Calm before the Storm

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Before talking about Tanzania, some final thoughts about Rome. On my last day, I headed to the Vatican and was not disappointed. Didn't care too much for the Vatican museum, but was awed by Michaelangelo's work in the Sistine Chapel. I want to have the job of the guy who just says "Shhhhh" every five seconds in there. His job description also included saying "No photo" every minute or so. I had to fight the urge to take a picture of the "No photo" guy.

St. Peter's basilica. From what I've seen in my life, if I had to show somebody from another planet what Man is capable of in his finest moments, I would take him first to St. Peter's basilica. It is just staggering. I took a few pictures, looking at the LCD display on my camera and just put it away. Cameras are useless there. When the tour I was on was done, I went back in to take another lap. After that, I tried to leave the place, but it pulled me back in. Twice. It was hard to leave the place. It was just that impressive. And I'm not Catholic.

Tanzania. After concerns about getting here on time, having someone there from the tour outfit be at the airport to greet me after arriving two hours late on Ethiopian Air (I'll skip the obligatory joke about what the in-flight meals on an Ethiopian airline would be like) everything was a breeze.

I was very much looking forward to "climbing" Kili and during the drive from the airport to the hotel, I asked the driver if the shape in the distance, a pronounced dark ridge on the horzion, was the summit of Kili. He said, "No .... it is there." And pointed at a snowy summit .... waaay above the clouds. I just said, "oh" and suddenly felt *very* out of shape. Kili makes Mt. Rainier looks like a zit.

Tanzania is a very poor country, and the "hotel" I'm staying at is much more like a resort relative to its surroundings. Concrete walls envelope the compound, they've got a pool, etc., etc. And that's been representative of what the Mt. Meru portion of our trip was like. The five of us were supported by a team of 16 - head guide, assistant guide, national park guide, cook, assistant cook, waiter, and ten porters. It was a three-night trip, well within the scope of experience of everyone on the team to have done it ourselves, but the motto here is "spread the wealth". But we've been treated like kings. We're carrying small day packs and are sleeping in "huts" which are more like small villages. We slept in bunkhouses, ate in a dining hall, took advantage of showers, toilets, sinks and ate until our guts were splitting. Its just a whole new outdoor experience. The outfit, Zara Adventures, is great, and while it costs more than other local outfitters, its far cheaper than Western-based outfits and would recommend it to anyone.

So, we're at poolside sucking down 1/2 liter bottles of Kilimanjaro beer (for $1.00) and contemplating the start of our seven-day trip up Kili tomorrow. None of us are in killer shape, we all have our weaknesses (knees, stomach, for me ... constantly losing stuff) but I'm sure we'll all make it to the top. Although its hardly the "walk-up" I was described it as to people back home before I left.

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Comments

[anonymous]

Good luck climbing the mountain! My best friend did it years ago, and she'd never climbed a mountain before, so it's doable... but I'd sure never try it myself :)