type 2 fun on mt. kilimanjaro

view of mt. kibo from camp

a few weeks ago we told another traveller - an american med student named devon - of our plans to climb kilimanjaro and, in closing, said "yeah, it should be fun."  he thought for a minute and said, "that's type II fun"  and went on to explain that type I fun is your classic fun - laughing and enjoying yourself during the activity.  type II fun is a bit painful - climbing a mountain, running a marathon - but worth it in the end and fun to remember.  type 3 fun is not, at the time, fun at all. e.g.  having diarrhea on a 10 bus ride or getting shaken down by corrupt police.  later, sometimes much later, you get a good story and laugh from it.  indeed, our mt. kilimanjaro adventure was definitely type II fun though, during the worst moments, we wondered if had ventured into type III. 

painful ... but worth it 

now, sitting comfortably in a friend's flat in paris, it's difficult to place ourselves in the frame of mind that we had during our 8 day climb. 

over the 8 days, there were supposed to be easy and difficult days. but even the easy days were a challenge, mostly due to the ever-present cold and rain. our first day was meant to be a breezy 3 hr hike, arriving at camp by 5pm.  due to some scheduling snafus, it turned into a 5 hour ordeal, hiking in the rain and mud. our guide fell twice; exhausted porters sat with their 55 lb packs on the side of the trail.  we trudged into camp at 730p after hiking in the dark w/out headlamps for 90 minutes.  what the hell have we gotten ourselves into? 

the conditions themselves - cold, windy, rain, hail, snow - had us eating our meals in a tent and seeing our breath ...  we woke daily at 530a to the familiar sound of rain on our tent and feeling a familiar dread, asking "it can't possibly rain every day, can it?" Answer: "yes, it can".  the weather on the mountain changed so fast - one minute (and rarely longer) there was sunshine, and then the clouds rolled in. we were at the same height as the clouds.  they looked like smoke (funny that we always thought they'd look like marshmallows up close).  on the 4th day, it hailed and we started to get the feeling that kilimanjaro doesn't want us here or on its summit. 

enjoying the sunny weather ...

... but not for long

we invented games to get our minds off the endless hikes - like picturing each family member smiling at us then meditating on them for an hour.  we empathized with the porters, doing the same hike but much faster and carrying 55 lbs on their heads wearing only sneakers and sweat pants.  all for less than $5 per day.  and the views and environment was unlike anything we've experienced. 

the final push ... 

the night of our summit, we awoke at 10pm, dressed, had tea and set off at 11p from our 4600m base camp.  the moon was full  and it was around 20F degrees.  we knew that, as we approached the summit, it would be windy and 0F or colder. i had on 5 layers, 10 for cath.

though we'd been nearly immune from the dreaded altitude sickness (a mild case is common and equivalent to a terrible hangover), i immediately began feeling nauseaus and my mind went to a dark place.  climbing in silence, cath, 2 feet behind me, said something and i remember thinking that she sounded a world away. one foot in front of the other and "pole pole" (slowly, slowly), we followed the pace of our tireless guide, st. john, for him,  everything was "hakuna matata" (no problem).  

a ginger tea break at 330a revived our flagging spirits.  above 5000m, the path got incredibly steep. every step left us gasping for breath. the minute motion of turning your neck to the right or chewing a caramel candy left us panting for breath.  at 5am, an hour from the summit, i remember thinking "we might actually make it." 

after 7 hours of hiking, we reached stella point,  5756m, as the sun rose.  it was magnificent view, we could see the curvature of the earth.  we sipped on more tea and posed for wacky pictures before slowly ascending the final one hour to the summit.  

i was so proud and happy.  even more so of of cath, who overcame so much - a migraine, back problems, swelling of face, feet and hands, being a girl ;) she's so much tougher than me. 
seeing her overcome such conditions made me love her even more.
 
many times, along the way, we asked ourselves: "why did we do such a thing?  we could be on a beach somewhere." 

maybe it's because our absurd 6 month journey could only end this way; a personal challenge, an adventure ... after taking everything kili could throw at us, it makes us think we can do anything. what now?  time to find a new mountain to climb.  

