Abu Dhabi - The Experience Never Ends

          It has been a very long time since my last entry about Abu Dhabi.  Life between now and my last entry has been a whirlwind of changes, losses and new developments.  We went home late December to attend my brother Geoff''s wedding which was a lot of fun.  We were back from the wedding in Abu Dhabi for less than a day early January when we got the news that my dad had passed away unexpectedly.  So we immediately turned back to Michigan to make the arrangements and say goodbye.  I have to say I have been through a lot in my life, but this has to be one of the hardest situations I have ever had to experience.  But I will say it has only strengthened my desire to to live life to the fullest, cherish every day and never stop taking risks.

          Many things have happened in Abu Dhabi since my last entry, one major milestone is that my place of employment: Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi (CCAD) is has finally opened its doors and started seeing patients.  In addition to moving to a new country, meeting people from all over the world, I have to add that working for and helping to open CCAD has been one of the most rewarding experiences in my life.  The advancements we have been able to make in such a short period of time with such a small team has been impressive to say the least.  I have been able to accomplish more at CCAD with business intelligence and analytics than I have anywhere else.  I also included two pictures of the hospital, one where I had to go to work in a sandstorm and one on a normal day.  If you have watched the mission impossible filmed in Dubai, the sandstorm in that movie was not an exaggeration, I'm sure this picture will prove that.  

           Over the last year Sarah and I have really taken advantage of all Abu Dhabi has to offer.  One of the cool things we were able to check out was a wake boarding competition that they had at the Al Forsan International Sports Resort.  The competition was set in an automated wake boarding pool pulling all the contestants on a cable around the park.  You can actually rent time on this park during regular hours (which I have yet to do).  After the competition there was a small party afterwards which we hung around for.           

 I have been enjoying the vast selection of Cuban cigars in the UAE as well on occasion.  There are many great Cigar lounges in Abu Dhabi (St Regis, The Rosewood and Emirtates Palace).  I also went to a cigar rolling presentation where someone from Cuba was flown in to hand make the cigar you would try.  Me and my friend Leo from work went together to watch and enjoy a cigar one night.  I learned that the tobacco inside a cigar is rolled up and that the leaves used on the inside are the ones left in full sun on the tobacco plant where the outside cover of the cigar is left more in the shade.  My friend Leo (U.S. citizen, originally from Guatemala) spoke in Spanish to the nice woman rolling our cigars as she did not speak any English.  After knowing I can buy Cuban cigars in the UAE, I didn't think it could get any better.  But apparently it can and that means having a professional cigar roller from Cuba make your cigar right in front of you.  There's nothing like adding an educational experience to a classy joint with a nice Cuban cigar.

           Before I sound too unhealthy, I have also taken up golf and the sport of squash while I've been here.  The Westin resort in Abu Dhabi has a PGA course and a halogen night course you can golf.  I have a group of friends I head out with usually in the middle of the week to run the course.  For me it is quite difficult as I am still quite a novice at golf, I usually bring about five extra range balls off the assumption that I will probably lose them all.  I am much more serious about squash however and have improved vastly over the last year.  I have become so serious that I actually have a coach I train with once a week apart from my two game nights in my league.  If you have never tried it before, it looks like racket ball, but it is far from it.  Squash is one of the most cardio intense sports there is, the professionals tell me "you don't play squash to get fit, you get fit to play squash".  Also in the world of sports, Sarah's company (Mubadala) sponsored a health walk where she got to meet Kareem Abdul Jabar, and just recently when I was out with my friends we ran into another retired NBA player Jawann Oldham who played for many teams including the Bulls and the Lakers (he played for a total of 8 teams).  He is in town as a coach for the Olympic team (he is also a 1980 Olympic gold medalist) and is also the director of the basketball academy of Dubai.       

         Another highlight I would have to say for me was running my first 10K, I never opted to do it in the states because I am stingy and never wanted to pay money to run.  So I got my chance when my hospital offered to pay for the first two hundred employees who signed up.  I find that practicing for a 10K is actually harder than running the official race.  The actual 10K is way easier: you have people cheering for you, handing you water at various intervals (that you can pour all over yourself and drink) and you have all these runners around you to compete with and set pace.  I have not been in a running competition since my high school track days and I forgot how great that runners high feels after a good long run. 

