January 18th
Final packing: picked up passport photos; met Derek and Patrick at
Logan; went to Houlihan's, had a beer and sandwich while waiting
for the flight to Heathrow in London -the flight was 40 minutes
late.
January 19th
Arrived at Heathrow Airport at 7:50 a.m. Met a young man on the
flight from Saco, Maine, who is going to Prague, Czechoslovakia, on
a study program from Colby College for 6 months; had a hot
latté at Heathrow waiting for a 10:10 connection to
Nairobi. No sleep on the flight from Boston; it was smooth and
uneventful except for the congeniality of the hostesses. Boarded
the plane for Nairobi for the 7½-hour flight. Getting
tired of doing nothing except watching movies, reading and
catnapping. Excellent meals on British Airways. Lasagna and a light
meal yesterday, salad and a baked chicken dish. The plane is a
large 747 capable of carrying 400 passengers. We crossed the
Mediterranean by passing Cairo and approaching the African
continent. London is 5 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time and
Kenya is 3 hours ahead of London time. We landed in Kenya at 8:17
in the afternoon Kenya time on the 19th of January at which time it
will be 12 noon on the 19th at home. The plane flies at
approximately 37,000 feet at the speed of 597 mph. The outside
temperature as of this writing is minus 57ºF. We will
be met at the airport by people from the Royal Oak Hotel who will
hold out signs with our names to establish contact. We arrived
intact. We arrived p.m. Paul (our contact) met us at the airport
and took us to the Royal Oak Hotel which was fully booked and had
no room for us. Paul called and made arrangements for Art, Derek,
Patrick and I to get rooms at the Comfort Inn. We purchased beers
in the lounge at Comfort Inn which had closed. Had a problem paying
the $3 for the beers, ended up giving them $10 and taking 2 beers
to our room. The room was stuffy with no air conditioner and Art
broke the water faucet off turning it on in the sink. I spied a
roach in the bathroom so I elevated our bags above the floor level.
Art's bed had a brown stain on the sheet which prompted him to ask
if I had been there before. The shower has no stall so the water
simply runs all over the bathroom floor. We've been advised not to
eat any uncooked food but warning us wasn't necessary. It was a
very long plane trip to get here.
January 20th
Had breakfast at the Comfort Inn which cost 600 Kenyan shillings. I
had: passion fruit juice, home fries, pepper & onion omelet, 1
fried egg, 2 cups of excellent coffee, and 2 pieces of fried dough.
They tell us that 65 Kenyan shillings equals $1. Waited for the bus
to take us to Moshi a 7½-hour trip. While waiting
outside the hotel I met my "pimp" Picasso. He said he would fix me
up when I got back and wanted to sell me a "happy charm" if I paid
him $1 plus some change for it. The bus trip was long and
informative. Kenya is hot, very dry, dusty and dirty. We passed
communities of unimaginable poverty. Old towns without electricity.
The animals - goats, cattle, sheep and donkeys, meander around back
and forth across the road with the bus frequently stopping to
prevent them from being killed. Saw a band of ostriches crossing
the road and huge termite houses. We had to switch buses twice. A
very long trip. Stopped at a couple of villages, the residents
would come out trying to sell bracelets, amulets, and other junk,
very aggressive especially when we stopped to obtain visas at the
Tanzania border. Arrived in Moshi at 4 p.m. Thursday and are
staying at an excellent motel. It is clean and has a restaurant and
is set away from town. Received a briefing from the Mauly Tour
owner and our guide Adam at 6 p.m. while having a few beers. Adam
climbs the mountain 26 times a year and is a short, rugged black
man. Mauly Tour owner is an attractive Arab lady. I forgot to say
every morning at 5 a.m. we are awakened by the Moslems chanting
their daily prayers. The meal at the hotel was excellent, banana
beet soup followed by chicken vegetable stir fry and rolls. Back to
the room to rearrange (again) our packs and cull out what we won't
take. The porters will only carry 15 kilos (30 lbs.). We'll leave
all in a plastic bag at Mauly Tours compound until we return.
