy bar and trek mix and it is finally here. Dun dun da dun duh daaaaaa!!
We begin our day at 8am tomorrow with a 45min bus ride to the entrance gates. Of the seven routes up the mountain, we chose the 6-day Marungu route which is one of the oldest, more popular routes and the only one with A frame type huts along the whole trek. Watching the weather forecast I'm particularly thankful we ended up choosing this route as we expect daily rain and snow near the top. Temperatures look pretty good though, ranging from upper teens at the top but we should be in the 30s-40s for a good portion of the climb.
Corrine wrote me a note before this trip, it said "pain is inevitable, suffering is optional", perhaps a mantra for kili she says. Lots of truth there. And maybe I'll go back on saying this, but I'm READY for this, I'm ready for all of it. I'm excited to be sore and heavy legged in the morning. I can't waiiit to venture through several different ecosystems and have long conversations with our guides, porters and the other trekkers sharing our camps. I love the idea of pushing my body to its limits and always have. This climb, is one of the most, if not the most, influential reasons I came to East Africa... and I'm going to take in all of it. Bring it on.
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