I forgot to inlcude the link to my photos in last posting. Sorry.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?Uc=9s4cmvvd.6kxx4vo9&Uy=18p921&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1
And this site lets you order prints on a variety of formats...nothing says "I'm Cool" like a coffee mug with a photo of some other person in some place you've never been.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Friday, October 12, 2007
Kilimanjaro
Veni, vidi, vinci!
OK, it wasn't that easy, but I can say that I managed to get to get to Uhuru peak...and on my birthday no less! It was a rather difficult 5 days, even though we were on what's commonly known as the Coca-cola route, but it wasn't because of the 17 hour hiking on the summit day, the lack of oxygen or cold; it was the urination, plain and simple.
You see, out of fear of getting altitude sickness - which in it's worse case, every orifice releases what it is meant to hold in, your lungs fill with water and pressure builds up in your brain cavity and your head explodes - our intrepid group of hikers decided to take Dimox, which can counter-act altitude sickness. In addition to this, we were told to drink plenty of liquids to keep our kidneys working at altitude.
Unfortunately, Dimox is a powerful diuretic. Even more unfortunately, it only seems to strike at night once you are in your sleeping bag and fending off the cold. In the end, we could have just removed the door to our hut since people were coming and going to relieve themselves all through the night. The average was 3 times a night, but it could reach 5. The game everyone played was to see how long they could resist before having to go. Could they make it to morning on one shot. Was the release worth the cold trip outside?
In the end...the mountain broke everyone!
I was lucky in terms of altitude sickness, while climbing the summit, it seems my stomach was in constant negotiations with my esophagus and colon as to decide which way to send it's contents. After hours of debate, they could not come to a resolution, and the contents of my stomach stayed where they were, to the benefit of both myself, and all those around me. Unfortunately, some of the other hikers were not so lucky.
The group I went up with was quite fun; an Argentinian lawyer with a very precise and thought out way of speaking. We though this was do to poor English skills, but it seems he's the same in Spanish. A British uni student who was in Tanzania to study and save turtles - or cook them...I can't remember - and her mom who seems not to have noticed that British colonialism has ended some time ago (and who at 57, also made it to the peak). An ex-London Barrister, who gave up his job to become a barrista. At first I thought this meant a lawyer for gangstahs, but it seems that a barrista is actually someone who works in a coffee shop. A Canadian on her way to do volunteer work in Zimbabwe, and finally a young London couple.
We (the couple, Canadian, and barrista) will soon join the rest of the truck that are heading off to the Serengeti.
OK, it wasn't that easy, but I can say that I managed to get to get to Uhuru peak...and on my birthday no less! It was a rather difficult 5 days, even though we were on what's commonly known as the Coca-cola route, but it wasn't because of the 17 hour hiking on the summit day, the lack of oxygen or cold; it was the urination, plain and simple.
You see, out of fear of getting altitude sickness - which in it's worse case, every orifice releases what it is meant to hold in, your lungs fill with water and pressure builds up in your brain cavity and your head explodes - our intrepid group of hikers decided to take Dimox, which can counter-act altitude sickness. In addition to this, we were told to drink plenty of liquids to keep our kidneys working at altitude.
Unfortunately, Dimox is a powerful diuretic. Even more unfortunately, it only seems to strike at night once you are in your sleeping bag and fending off the cold. In the end, we could have just removed the door to our hut since people were coming and going to relieve themselves all through the night. The average was 3 times a night, but it could reach 5. The game everyone played was to see how long they could resist before having to go. Could they make it to morning on one shot. Was the release worth the cold trip outside?
In the end...the mountain broke everyone!
I was lucky in terms of altitude sickness, while climbing the summit, it seems my stomach was in constant negotiations with my esophagus and colon as to decide which way to send it's contents. After hours of debate, they could not come to a resolution, and the contents of my stomach stayed where they were, to the benefit of both myself, and all those around me. Unfortunately, some of the other hikers were not so lucky.
The group I went up with was quite fun; an Argentinian lawyer with a very precise and thought out way of speaking. We though this was do to poor English skills, but it seems he's the same in Spanish. A British uni student who was in Tanzania to study and save turtles - or cook them...I can't remember - and her mom who seems not to have noticed that British colonialism has ended some time ago (and who at 57, also made it to the peak). An ex-London Barrister, who gave up his job to become a barrista. At first I thought this meant a lawyer for gangstahs, but it seems that a barrista is actually someone who works in a coffee shop. A Canadian on her way to do volunteer work in Zimbabwe, and finally a young London couple.
We (the couple, Canadian, and barrista) will soon join the rest of the truck that are heading off to the Serengeti.
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