at uhuru peak with stanley, our summit porter, and john, our lead guide

back at the hotel with our porters

next stop: mt. kilimanjaro

our climb to africa's highest point begins tomorrow morning ... if all goes according to plan, we'll be at the summit on december 10th at 5am during a full moon.  

apparently, you can track our progress and send us text messages (via the guide).  this sounds absurd - we're on a mountain, for God's sakes - but if you care to try:

track our progress: 
1. http://www.teamkilimanjaro.com/track-a-kilimanjaro-climber.html
2. Select "Track a Climber on Kilimanjaro" link.
3. On the left-hand side of the map, select "MAFE" to see our position. 

to send us a text message (hopefully offering encouragement :)
1.   go to http://www.teamkilimanjaro.com 
2. Move cursor over Home tab.
3. Click on "Kilimanjaro Climber Reports" and follow instructions.
4. Click on the label "Go straight to the Kilimanjaro blog for climber reports"
5. Click on our trek (MAFE) which opens a new page.  you can see the latest SMS report from our guide and reply to it.  

see you on the proverbial flip side.

life's a safari

'Safari' in Swahili translates to adventure, so perhaps our real safari starts tomorrow when we begin our Mount Kilimanjaro hike - yikes! Today we finished our 6-day wildlife safari in northern Tanzania, visiting the Tarangire National Park, Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater.

The safari started off a bit rough for me as I caught a bug that limited my food intake to that which is bland and white. This was particularly sad as our lodges were serving up some nice multi-course meals and buffets. At least Matt got to enjoy several 8-course dinners this week. :) I'm better now, thankfully in time for our hike! A few highlights from our safari:

We had some great sightings on our game drives in Tarangire, which a bit underrated as compared to its famous northwestern neighbor, Serengeti. Early into a game drive we chanced upon a pregnant lioness fresh from feasting upon her morning kill, a wildebeest whose carcass was a few feet away, hidden from vulchers in a thorny bush. We drove a bit off road and were close enough to hear her breathing. It was incredible to watch her swollen belly, full of cubs and wildebeest, rise and fall as she panted in the hot sun. It was truly awesome.

Serengeti is famous for having the largest mammalian migration on earth. We got to see the start of the trip for approximately 2 million wildebeests as they travel from the northern woodlands to the southern plains in search of fresh munching grass. We drove into the Serengeti late one afternoon, the only vehicle on a long, rocky dirt road that cut through a seemingly endless plain. Thousands of wildebeest and zebra surrounded us on both sides, jumping out of the road as we passed or even darting full speed in front of us to cross the road! There were so many of them dotting the landscape - it was very cool. 

One morning we left at 6am for a sunrise game drive in the Serengeti and were duly rewarded: the early bird spies the leopard! Two leopards, a mother and her young one, were lounging in a tree just 20 feet away from us. We were mesmerized by these beautiful creatures for quite a while. The mother lazily descended the tree in choice of one across the road, leaving us with her son who was more than happy to continue posing for us. He'd drape one paw over the tree limb, then two. He even showed us his teeth....we left shortly after that!

One day we stopped for lunch at a picnic area and as we settled I with our lunch boxes, 3 monkeys settled in to our truck! Sangha (our guide) and Matt ran over, shooed the monkeys out and closed the truck top. Minutes later the monkeys were squeezing in through a half open window! Meanwhile, back at the picnic table, another group was entertaining me. A couple caused a ruckus on my left, which was the perfect opportunity for another monkey to steal in on my right and snatch my muffin! Clever distraction strategy...

On a game drive in Tarangire we spotted a herd of about 20 elephants and stopped to watch as they crossed directly in front of us, heading towards a nearby watering hole. They all, little ones included, squeezed around a fairly small pond and took long drinks of water, spilling plenty in the transfer from trunk to mouth. From the looks on their faces, the water was quite refreshing.

We never tired of giraffes and watching their long, lean bodies walk gracefully across the plains. Such tall and elegant creatures! They would glance our way and size us up before continuing with what they were doing, which was usually munching on leaves on a 15 foot tall tree.

