Day 3

Shira Camp (12,300') to Barranco Camp (12, 800').

The hike today was brutal. The oxygen level in the air decreased substantially. I felt out of breath and had a slight headache as we hiked to about 14,200' in the early afternoon. I took Diamox in the morning to alleviate the headache associated with high altitude sickness. It helped. But since Diamox was diuretic, I was on the constant lookout for that big rock or big bush to hide behind to answer the call of nature.

After lunch we had the option of continuing to Lava Tower (15,000', close to the rockslide that killed 3 Americans shortly after we descended Kilimanjaro) before hiking down to camp. I was in no shape to hike that extra hour. So a group of us splitted off from the main group and went with an assistant guide to Barranco Camp.

The assistant guide kept saying that it was going to take "45 minutes only" to hike to camp. I was a fool for believing him (well, perhaps he meant that it would take him that amount of time... not mortals like me). His 45 minutes turned into 3 hours!

Due to the potential danger of having water seeping through the tent, Madhu and I had to use a small shovel to dig a trough to channel water away from the tent. It didn't help that our tent was a slope.

Our reward of the day: the porters got together near the camp site and sang the Kilimanjaro song for us. Even though I was told that the ratio was 3 porters to 1 person in the tour group, that was the first time I saw the entire group of porters together. I like the catchy tune... many of us in the group started humming the tune during the remainder of the trek and safari. (Hmm...perhaps my recollection was a little off.... other Bootsnall member recalled that it was on day 2 that the porters sang...well, high altitude sickness can impair memory)

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