         Sarah's work gave us free tickets to the Formula one races as well as an after party show with Pharrell Williams performing.  The race was a lot of fun, we had actually been on the track many times to ride bikes during the week nights when they allow you to, so it was actually cool to see them race on the track.  You can also pay a decent sum of money to race your own car on the track (However, many people do not realize you completely destroy your tires on the track and have to replace them after).  Pharrell Williams was ok, he was complaining about a sore throat or his stake smoke bothering him, but we got to see "Happy" live, so there you go.  

Formula One Track

           Early this year Sarah and I booked a stay at the Atlantis resort in Dubai which in on the Palm Island.  We scheduled time there to do the dolphin activity mainly but also found that the water park was a lot of fun.  The dolphins were great to swim with and let pull you around, it was a great experience for anyone who has never done it before.  There was a slide in the water park (if you can call it that) where you have to step into a capsule standing straight up, the door closes on you, and a trap door drops from beneath and you free fall for a second or two before doing a cork screw upside down and out.  It is truly terrifying the first time you do it, but I had to do it a few more times after my first.  According to Sarah I screamed all the way down the tube on my first run.  I have to say it was hilarious when I finally convinced Sarah to go and seeing her reaction.  

            My brother also came earlier this year on the tail end of his honeymoon.  I have to say it was quite priceless to see both of their reactions come out of the airport, I am not sure I had the exact look on my face when I first arrived in the UAE, they seemed a bit shell shocked to be in the middle east.  But after a day or so and us taking them around they realized this place was not only safe, but actually a lot of fun.  Who would have imagined we would all meet in Abu Dhabi together one day.  We took him and his wife Jillian around Abu Dhabi, to the local zoo, stayed at Qasr Al Sarab (also stopped at a car museum on the way) resort again and then went back to the Atlantis in Dubai to Skydive over the Palm and enjoy the water park.  I was happy I also got a chance to show my brother the new hospital too and have him meet some of my local friends and friends from other parts the world.
                I was rather surprised how much I wasn't terrified to go skydiving in Dubai.  Me, my

brother and Sarah all planned to drop out of the plane and when the time came I was ready.  I was the first to drop out with my guide.  Initially it is cold and very loud as you free fall through the air, the view was breathtaking.  Slowly the air gets warmer and just at that point the shoot is pulled and it becomes completely silent.  You just coast for a while before lifting your legs up and landing on your butt in the grass.  Thankfully we hired photographers for the event, Geoff had a fear there was no air up at the high altitude where we were skydiving so he was making a hover vacuum face in a bunch of his photos...priceless.  Although I think I would have rather had his pictures as clearly I didn't realize that I was doing double bull horns in half of my pictures (what a tool).  Sarah clearly is the most photogenic when (and had the best photographer) it comes to skydiving as she had the best pictures (as if I had any doubt),  Geoff and Jillian really enjoyed the water park as I assumed they would, I forgot to mention before that the Atlantis has a sort of lazy river on steroids.  It takes you up and down on conveyor belts and coasts you up to slides and back in the river again, you can literally ride the river through tunnels and transparent shark tank slides for hours without having to get off your tube.
                 I also was able to take them to Dubai mall in front of the 2km tall Burj Khalifa where they have a fountain that rivals (build by the same team) the one in front of the Bellagio in Las Vegas.  My brother missed out on that during my bachelor party so this made up for it (plus they played Michael Jackson -  Thriller).  I was so happy my brother came to visit, I think there were so many strange ideas going through the family about where we were and to have him come see our lives here meant a lot to me.  I'm also happy that he can go home and tell others about it and set the story straight about this place. 

