Folinazzo

Everyone keeps asking, “So what did you do by yourself all those days after you left the rest of the group on Kilimanjaro?” My answer: everything and a whole lot of nothing. Explanation: I spent about one full day debating whether I should go home early or not. Physically, I was feeling fine. Plus Mark talked to my doctor in Chicago who thought that my situation was not serious enough (yet) to warrant my coming home early. Emotionally, however, I felt so lonely. The thought of eating breakfast, lunch and dinner by myself every day depressed me to no end. Ultimately I convinced myself to stay, realizing that I may not have another chance to return to Africa. Plus, I didn’t want to miss out on the safari. I also did a whole lot of thinking, reading, and writing. I filled up all the pages in one journal and had to start another, and I finally finished reading Jack Kerouac’s On The Road (it only took me about three months).

On Friday, the day after my “rescue”, I called Karen at the Porters Assistance Project. She invited me to go down to the office and hang out with her. So I took a taxi into Moshi Town and spent a good part of the day with Karen. All I can say is she is a wonderful, wonderful woman. She made me feel so much better. We sat and talked for a couple of hours, she cried with me over my disappointment and again invited me to spend Saturday with her and Anna at the office. From the Porters Assistance Project office, I walked over to Indotaliano where I finally got to try some Indian food! I had vegetable samosas and garlic prawns with rice – it wasn’t bad. Then I went across the street to the Buffalo Internet Café for an hour of blogging and emailing. At 1,000Tsh/1.00USD per hour, I should have stayed even longer.

On Saturday I went back to Karen’s office and hung out with her and Anna for a bit then followed the routine from the day before: lunch and internet café (lunch was at The Coffee Shop this time, though). On Sunday I literally did nothing all day. It was the holiday and I knew that everything in town would be closed. So I just lounged around on the hotel grounds, read my book, baked in the sun, and waited until 6:30 rolled around, the time Karen and I set to meet for dinner. She picked me up and we went out to El Rancho, an awesome Indian restaurant a bit outside of Moshi. It was nice to eat something other than hotel food and to have real conversation with someone who speaks my language and who isn’t trying to sell me something.

Before I knew it, Monday rolled around – the day the rest of the group would be returning from the mountain. By then I was feeling pretty confident about my ability to travel alone and make it by myself in a foreign country. That isn’t to say, though, that I wasn’t thrilled beyond belief when they finally rolled up at the Keys Annex about 1:30 in the afternoon. Soon the stories started coming out and the beers started flowing. It was almost like I didn’t miss a thing.

Nickson arranged for an assistant guide to walk me out and for two porters to carry my gear. Before I left camp, Donovan also gave me the name and number of a private doctor in town should my condition worsen. He also suggested I call Karen from the Porters Assistance Project, the non-profit organization that Donovan established a few years back. Yes I was bummed to be leaving the mountain so soon but my biggest worry was what the hell am I going to do by myself for five days waiting for everyone else to come down? Then I realized I should probably call home first chance I had to fill Mark in and then have him call my doctor. Moreover, Donovan was of the belief that more people from our group would be heading down the next day or two. With a group of that size not everyone is expected to summit.

My mates took off from camp one way to start Day 3 and I, along with my guide Dustin, took off for Shira Hut in the opposite direction. The walk to Shira Hut was actually quite pleasant. We descended from camp into a valley and then crossed the Shira Plateau. We made it to the hut in 45 minutes. I had to sign a log with my name, nationality, and nature of illness. It was still another 45 minute walk to the road where the rescue vehicle would pick me up (“rescue vehicle” makes it sound way more exciting than it actually was). Dustin, the porters & I made it to the road and it was another thirty minutes before the vehicle arrived. We piled into the Land Rover, joining a park employee and the driver. I had the luxury of squeezing into the front seat with the two of them. And, my Lord, what a ride.
[read on]

I'm going to be real honest here. I came on this trip not fully expecting to summit but knowing I was going to give it my absolute all. I worked very hard to make it to this point. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Wake up time was set at 6:30 but most everyone, including myself, was awake before then. Slowly we crawled out of our tents to face the glorious mountain morning. The porters delivered hot tea to each tent promptly ... [Continue reading this entry]

The morning began in a frenzy: hikers rushing to finish their last-minute packing; guides scurrying to arrange baggage and hotel personnel working feverishly to feed and check out the trekkers in time. The scene was in direct contrast ... [Continue reading this entry]

We packed up our things at the house, said good-bye to the family, and headed down to Moshi to check into Keys Hotel. Everyone in our group was to meet there for a pre-trip briefing and for a special ... [Continue reading this entry]

This Christmas morning began unlike any other in my lifetime. There were no presents to open but there were countless roosters cock-a-doodle-doo'ing at 4:00am. There was no gathering around the tree with family but there was Donovan's wife, ... [Continue reading this entry]

At exactly 7:30am, the shuttle bus arrived at Terminal Hotel and we were off. We also arranged for this shuttle through East Africa Shuttles and the cost was 30USD one way. We stopped again downtown to pick up ... [Continue reading this entry]

The flight from Amsterdam was comfortable and it didn't even feel like I was in the air for almost eight hours. By touch down, I was feeling pretty nervous, though. I'd heard so many horror stories about robbers ... [Continue reading this entry]

First things first. Little sister, no need to be blue. I miss you guys already, too, but I'll be fine. I'll be home before we even know it! Secondly, happy birthday to my little brother, Frankie. ... [Continue reading this entry]