KILIMANJARO JOURNAL 4 
2nd Day at Horombo Hut
|
~ 2 September 1996 ~
8 PM - Everyone is settling in for the night after dinner. I was feeling kind-of ill after lunch, so I laid in my sleeping bag until dinner. I should have known better than to have eaten lunch. It was fried potatoes, egg, carrots, tomato, cucumber, and a strange looking pickle.
It tasted like everything had been fried in a vat of animal grease. All of the food that the porters cook for us tastes like the smoke from the wood that they burn. It’s really a distinct flavor. At first it was cool because it was so different, but now it’s starting to get to me.
For a while I felt like I was going to have diarreah but I didn’t. I ate some ginger and took some Immodium-AD to be safe. Tomorrow I think I’ll eat a lot of dried apples just to be safe. Otherwise I’m feeling ok. The guys seem to be doing fine. They had spaghetti and Ralph meatballs for dinner.
One bucket of water for washing to share with 7 guys!
The sky has been so beautiful at night. Tonight is not as clear as last night, but there are still more stars out than I have ever seen in my life. Dad showed me the Southern Cross - that was a first for me. I just walked back from the bathroom, and as I looked at the hut there was a galaxy full of
stars behind it, shimmering everywhere. It was incredible.
Speaking of the bathroom, that is quite an experience in and of itself. They do flush, but it’s just a hole in the ground with a porcelain foot tread. The trick is to squat as low as you can. It took me a couple of tries to figure this out. Since yesterday, I guess a lot of people have been sick or
had diarreaha, and the foot treads are pretty messy. So now I have to squat on my tiptoes while trying not to puke from the smell. I miss my bathroom at home!
I haven’t seen my reflection for three days now. It’s kind-of strange. I have no idea what I’m looking like. I don’t even want to know what my hair looks like. A long hot shower is going to be a warm welcome at Marangu Hotel...
There’s been an ongoing joke about everyone’s urine. We’ve all been so concerned with staying hydrated, and Sea Moose told us that we must drink four cups of tea with every sitting plus two quarts of water per day, so that the urine is clear and copious at all times. So we’ve been toasting our tea to “Clear and Copious” at dinner. Don wants to make “Clear and Copious ‘96" patches and sell them. I think we should all get t-shirts made for a group photo.
The Saddle is the half-way point to Kibo tomorrow. So at least we know what the first half of the day will be like.
INFORMATION ON ALTITUDE SICKNESS
JENNIFER'S JOURNAL
| |
|
|
 jennifer home
|
It's 3 PM am I'm resting in the hut after lunch. Today was our second day at Horombo Hut. We woke up later, at 7 AM, had our tea, hot water wash, and ate breakfast at 8 AM. Then we took our time getting ready for the hike to the Saddle.
Richard and I filtered the water for the day. Jeff said he wasn’t going to hike today because he felt tired from yesterday, but then at the last minute he changed his mind and decided to go. It took about 2 ½ hours to hike to the Saddle
The only bad thing that has happened so far is that I couldn’t find my toothbrush at Mandara Hut but luckily I found it amongst my things at Horombo. It was really cold this afternoon at the Saddle, but I feel much better now. The air is so dry up here. Last night my throat and
lips were so dry that it woke me up several times during the night. Tonight I’m prepared with water and lip balm at my bed. I haven’t had any major headaches, and I really hope that this upset stomach passes. I’m just trying to focus on one battle at a time, one step at a time, one goal at a time.