             Before my brother arrived I also had planned the surprise for Sarah's 30th.  I had to call in a slight favor from one of my long term relationships I had with a customer service representative with
the Westin.  (If you are not aware I am very very picky about customer service in restaurants and hotels and will speak out if I sense anything I think falls outside the lines of quality and customer care.  But do not let that fool you, I am nothing but pleasant in my exchanges with the leaders I speak with.  I write up full constructive reports and stories about my experiences and in many cases are thanked repeatedly for my contribution.  They tell me how nice it was to offer my experience in such a constructive way and how my feedback can be used to make valuable improvements.  This behavior has earned me countless free dinners and night stays at many of my favorite vacation spots in the world.  Why is this relevant now do you ask?)  I needed Sarah's 30th to start with a bang, so I booked a room right in front of the Palm Island in Dubai the weekend Michael Buble was in town. I asked my friend at Westin corporate if he could give me an upgrade.  He said he would see what he could do, not sure what but it would be something.  When we arrived to check in we were greeted by the front desk manager and personally escorted to our room.  Much to my surprise we appeared in front of two double doors, when she opened them I was blown away.  The room was a two story penthouse with four balconies, a spiral staircase going to the master bedroom, a Jacuzzi, a steam room and a full size kitchen.  I had to act like it was all planned but I was just as surprised as Sarah was.  Needless to say Michael Buble was great, but I think Sarah enjoyed the room just as much.

Gazelle by our pool

In the desert after our Camel ride

              Our last note able experience was my surprise for Sarah one weekend when I drove her out to a different desert resort out in the Emirate of Sharja for the weekend.  Unlike the other resort we went to this one was meant to be much isolated.  With the Bedouin theme in mind, each hotel room is shaped like a tent and isolated from all other rooms, you get your own personal pool and breakfast served to your room in the morning.  The entire area is a preserve so as you enter there are animals (mostly gazelle and oryx) just casually walking all over the property.  When we were swimming in our pool we usually had two to three gazelle grazing a few feet away.  The booking also included two activities for the day.  We chose a sunset camel ride in the desert and the 5 am falcon hunting session.  The camel ride was ok, I'm not sure if I mentioned but I don't really like camels, but for some reason Sarah does so I take one for the team and hop on.  The falcon hunting session was way more fun for me, the explained how to train a wild falcon (I actually got to hold a falcon once at a work event as well) and how to feed them a just the right times to get them from flying off when you release them.  They also showed us this trained desert eagle (Owl) which also knew how to hunt to some degree.  After the activity we went back to sleep for a while before ordering our breakfast in bed, I was happy to order my favorite breakfast of all time: eggs benedict.  That was probably my favorite desert resort of the two we have stayed at mostly because of the wild life aspect, that was amazing.

Our Bedouin Tent Room

             Also how could I possibly forget, our newest member of the family, Maxim (Max) turned one this year.  Sarah baked him a tuna cake with a candle (I think he was hypnotized by the flame in the picture, as he can be seen contemplating his last year on earth).  I have not been the biggest fan of cats in my past, but I'll admit, I love that cat.         

              It has been a crazy past twelve months, but I have to say that we are still very much enjoying it here.  Our fascination and curiosity for the culture here and the many cultures that come to work here is still the same.  These two video's I posted below I think sum up two things.  The first gives the reason many people become expats to begin with.  It describes the journey an expat takes over time and what can happen if you are open.  The second video gives a good idea of what we see every day (this is how the locals dress and how they look on a normal day) but also the exposure to all the other cultures that are here too.  This is truly a unique place, no other place in the world like it.  

            

            

Zanzibar (Tanzania) - Turtles, Tanzanite, The Doors & .... Oman?

Our Driver
(wearing traditional Omani kummah)

