We spent Christmas in Moshi, Tanzania. I went with the Swedes to the center for street children they volunteer at. It was fun spending time with them, both the kids and the Swedes. That night we made Christmas dinner at the Swedes apartment, good old American pancakes. Then we caught a bus to Dar Es Salaam on Dec. 26 and spent the night with a local, thanks to Kristina, named Esther who was nice enough to pick us up from our hotel, take us to her house for drinks, and take us to a buffet. Who could ask for anything better.

The next day I made a decision to travel by myself and stayed in Dar Es Salaam while the others got on a bus around 5:30am to head south. They all need to be back in Mozambique relatively soon and I have a few months left before I head back so I decided, since the visa entry for Tanzania was $100 for 90 days, I would stay. I miss the group but am excited for the solo time ahead of me. So I got to spend a day with Esther's nieces in Dar Es Salaam. The next day I went to the beach with a friend I met at the YWCA hostel. And on Dec. 29 I caught a bus to Lushoto, Tanzania. It is a town located up high in the mountains, the perfect place to spend New Years!

Me absolutely dominating Pastory at arm wrestling, yes!!

Pastory and Maggie.


My favorite, even though you shouldn't have them, street kid, Pastory and I.


I taught the kids how to make snowflakes.


Maggie with the street kids in front of a beautifully decorated Christmas tree.

The wonderful lunch that was donated to the shelter.

The Swedes (three girls from Sweden) that let us share Christmas dinner with them as long as we cooked them American pancakes, we accepted.

Ali, Chase and Hans throwing down some Christmas pancakes.

Freshly trimmed Paul on Christmas day, thanks Maggie.

Hans, a very strong mountain climber, showing his honor to the Disney movie Lion King by being Rafiki's stunt double. They speak some of the native tongue in the movie that is used in here in Tanzania, Swahili.

I was fortunate enough, thanks Kristina, to have some local hook ups in Dar Es Salaam. They took me to the beach front where we relaxed.

An ocean shot in Dar Es Salaam.

Oh how they love Obama here! If you can believe it, he is even more popular than Derron Williams of the Utah Jazz.

Resting up on Coca Beach in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

My feet deserved some beach time after climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.

I was one of four white skin colored people I saw on this beach, it was great!

This is the town I am staying in, Lushoto, Tanzania, for New Years and maybe more. I plan to do some hiking while I'm here.

Summit!

The highest point on Mt. Kilimanjaro is Uhuru Peak on the volcano Kibo. It stands at 5,895 meters (19,341 ft).
Learn more about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilimanjaro.

We reached the summit via the Machame route at 6:20am on December 21, 2008

We are back from climbing to the highest point on the African continent, Mt. Kilimanjaro! It was a great time and 5 of the 6 of us made it to the summit, one person got altitude sickness about 2 hours from the summit and had to go back to camp. It was a very challenging climb, greater than I expected. On summit day, four people in our team threw up including our head guide, one person was very delirious and couldn't walk in a straight line for the last hour of the climb, and as mentioned previously one person had to turn back.

I wish this computer had the capabilities to crop photos, oh well, the photos below will give you an idea of what our 6 days on Mt. Kilimanjaro were like. Chase is updating his blog about the climb, visit his blog by linking to it on the top right of the page under Chase in Africa.

Camp 1.

Day 2, just hiking up and up. Our climbing team including our head guide. Standing from left to right: Chase, Hans, Jimmy, and Rasta (our guide). Sitting from left to right: Patrick, Ali, and me.


One of our delicious dinners in the mess tent, Jimmy is being served by the Assistant Cook. Our Head Cook Richard was wonderful and we always had plenty of food.


Climbing through the steep green portion of the mountain.


What appears to be a leopard print on the trail. Too bad we didn't get to see the cat.


Some trees and clouds.


Another camp's tent and a beautiful ridge line.


A tent from another climbing team and a mountain in the distance, not Kili.

The sunset from camp 2 looking out to another mountain, not Kili.


Mine and Chase's feet in our sandals at 4600 meters, 14,950 feet. We hiked in them all the way up to this point. After that is was too cold to go further without shoes.


Chase and I, loving life on the mountain!


Chase and I lounging around, the clouds rolling in.

Camp 3.

Mt. Kilimanjaro from camp 3.

The climbing team in the clouds at camp 3.


Sunrise on camp 3.


These trees are so bizarre, we loved them.


