Final comments:

Once we were back at the Stella Maris Executive Lodge we relaxed for a day; regaining our strength and picking up some supplies we would need for the next few days to work on the school and the lodge.  The construction crew had made great progress on the administration bldg. which will become the offices for the teachers and some much needs bathrooms for them.  Jon and I worked one afternoon over with the crew to smooth out some of the walls where the cement cross beams meet the cement blocks.

We also took time to play with the kids who are always interested in playing with the mazungos ( white people) whenever we come.  Throughout the week Jon, Bill, and I did a lot of painting at the lodge, transforming the horrendously painted (right is before, bottom after) upstairs café into an inviting room to watch Kilimanjaro or to relax with some friends over a beverage.  This gives us an additional room to use as we become busier over the next few months.

This trip has truly been an experience of a lifetime.  The rigors of climbing Kilimanjaro challenged us mentally and physically but left us with a satisfaction of seeing and achieving something most people rarely have the opportunity to experience.  More importantly though, it allowed us to raise in excess of $25,000 for the Mailisita Foundation through your generosity and that of others which paid for our construction costs this summer.   I can’t thank you enough for your generosity to the children as well as your prayers and support for those of us who took on this challenge. 

 

Also, we couldn’t have done it without the love and support of our families who have supported us throughout our training and gave up so much time with us so we could be ready for this adventure.  Thank you and I love you!

 

 

 

 

 

Day 7:  The Trek down Kilimanjaro

After a good nights rest, we woke around 6:30 and made ready for our trek down to the gate.  We were all excited from our previous days successes and kept talking about the arduous climb and the trek down through the path of the ancient glacier. 

We started walking down a dried up river bed, climbing over rocks, natural steps and manmade steps which seemed to go on forever. 

As tough as the climb up was, the trek down was surprisingly challenging since we were using different muscles than throughout most of the climb.  After several hours in the riverbed we emerged from it to follow a path through the rain forest which would eventually take us to the exit gate.

The path in the rainforest was very similar to the path we took on our first day of the trek but of course all downhill.  The longer we were going down the harder it became as we were going down through some rocks, some mud, and a number of tree roots in the path.  All of this made for very uneven steps which takes a toll on the knees, calves and quads.  The pounding on the knees was something most of we “older” trekkers were not expecting and caused us to slow.  One by one our trekking poles came out for the last time to aid us in our hiking down the path.

For most of the time in the rain forest we had overcast skies and much of the time in fog which we hadn’t really encountered during much of the trek.  We were fortunate that we didn’t encounter any rain which would have made the trek down much more difficult.  There wasn’t much wildlife to watch until about an hour from the gate when we encountered some black and white monkeys sleeping in the trees overhead.  Our presence didn’t seem to bother them as we took a number of pictures and kept commenting about how long their white tails were.

Finally after about 5 hours we made our exit gate.  As in all of our stops we had to register each member of the group but this time it was for our certificates acknowledging our achievements on Kilimanjaro.  After a few pictures we loaded our gear into the vehicle for our drive back to the Executive lodge.