              After a very challenging hike up Kilimanjaro we decided to join Travis and Bri for a little R & R on the nearby Tanzanian island of Zanzibar.  It was a short flight from Arusha, you can say your last goodbye to Kilimanjaro from the plane window as you fly towards the Indian Ocean.  Zanzibar is not as wealthy as the region of Arusha, this is already evident as you look down on the island from the plane into the sea of rusty aluminum rooftops covering shanties.  If you have previous mileage in a country like this you know that means that most everything is negotiable and that the foreign price is most likely marked up about thirty to fifty percent.
             When we arrived in the airport we were greeted by a large number of taxi drivers ready to bargain for a drive.  Our resort (called the Hideaway) was on the opposite side of the island and was going to be about an hour and a half drive.  I was able to negotiate to forty dollars for the one day trip down from sixty dollars.  As we started our drive through the city I kept catching feelings of Déjà vu more and more.  I researched the island before arriving and learned that it became under control of the Sultanate of Oman in the late sixteen hundreds and remained this way until the Sultan was deposed in 1964.  Zanzibar then merged with the mainland (which was under a different name at the time) to become modern day Tanzania.  My Déjà vu was due our recent visit to Oman last year and all the striking similarities in Zanzibar.  It is no surprise that a couple hundred years under the control of an Islamic monarch would leave a cultural imprint.  The most obvious details apart from the primary religion being Islam is of course the dress: the men wear the same cap as in Oman referred to as the kummah.  

             We also arrived on the island during the Islamic holiday of Eid Al Fitr which is the breaking of the fast in which most Muslim people dress up in their finest attire and children receive gifts.  One of the big differences in Zanzibar is that contrary to the black abaya that is common in the UAE, there is a vast array of colorful styles of abaya's.  While the traditions of Islam have had an impact on the area, the colorful flavor of Africa has also made its mark.  On our way to the resort we had to stop the car to drive through many colorful parades of Eid celebrations going on in the streets.

Tiki Bar at the Hideaway Resort

             When we made it to the Hideaway I noticed the Arab architecture as well, it was a lovely facility.  We took our golf cart escort down to our villa and unpacked.  I noticed right away that there were a large population of snails roaming about the resort slowly moving with their little martian antennas.  
             The first day Travis and I decided to go snorkeling in the ocean for a couple of hours, the scenery was good in a few places but nothing to write home about.  I decided to educate Travis on that the small occasional pinch sensation he was feeling were baby jellyfish.  It is always funny to gauge someone's reaction after you give them new information, Travis became increasingly aware of the "pinches" after I informed him they were jellyfish.  We swam for a little while longer and walked back down the beach to our resort and had a few beers under the tiki hut looking over the ocean. While there we had a nice conversion with a Danish man who was watching the performance of his wind farm in Denmark from an app on his phone...brave new world.

Monsoon Restaurant 

Monsoon

            The next day we decided to arrange transport to go to Stone Town which was near the airport.  We spent the day walking around looking at crafts, tanzanite and hanging out at a nice beach bar we found.  I've always had a thing for tanzanite and thankfully finally had an excuse to go to Tanzania and get some.  Tanzania is the only place in the world where this can be found, some of the most highly sought after gemstones change from a deep purple to a royal blue when you move them. I looked at a few stores that were selling them and decided to give it a think and come back.  Zanzibar is also know for its beautiful doors (yes not the band sorry, just doors), you can actually do a tour around Stone Town to find about twenty ornately designed double wooden doors.  Before our tour we had lunch at a local Swahili style restaurant called Monsoon, which was an enjoyable experience.  We came back to the resort in the evening to a nice all inclusive dinner with some shisha before hand. 

Old Slave Prisons

Inside the Prison

            On our third day Sarah and I decided to hire a driver to go back to Stone Town and check out the tanzanite again.  One our way we stopped by a historical site, a secret slave chamber that was built to hide slaves after the slave trade was abolished by the British.  The British stopped many ships in an effort to inspect for illegal slave trade but ships would sneak by many times or when captured the traders would untie the slaves and say they were free men.  After the tour we continued our journey towards Stone Town.  I spent a decent amount of time pondering over which little bit of tanzanite to buy.  It was difficult as you are never really sure if it is a rip off or not.  I finally decided on a reasonable level of risk based on the look of the gem and the price.  

The Beach Bar

          Sarah and I went back to the nice beach bar we had found before and had lunch there.  After lunch we decided to take a water taxi to a near by island that went by the name of Prison Island.  It was meant to be a prison but was actually never used as such, it was used to quarantine yellow fever cases and later as a resort location (which is still a resort today).  Our ferry went by the name of Gladiator and was basically a wooden boat with a small boat prop.  It gave us some fantastic views of Zanzibar as we were floating away, I also caught a glimpse of Dhow, a traditional Arabian designed sailboat (we see these in Abu Dhabi too).  While on our way to the island we had to rescue another water taxi: the SS Facebook, who's motor had failed.  I loved the names they used on these water taxis in an effort to attract tourists attention.  

