So when you climb up a mountain, apparently you also have to climb back down.

Apparently climbing up a mountain is kind of hard. Climbing down may be even harder. But that's how we spent our day today. Our group divided into a couple of smaller groups depending on how far we wanted to hike. Seven of us decided it'd be cool to try to hike to the summit of the mountains we've been looking at for almost 3 weeks now (the Uluguru mountains). So Kim, Lindsey, Monica, and I, along with Anna (a kindergarten teacher at the Seminary), Robert, and Kadeghe (our Massai warrior and guide), started the long trek around 7:30 this morning. It was my first mountain climbing experience and I didn't really know what I was getting into. Not going to lie, I was tired 10 minutes into it, so it's probably good I didn't know it would be another 6 hours and 20 minutes to get to the top. The views were amazing, and stopping for breaks was nice, but the rest of the trip was challenging to say the least. We reached a point that Robert had been to before and said the last time he had gone, his son had made it to the top and back in an hour. That didn't turn out to be the case for us. Turns out that the level of difficulty increased from there. We thought some of the terrain had been rough before, but the earlier trip seemed easy compared to the end. The steepness and muddiness increased significantly, and relying on roots in the ground to pull yourself up with became a pretty much continuous occurrence. What made it worse was the constant thought that we had to be getting close only to find more and more steep climbs ahead of us. The thought of having to get back down what we were climbing up was also in the back of my mind, but I tried not to worry about it until I actually had to do it. Also for this last leg up, we were joined by two other guys who are guides for Mt. Kilimanjaro, so they knew their mountain climbing. They would come in handy later on. For them this was a pretty easy day, but most of us pretty much expended every ounce of energy we had and all of the strength in our legs to make it up. 

No worries though, we made it to the top, despite the comments and questions of whether or not we should really keep going. The peak is at an altitude of about 5,600 feet. Getting to there turned out to be cool only for the reason of being able to say we did it, because we couldn't actually see below us because we were surrounded like trees. There was a metal structure up there, and we assumed that it was there to signify the top of the peak. We had plenty of great views along the path though, and we wouldn't have been able to see much through the clouds anyway. 

When we finally realized that there wasn't going to be a helicopter coming to take us back down and that if we camped out up there our muscles would probably only hurt worse tomorrow, we decided we'd better get moving back down because it was already 2:00, and getting back before dark would probably be a good thing. So the 2nd half of the journey began. My worries about descending were pretty legitimate, because it really was harder than going up in my opinion. Not as much physically because my legs definitely hurt worse going up, but mentally it was tougher having to focus on every step and worrying about slipping the entire way down and actually slipping and falling on several occasions. A good part of the trip was spent sliding on my butt because that was easier and less scary than trying to walk down a mudslide. I'm not sure whether my pants are actually salvageable, but I was willing to sacrifice them not to fall off a cliff (Mom I'm sure you love hearing all this, but obviously I lived to tell about it and I don't have any broken bones). There was a point where we thought we lost Robert. He slid down a part of the path that wasn't actually the right path and was really tough to get down, and then evidently kept going while the rest of us helped each other get down it. This was the point where our new Kilimanjaro friends were nice to have along. In fact they probably saved us from some serious injuries, like the part where one of them was the only thing preventing Monica from straight up sliding down the slope. We think they might have really been our guardian angels for the day. 

As we continued, we really thought Robert might have gone over the edge, but to our relief he was ahead of us. We met back with him at the last point we had stopped at earlier. I still have no idea how he managed to get there on his own because we had to help each other get through several areas. We rested for a few minutes before continuing our journey downward. There were several parts that were flat out miserable, and having muddy shoes on muddy ground didn't help. We were getting near the end as the sun was setting, so that was a nice view to come down to, even though it's hard to look around and walk at the same time. There were quite a few slips and spills here and there, but around 6:30 our car looked better than it ever has before. Yes, we made it all the way up and back down in a total of 11 hours. Despite the challenging, sometimes treacherous conditions and the fears and doubts I had along the way, it was a great trip. I think those things are actually what made it as fulfilling as it was, and now looking back on it all, I'm so grateful for the whole experience. God must have been watching over us though because it really is a miracle that we got through it all with only scrapes, blisters, and sore muscles to complain about. 

Tomorrow is our last day in Morogoro. I really can't believe how fast the last few weeks have gone. We'll be doing our last village visit tomorrow. Apparently it's going to be a long trip and a long day, but I'm actually looking forward to sitting for the entire day since I'm not sure how well the muscles and joints in my legs will be working. Monday morning we'll be heading to Zanzibar. We'll ride a ferry from Dar es Salaam and spend 2 days there. From what I hear the culture there is a little different than it is here. I think it's a bit more of a tourist area, so there should be lots to do. We're planning to do a spice tour, go snorkeling, and hopefully do some shopping. I'm not sure if we'll have internet access there so this could be my last chance to write, but at the very least I'll update when I get home. 

Hope everyone's May Term is winding down well! Abi you're almost there! :) 

See you all soon!

Peace,

Emily