Three young cheetahs put on a show for us, rolling around in the dirt, jumping over streams, walking around to find the perfect tree to nap under and marking their territory. Once they found the perfect tree they cuddled together like big kitty cats and napped together, taking turns keeping watch. 

We finished up in the week in the Ngorongoro Crater - a huge caldera that houses a massive plain full of wildlife where a mountain, supposedly bigger than Kilimanjaro, once stood. We had a blast this week. Our guide, Sangha, was awesome and ensured we saw the "big 5" most dangerous and prized animals: elephant, black rhino, buffalo, lion and leopard in addition to dozens of others. We loved riding around in the safari vehicle which let us stand and get 360 degree views through the open roof. Though it's rainy season the weather mostly held out, usually just raining at night or towards the end of our game drives. Here's hoping for more luck as we live on the mountain for the next 8 days!

serengeti-bound

we flew to northern tanzania today for our safari, which starts tomorrow, followed by our assault on mt. kilimanjaro.  on the plane, it hit me what we'll be attempting on kilimanjaro. the pilot announced the cruising altitude of 18000 ft, well below mt. kilimanjaro's 19340 ft summit. 

at our hotel in arusha, our safari guide, sanga, introduced himself and said it's been one of the rainiest novembers in a long time.  bridges in the parks have been washed out; the wildebeests are having to rent boats. no matter, he said i could drive the 4x4 through the parks, now if i can just get a ranger to let me borrow his gun ... 

we left zanzibar and jambiani beach reluctantly as it was an enchanting place and a(nother) highlight of our trip.  we'd never seen a beach like it.  it was tidal so the shoreline would recede by 2+km every day. the villagers fishing and harvesting seaweed added to its charm. 

we were joined in jambiani by our traveling buddies from ethiopia: paddy, the irishman, and charlie, the english woman. they're a bad influence as they're traveling for at least 9 months and have no defined end date. it was nice to have another couple to hang out with and we'll miss them.

we ended up switching from our original hotel since it's claim of a "partly sea view" was fully exaggerated.  our 2nd place, the coral rock hotel, took good care of us, especially neil, the crazy south african owner. on thanksgiving night, he opened the hotel bar at midnight to get us a few beers for our post-thanksgiving dinner party and, citing some tradition, poured us a round of shots. when we pressed him about thanksgiving traditions in south africa, he lost the plot and said there was no such thing. nonplussed, neil proceeded to pour another round of shots.   

the hotel workers, mostly young south africans, would throw parties almost nightly for major events such as the pool draining or a friday night. the parties were ostensibly for guests but we're pretty sure the employees just wanted an excuse to throw down. as we were leaving one night, we saw neil swinging around a pole while rocking an "iPood" shirt. good times. 

a characteristic of beaches visited by tourists are touts, or "beach boys", that try to sell services like a snorkeling or dolphin trip. in zanzibar,  beach boys took on colorful names like captain fruit, fisherman MB and mosquito, which made them pretty easy to remember (and they asked about our plans 5x a day).  

mosquito, true to his name, constantly badgered us in his friendly way. we tasked him with getting us a fish and setting up a beach bbq. because of the wind, we ended up having it at a local house a few meters off the beach.  the fish, coconut rice and chapatti was fantastic and the setting unique ... mosquito was happy to have the business. at least until we paid, then he said we should leave and hang out at the bar next door. 

when we wanted to go snorkeling, we went with our hotel's recommendation, figuring he'd be a more a reputable operator rather than someone off the street beach. his name? captain chicken. 

captain chicken and matt

thanksgiving in zanzibar

happy turkey day! today finds the fenskis on a spice island relaxing beachside in the charming fishing village of jambiani. this and fresh lobster on tonight's dinner menu softens the blow of spending our first thanksgiving away from our families. tonight we're celebrating with some new friends: an american couple that hails from our neighborhood in DC and an english/irish couple we also travelled with in ethiopia.

a list, in no particular order, of the many, many things we're grateful for today:

* family and friends - on many occasions during our trip, we've reflected on just how lucky we are to have such amazing and constant sources of inspiration, support and laughter. on this trip, friends/family have visited us five (!) times: france, poland, rome (twice) and greece. these visits have enriched this trip immeasurably. in a more prosaic sense, the visits also served as refueling stops that, had they not happened, prevented us from lugging 3 large suitcases around africa :)
* food - in this part of the world, not a given; the U.S. is indeed the land of plenty
* health - a six month vacation does a body good; hopefully enough good to climb kilimanjaro in 2 weeks :)
* jobs - though we sometimes complain of them (who doesn't?), being gainfully employed has enabled us to do this and saves us the stress of having to look for work when we return
* each other - i have the greatest travel and life partner in the world (home is whenever i'm with you, casha)

last days in ethiopia (addis ababa, ethiopia)

signing off from ethiopia, a land that inspired, challenged and embraced us. our final 2 days in addis were spent relaxing, meeting alex, the cousin of my friend, dawit. alex, an interesting guy and successful entrepreneur, took us to the posh addis sheraton to show us the other side of ethiopia. indeed, it had all the comforts of a western luxury hotel and we enjoyed it thoroughly. alex treated us to cocktails and some great live music. ironically, the band was from washington, DC.

as you can tell from the blog, we did a fair bit of writing today as we wanted to capture as much as we could of this fascinating place. we also took the time to get my first haircut in 3+ months, a "barbgain" at $1.25.

we'll miss the friends we've made in ethiopia

the 8th wonder of the world (lailibela, ethiopia)

Our last and favorite stop on the northern Ethiopian historic circuit was Lalibela, Ethiopia's most famous site, should it have one. One historian notes that the rock-hewn churches in Lalibela, dating back to the 12th century, would be the 8th wonder of the world if they were better known. The village has been made accessible in the last 30 years.  The churches were indeed awesome! We toured the 11 main ones, all built by King (now Saint) Lalibela in, supposedly, 23 years. I don't quite believe that time-frame as they are truly incredible feats. King Lalibela identified a solid mass of rock (a section of mountain to be more accurate) and carved down into it to extract a beautiful church. This was all done by hand, with the help of the townspeople, angels (according to the Ethiopian Orthodox church), and possibly the Knights Templar (according to some historians). The churches are full of religious symbolism and range in shape, size and design. Two of the churches are monolithic - made out of just one ginormous slab of rock. The coolest part is they're still functional today, and we lucked out in stumbling upon a group of monks praying and chanting at one of the churches.

We also loved a new restaurant in Lalibela - Ben Abeba. It's run by an inspirational Scottish woman, Susan, and tireless Ethiopian man, Habtamu.  Susan built a school in Ethiopia which now has over 400 students enrolled AND has a scholarship fund that puts over a dozen children through school each year. I guess that didn't keep her busy enough so she started a restaurant :) Habtamu also manages a travel company and was Bill Clinton's driver when he visited Ethiopia last year! Needless to say, they were both pretty inspiring and we felt lucky to have lots of time to chat with them both nights we ate at Ben Abeba.

Words can't describe how funky this restaurant is - hopefully the pictures suffice. The food was great (first place we've been to in Ethiopia where the fruits and veggies are washed in boiled water so we can eat them raw!), the 360 degree views were particularly beautiful at sunset, and gin and tonics came with a heavy-handed pour (tonic more expensive than the gin) - Susan would say "one shot" as she proceeded to pour no less than 3 into our glasses! They also had South African wine by the glass -  truly a rarity in Ethiopia and this alone made my day! We reunited with our travelling buddies (we'd gone separate ways the past few days) and spent our last night in Lalibela catching up around a fire pit at Ben Abeba. It's funny how quickly these people, strangers just 10 days ago, now feel like good friends ... another cool aspect of travel, we suppose.