January 21st
Met at the motel at 8 a.m. after a continental breakfast. Back to
Mauly's place and paid up and stowed some of our clothing because
we were limited to the 15 kilos mentioned above. Took a bus ride to
Machame Gate and signed in and our group of 10 started out trekking
the 10 miles through the Machame huts. The trail was very steep in
places. We trekked through the rain forest until we reached the
Machame campsite at an altitude of approximately 8,000 feet. Had
tea at 5 p.m. after we arrived at the Machame tenting area, took
pictures of the mountain and had supper at 7:30 consisting of
potato vegetable soup and fried mangos for dessert. Went to bed
after supper, there were loads of stars in the sky, the evening was
chilly maybe 50º--so much for the equator.
January 22nd
Breakfast at 7:30. Mangos and pineapple omelet and home fries and a
hot dog. The bread was toasted with peanut butter. Also had coffee.
Had to go to the bathroom and waited 15 minutes because someone was
in the latrine so I went in the woods. Left at 8:15 for the Shira
campsite. It was a very hard climb for the first 2½
hours; then along a cliff face to the Shira Camp and arrived at
2:30 p.m. Adam, our guide, goes very slowly to allow us to
acclimatize. He congratulated us on 2 successful days. There are
many tents here at the campsite and there are English, German,
French, Canadians and Turks. We were warned not to urinate beside
the tents after dark. Supper consisted of vegetable soup, rice,
meat and vegetarian sauce, salad, fresh mangos, coffee, cocoa or
tea
January 23rd
Went from Shira campground to the Barranco campground. 10 K (6.3
miles) in 8 hours. The first 4 miles were uphill gradually and down
steep slopes. We've been lucky so far, no altitude sickness. Went
to 13,400 feet today. Dinner consisted of cucumber soup, macaroni
with vegetarian sauce.
January 24th
A very, very long hard day. Climbed the Barranco wall which is
2,000 vertical feet, knees knocking all the way. The next pitch was
a brutal climb over rocks, up a steep grade and finally a steep
climb to the campsite on the edge of a cliff. We are now at 14,000
feet and it is very cold. I will sleep in my full gear as we are to
begin our final assent at midnight. It will be a bad one but once
there the worst will be over. We will start our descent tomorrow
around 8 a.m. I was the envy of all because I was able to get the
score of the Patriots game on my short-wave radio. Needless to say,
I am dead fucking tired. Supper consisted of vegetarian sauce,
vegetables and dessert.
January 25th
We left Barafu Camp for the summit at midnight. Adam, our guide,
leading, followed by me, Art and the others. I believe we were
lined up that way because we were the oldest and he wanted us to be
near him. As we were ascending the first section there was a rumble
to our right and a landslide was cascading down the mountain.
Apparently it was caused by an earthquake. The first section
involved ascending a series of large boulders and small cliffs. It
was cold, 10-15º. The next phase was the hardest part
of the whole climb. It was a major, major ball buster. It is the
section of the climb which finishes most people. It consists of a
steep zig-zag climb ascending about 2,000 feet over a material
which makes our feet slide back with each step for a period of 4-5
hours at 17-19,000 feet. As we were climbing, Adam heard my
breathing (I had been gasping since 12,000 feet) and Adam stopped
and said, "What do you want to do?" I told him between gasps that I
didn't come to Kilimanjaro to quit, so we went on. When we finally
got to a point where there was a band of people standing around,
Adam said "This is Stella Point," and he gave me a hug and said,
"Good job." Art came over and gave me a little poke in the chest as
to say "Good job." By this time, we had lost 3 of our party and aof
our party and almost elected to stay at Stella Point which is not
the highest point if Africa. Adam, I, Art and the others started
for the highest point, which is called Uhuru Peak, about 45 minutes
away. About half-way there I said to Adam, "What if I just sit here
and you pick me up on the way back?" He said, "No, you sit and you
go down, you go up and I go with you." I continued on with Art and
Adam until finally I saw a sign up on a huge rock with people
taking pictures, etc. That was it. Everybody took a bunch of
pictures and we started down, but before we started down Adam
instructed us on how to descend and he wanted us to sit back on our
heels and sort of ski down. I tried that for a little bit but soon
saw that there were both visible and hidden rocks and I was afraid
of twisting my weak ankle even though I had my support on it. So I
went down and fell further and further behind by now my aging legs
were jelly and I stumbled and stopped and one of Adam's assistant
guides came along and helped me all the way to the campground.