An amazing view.


A portion of the steepest part of the hike, nothing too technical.


Some trail action. Notice how much the porters carry, they hold rice bags full of gear on their heads. They are amazing.


Ali and Jimmy cruising up the trail.


Me with the trail we hiked in the background on the right, the same trail from the photo just above.

Hiking on day 4.

Camp 4, a view of my tent and Mt. Mawenzi in the background.


The sunrise while reaching the summit.


I finally reached the summit!

It took us 6 hours to reach the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro where we watched the sunrise. From left to right: Chase, Ali, Hans, Me, Rasta (our Head Guide), and Patrick.

A view of the crater on Mt. Kili, looking west.

Our porters, cooks, guides, and climbing team on Day 6. An entourage just shy of 30 people.

An view from the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro of the glacier to the south.

Cloudy Mt. Kili.

Me and the mountain during our descent.

Kids getting firewood and grass to feed there cattle from the mountain.

Me with two of our Assistant Guides, Anew and Happy God, at the gate leaving the Mt. Kilimanjaro national park.

My certificate saying I reached the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro at 6:20am on December 21, 2008.

Mt. Kilimanjaro climb starts tomorrow!

We are climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro tomorrow, Wednesday December 17. We will climb the Machame route for 5 nights and 6 days. We will summit the evening of the 4th day, around midnight.

Our guide service is Kessy Brothers. There website may be linked below.
http://www.kessybrotherstours.com/kilimanjaro_routes.htm

So I should be back in the town of Moshi the afternoon of Monday December 22.

I hope we all make it to the summit!

Happy Holidays!!!

A few photos to brighten you day.

Those of you who truly know me know I love Strawberry Quik.

Chase's maid, Olga, rocking some US Ski Team pins as earings and one on her shirt.



Mt. Kilimanjaro from the top of our hotel room, the one on the left.

I hope the mountain allows me to get to the top, we start our trek on Wednesday. 6 days on the mountain.

Just some more beach fun, Merry Christmas!

The Kilimanjaro Adventure Begins!

Our travels up north to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro (Kili) have begun. We left on Dec. 6 and are currently at a southern Tanzania in a town called Mbeya. It has been quite the journey. A few highlights are listed below. I hope everyone is getting amped for the holiday season!

-We had 34 people, 38 if you include babies on the backs of their mothers, crammed in an open backed chappa, a small truck where three people sit in the front cab and the back of the truck has a canvas cover with two benches down the side. In the back about 6 people sit on each bench and the rest of the people stand. This was a record for a chappa ride I've been able to partake in. Another great part was when the gas tank dropped and was dragged on the ground for a few hundred feet. No worries, we just stopped and they tied it back up and we drove on.
-We went over a road for with so many potholes that we spent most of the time on the side of the road in the dirt so we didn't have to weave around the potholes on the asphalt.
-We stayed at a Portuguese gentleman's extra house in Chimoio, Mozambique that had 4 bedrooms, air conditioning, a swimming pool, and more cockroaches and ants then I've ever seen in a kitchen. All out of the goodness of his heart, no charge, he likes US Peace Corps volunteers.
-We camped in Blantyre, Malawi for $1.50 per person at a backpackers.
-We rode in the back of a flat bed truck for 6 hours with chickens, rice bags, 20 people, and no seats in the heat of the sun. At one time I was straddling one woman and her baby, my ankle was being torqued by a gentleman on my right, and the guys on blocked any comfortable position for my left leg. At one stop a climbing team member was playing soccer with no shoes on. Turned out he popped two huge blisters on the bottom of his feet in the process. It was a memorable ride.
-We rode on the one bus for 16.5 hours overnight, a new personal record. On this trip we also had our most serious racial prejudice treatment of the trip. There were people in the bus aisles the whole time blocking any sort of stretching out that may have been possible. Good times.
-One of our climbing team members had around $35 stolen from him at the border in between Malawi and Tanzania. Lesson learned, stay away from sketchy money changers in between borders.
-We are in our third country and crossed both borders in 48 hours. Malawi only took 20 hours to cross by bus.
-Christmas is not in the air, but plenty of pollution and body odor makes up for the sweet scent of Christmas.

So we will try to travel north to Moshi, Tanzania by December 15 where we will secure a Mt. Kilimanjaro guide. We hope to be climbing the mountain over Christmas, should be fun.