home cookin' (axum, ethiopia)

we arrived in axum on 11.11.11, an auspicious day and even moreso because it was my lovely polska's 31st birthday.   of the towns on the ethiopian northern circuit, axum is the least tourist-friendly, and i struggled to find a place to spoil  cath.  indeed, our $8 per night hotel room wasn't exactly the ritz-carlton.  after much searching, i found a nice hotel with a great view over town.  we enjoyed our first cocktail in ethiopia and found a  decent restaurant on the other edge of town.  though the restaurant lost power for 15 minutes, we savored our south african wine and relished the bottle of ketchup that came with our fries.  being here makes us appreciate the little things and, though lacking in creature comforts, i think cath's 31st will be memorable for taking place in africa and during month 5 of our 7 month vacation. hopefully she agrees ;) 

what axum lacks in 4 star accomodations, it makes up for in mystique, history and culture.  the axumite empire, circa 1st to 7th centuries AD was one of the 4 great global empires along with rome, persia and china.  most ethiopians and some historians believe the ark of the covenant rests here and provided the muscle needed to raise the 100+ ton obelisks or stelae. 

perhaps the main reason we came to axum was to meet shewit's mother and family.  shewit, who i've previously mentioned, is a great friend who attended our wedding after coming to the U.S. from ethiopia in 2005.   on the night of dinner, we were picked up at our hotel by meda, their family friend and our translator, and shewit's beautiful niece.  after a 10 minute walk, we arrived at their 2 room house and tried to introduce ourselves to shewit's mom, a lovely woman with her hair pulled back in a traditional tigranian style.

before we could get a word out, she gave us a wonderful smile and forcefully grabbed me, pulling me towards her and kissing me on the right cheek, then left, then right. left, right,  left, right, left ...  as cath received the same 8 kiss greeting, i subtley wiped the tears from eyes and tried to regain my bearings. we  were invited to sit on the couch and to help ourselves to the array of drinks on the table - beer, water, coke, fanta, tej.  just then, shewit, called to welcome me to his boyhood home and to say how happy he was that we were able to visit.  we were served a delicious traditional ethiopian dinner - injera, chicken, lamb - and traditional coffee (i followed mom's lead and had only 2).  

like all moms, she urged us to keep eating and expressed dismay at our paltry efforts. 

we talked of shewit and how well he was doing in america and how i proud i was of his accomplishments.  mom told me to tell him to come back to axum and build a house.  she would find a good wife for him and cathy and i must return to ethiopia to attend the wedding.   more hugs and kisses as we said goodbye but not before she insisted we return the next day for breakfast. an offer we couldn't refuse and truly one of the highlights of our trip :) 

guns, coffee and kids in the simien mountains (gonder, ethiopia)

Many people who visit Gonder, Ethiopia's 4th largest city, spend a few days trekking in the nearby Simien Mountains, home to Ethiopia's highest peak at 4200m. We didn't have the time to join our traveling buddies on their 4-day trek, so we did a half-day trek instead. As always, arrangements were not without a hitch:  as we ate breakfast at a cafe, with our hotel-confirmed driver waiting across the street, the original guy we booked with (and asked our hotel to confirm) showed up asking if we were going! Some angry sounding Ahmaric words ensued between the two drivers. Apparently our hotel manager wanted a cut so, unbeknownst to us, he called his friend to pick us up 30 mins before the arranged time. Oh well - this is Africa. Our driver and a scout with a machine gun (presumably to save us from wild animals?) accompanied us on a trek through beautiful scenery. We saw a few monkeys and lots of baboons, albeit from quite a distance. After reaching our peak, the scout agreed to let us to pose with his gun, admitting this was not a common request! 

After our trek we had some traditional coffee at the lone house located at the start of our hike. Coffee doesn't get any fresher than starting with raw beans and slowly roasting them in front of you! They then wave the pan with roasted beans under your nose (for luck or health?) before proceeding to pound the beans and slow-boil. 

At the house there was a bunch of kids curiously watching us, some waving, some more hesitant. Our camera broke the ice and the kids climbed over each other to see their picture! They giggled and kept smiling for more photos. They were so adorable, despite the tattered clothing and dirty faces. They kept us company while we had 3 rounds of coffee (well, I had 1,  Matt 2, but the Ethiopians had 3 cups) - shyly sitting close to us, staring quizzically and answering our questions "how old are you?" "what do you study in school", etc. As always, the kids made the experience extra special.