Especially difficult was climbing boulders and stepping down from
boulders. We arrived at the campground around 10 a.m. and rested
until 1 p.m. when we began our trek down the mountain to the Mweka
campsite which was a 5 hour hike away. Everyone was dog tired and
the route was brutal being filled with piles of stones, water bars
dug into the trail and many steps. Again I needed assistance, this
time from Adam. At some point I said to him, "I am sorry you have
to nursemaid me." He said, "You are a very tough man. You did what
you came here to do." I guess I'm well liked because when the
porters went by us each time with luggage, food supplies, water and
equipment they would shout, "babul" which means grandfather in
Swahili. It is the name one of the guys gave me when I first
arrived
January 26th
I am writing this section from our motel in Moshi where we were
bound from Mweka Camp from which we came at 11 a.m., stayed in the
motel where the others are staying for the night. We were bussed to
Nairobi in the morning and spent the night in Nairobi. It is a 7
hour trip. Then leave Nairobi in a flight to return to London via
Heathrow Airport and from London to Boston. When we returned to
Moshi from Mweka Campground, we turned in our rental stuff and
picked up our valuables and then went back to the Key Motel for a
beer, showers and sleep. We cleaned up and met around 4 p.m. on the
lawn where there are chairs and tables. We were given our
certificates (green if you made it to Stella Point and gold if you
made it to the top), Four of our group did not make it to the top.
Those who made it were Art, Kevin, Alex, Jeff, myself and Dr. John.
While sitting on the lawn, I learned that the guy from the next
table was from Newington. I went over and talked to him, his name
is Bill Murray and he is a nurse who lives on Great Bay Road in
Newington. He used to work at Frisbie Memorial Hospital and is a
good friend of Janice Parker, a nurse a Frisbie, who lives in
Farmington. Dinner followed and after it, I made a little speech. I
thanked Art and Sue for coming up with the idea, Jeff and Gregg for
implementing the details, and the whole group for being the most
intelligent, articulate, humor-loving and compassionate group I had
been associated with. Following my speech, they all shouted in
unison, "Babul!"
January 27th
Breakfast at the motel. The shuttle picked us up and swung by Mauly
to pick up my trekking poles which I had left at Mauly's security
compound yesterday and on to Nairobi with Art, Patrick and Derek.
Stayed in the Oakwood Hotel. We arrived at Oakwood at approximately
8 p.m., cleaned up and went across the street to the Stanley Hotel,
a first class place with a band, bar, restaurant, and so forth. I
had a couple of beers and a large plate of spaghetti with beef
bourguignon sauce, then went back to the Oakwood and went to
bed.
January 28th
Up at 6 a.m., showered and down to breakfast of scrambled eggs,
beans and home fries, coffee and toast. We were picked up at 7:30
by the shuttle to the airport. Went through customs and the plane
took off at approximately 10:30. We were advised that the flight
into the wind would take 8 hours and 50 minutes. We will however
gain 4 hours as we pass through the time zones. We were served an
excellent meal of scrambled eggs, fruit cup, hot dog, rolls, lemon
cake and a Twix bar. Arrived at Heathrow, boarded a plane for
flight to Logan and arrived at Logan at 9:30 p.m. on the 28th.
Susan and Jennifer Hoover met us at the airport and gave us a ride
home. Arrived home approximately midnight that evening.