Kilimanjaro Top Ten + 1

I shouldn’t be doing this.

Most of the hikers are now on safari and a couple of others on their long routes home. By virtue of proximity to Tanzania and World Cup tickets to Portugal vs Spain, I arrived home first by a long shot. Today, while the others are chasing lions or trying to sleep off their exhaustion in airports, I’m hungover at work and doing a fabulous job of earning my keep. Within a couple of hours of de-planing I was several vuvuzela beer bongs deep and being ushered by police out of Cape Town Stadium amidst throngs of screaming (real) Spanish soccer fans. My Spanish singing was totally on point and I am tremendous role model of how one should recover from 8 sleepless nights and an extremely challenging physical feat. Welcome back to Sea Level!

I should allow time for the others to gather their thoughts and photos onto this blog before chiming in, but on the flight home I came up with my Top 10 list and am just too excited (read procrastinating the mountain of work staring at me) to wait.

So hear goes, subject to opinion:

10. After starting a tally for the number of times Chloe (the gynecologist) brought up ‘girl parts’ into conversation, it was usurped by a group tally for bodily functions. We lost count. You get very close at altitude.

9. Jenni imitating Rocky at the Philadelphia Art Museum upon reaching camp on Night One. Those punches were dangerous.

8. Fred hiking 4 out of 6 days in blue jeans and Lacoste t-shirts. He wins the Best Dressed at 5,000m amsl award, maybe ever. Unless hairstyles count, in which case Camille’s experiment with no-rinse powder shampoo was hot – she looks good with silver hair.

7. Trish, Lucas and Kiran’s camp-made (lower than home on the ‘made’ pecking order) version of The Blair Witch Project. Even better live.

6. After requesting Swahili lessons, the porters sent Aimee-Noel and Kiran off with ‘powa ka chizi komandizi, powa ka chizi komaparachichi’ – crazy banana, crazy avocado. Says alot about the persona of this duo.

The next day, Isaiah, our guide looked at Kiran and told him ‘TMBB – too much blah, blah.’ Kristin, also keen to learn Swahili. excitedly asked him to say it slower so she could understand. Teeee Emmm Beeee Beeee…

5. Trish be-friending 7 year old Moosa by chatting him up while he was meant to be tending goal in soccer at the Sports Day. Their friendship cost his team several goals and him the respect of his teammates, but Trish is still proud of herself. Way to be a role model Cubellis.

4. Paloma, on summit night, asking Jenni ‘can you please pull down my pants?’ It was too cold to take her mittens off, but when you gotta go, you gotta go. Now that’s teamwork.

3. Fred leaping up in the middle of the night and announcing that there were galloping animals outside the tent…..that turned out to be Aimee-Noel sprinting to the facilities in -15 C with a bad case of travelers ‘ladoooona’.

2. Lucas chasing Kristin at full sprint at 4,400 metres amsl blaring Lady Gaga on his iphone. ‘Make, gasp, it, gasp, go, gasp, away, gasp.’

1. Zeus (Kiran – I eat lightning and crap thunder) declaring himself ‘the first to blow chunks on Kilimanjaro’ and thereby initiating a 24 hour puke-a-thon. In a most impressive display of courage Kristin, Lucas, Camille (12 times) and Kiran (lost count) barfed their way up a 9 hour, 5.4 km, 1,200 metre elevation hike to the summit in -25 degree weather.

PS Zeus capped it off with a beer upon returning to lower altitude – first food he successfully stomached in 36 hours.

Bonus #1 – Reaching Uhuru Peak at 5,895 metres amsl at 7am June 27th with all ten Climbers. Capping off a hilarious and challenging spiritual journey that will stay with each of us forever.

Aimee-Noel