Kilimanjaro, Day Two: Survivor (Kili)

"Aaaaaaaannnnnnnts! Ants! Ants!" She screamed, as if super human, venomous ants had overtaken our peaceful hotel room. I looked left, I looked right, and still in a daze from being awoken didn't see anything alarming. "What is wrong Linds?" I inquired. "There are ants on the wall, there are ants on my bag, there are ants in my clothes, AAAANNNTTTTS PHIL!!!!" Though we hadn't actually started our journey, I guess the nerves were running pretty high in both of us.

We made it through the first "big" test of the day and were picked up outside of our hotel. We were headed to the base of Kilimanjaro but had one stop to make (to pick up walking sticks, and sleeping bags). We cozied up on the side of a road in Moshi and parked. Once parked however, several construction-vest-wearing parking attendants headed toward us with chains, and piercing eyes. We had broken what is apparently a major traffic offense by parking in a NO PARKING zone! Our tires were chained, and after much humiliation, negotiating, and prying we still weren't allowed to move. Luckily, our guide came to the rescue in another Safari Jeep, and it turned out great, as we rode in a caravan with all of our porters, our guides, and our chef.



We arrived at the base of Kilimanjaro and were surprised at how "Egyptian" the Tanzanians here appeared. We were surrounded by locals trying to sell us all kinds of gimmicks for making it to the summit. Our guide safely pushed us through the gauntlet and sent us out of the crowd to our own peaceful, shaded, rest area where we were to wait for him to gather all of our things.

I had originally decided to propose to Lindsay by faking an injury on our first day's climb. After falling, I was to surprise her with the ring and request, but after being left completely alone in our protected paradise I knew that this was our moment. I pointed in the distance, pretending to be interested in a particular view, and showed her to the edge of the hut. When she was searching for what I had pointed to, I slowly dropped to one knee, prepared in this beautiful moment to tell her why I wanted her to be my wife. I had planned to tell her that my times of accomplishing things alone were over, and that I wanted this climb to be the start of things we could accomplish together. I had planned to tell her that the mountain could represent our lives together. The unpredictability of the experience, the ups and downs, the smooth trails and rocky patches. I had planned to tell her that we would need to support each other on the mountain like in our lives, and that no matter what (make it to the top or not) it would be special as long as we were together. I had planned to remind her that I would devote myself to protecting her, both here and always, and I had planned to tell her how much I loved her now, and forever. I wanted her to know how thankful I am to have found her, and I wanted her to know that in many ways I feel my life is only now beginning. I wanted her to know that I chose her, and I that I could only hope she would also choose me!



My bottom lip quivering, my heart beating at an incredible rate, I began... However, "Lindsay, I wanted you to know how much I love you...." was interrupted with "JAAAAAMMMMMMBBBOOOOOOO!" as a local with 'boot gators' in hand had apparently 'Usain Bolted' up the hill thinking that we were an easy sale. I was caught off guard, and didn't know how to respond. "Just a minute please!" I warned the patron as I tried to refocus my efforts on the proposal. "Mountain.... Love.... Lindsay....Forever?" or something to that effect was all I could muster as our new friend looked on still determined to make his sale. Thankfully as she is so understanding, Lindsay did indeed accept my botched proposal, and I had formed the strongest alliance that "Survivor: Kilimanjaro" had ever seen.

At the gift shop (which Lindsay of course headed straight towards) I was pleasantly surprised to see Survivor Buffs! We each bought one, put them on and formed the tribe "Pole-Pole" (English translation of "Slowly-Slowly").



We began on our trek, and headed through Montane Forest on our way to Mandara Hut, up the Marangu Trail. We began at 1980 metres, and were to climb approximately 5 hours to 2700 metres. Waterfalls, twisting trails, and vegetation already changing we strolled over bridges, around streams, and up the base of Kili. We met "Money, Molly, and Mo" the family of Mongoose, randomly ran into 2 cows "Daisy and Cooper" that were grazing, and found out that blue monkeys get their names due to the colour of their testicles. Our guide Robert gave us the Swahili names "Phillippo, and Simalindi" and this added to the excitement.



My competitive side came out at times as I was interested to find out what the record was for climbing up the mountain, and we laughed as one of our porters (who we were essentially paying to carry our things) was caught taking a ride with the ambulance up the first day's trek.

We finally arrived at Mandara Huts and had snacks and tea, and a bowl of warm water to wash with. We were introduced at dinner to "Mohamed" from the UK, who you'll get to know more about soon, and I was able to introduce Lindsay as "My Fiancee" for the very first time. We took a stroll after dinner to view the Maundi Crater but it was too cloudy on this day to see the peak of the mountain as promised in our itinerary.



We headed to sleep at 8:30pm, but due to excessive water consumption (that is necessary during the treks), we seemed to need washroom breaks every ten minutes for the entire night. It was particularly entertaining for me to see Lindsay fear for her life from the giant crows, and monkey noises that were heard in the distance. The sky was filled with stars all of which were dancing for us, and though we thought it must be thundering outside, it was only the wind...