SS Gladiator

Arabic Dhow Sailboat

             After the valiant rescue of the SS Facebook we continued on to Prison Island for another ten minutes.  While there we went to see one of the main inhabitants on the island, the Aldabra giant tortoises.  Four were given as a gift from the British governor of the Seychelles in 1919 which in about twenty five years turned into two hundred.  Sadly between 1955 and 1996 the number went down the seven due to poaching for sale and food.  That is why they were moved to Prison Island for protection.  I am not sure the number now but based on what we saw I would say there at least fifty to a hundred turtles.  We were given pieces of spinach to feed them, it was funny to watch Sarah do it as she was a little creeped out by them.  Although it took a bit of courage for me to pet one of them, we were told they really liked their head being rubbed.  After playing with the turtles we walked around the prison a while and then made our way back to the SS Gladiator.  When we got back to the main island we had our driver take us to an old Hamamni Persian bath which was built for one of the Sultans.  After touring the bathhouse we headed back to the resort.  

Persian Bath

             On our last evening we attending a special show and local dance performance while enjoying local cuisine before heading off to bed.  Zanzibar was a lovely rest from our difficult hike up Kilimanjaro.  It was very interesting to see the similarities between all the cultures that have influenced the island.  It was very different from the cultural experience on the mainland.  Zanzibar is a great place to visit if you are in the area or attempting to climb the big mountain, I thoroughly enjoyed my time there, especially since I finally was able to acquire my Tanzanite!  

        

Tanzania - The Lion King, The Roof of Africa (Mount Kilimanjaro), Legit Scotch on the Rocks & Tusker Beer

       

Our Safari Mobile

The stage was set for this trip quite far in advance as a surprise
orchestrated by Bri as a birthday present for my friend Travis (Bri's husband).  Travis was made aware of his surprise in partial form but Bri conveniently left out the fact that others were planning on the hike as well.  This was of course to allow Travis to prep for the mountain climb at the very least.
          Sarah and I arrived late evening on a Friday in Arusha, Tanzania at the airport, and had to arrange a car to take us to the Outpost Lodge where we would be surprising Travis.  We settled in and walked down to Cafe Mambo (which is part of the lodge) to have a drink after the long flight.

Mother & Baby

 After about thirty minutes of keeping an eye out for the others we finally saw Travis and Bri walking into the lodge.  I casually walked up to Travis with my glass of scotch and said "I guess they will let just about anyone climb Kilimanjaro" (which I thought was smooth).  It was roughly a year of waiting and rejecting multiple invitations from Travis to come along, we finally were ready to make the climb.  After the excitement from our surprise entrance wore off we met our other fellow climbers, Thereasa and Karyn (Bri's friends) who would be joining on the mountain hike as well.  We all had some drinks together at Cafe Mambo and watched this crazy fire and acrobat show from

Oasis (Giraffe's in background)

some rather agile locals who kept chanting the phrase "Bamba" as
they flipped around and ate fire torches to put them out.  This 'earworm song" became the bane of my existence (my classic inability to tune out what I would call "unnecessary repetition") on the trip as Travis and Bri would randomly chat this on the hike.
          We had managed to squeeze in one safari day before starting the climb up Kilimanjaro so the next day we got up early to be picked up by our guide Amos in our safari vehicle.  I wasn't aware of what a safari vehicle looked like until it pulled up, its a pretty cool setup where you can pop the top up and stand from inside the car.  It was roughly a two hour drive to the Tarangire National Park
where we had to stop and sign in  before entering.  This was our
selection for safari, but it should be noted that there are many locations to choose from and you can break out your safari into a longer over night camping trip series.

Sleeping Zebras

          Now I have to preface this that even though I had spent almost a year in West Africa and been on a safari before, we were lucky to see elephants from a few hundred feet away at best.  When we initially drove in I figured we would be just as lucky to see a few animals from the same distance.  After driving for a short time we did actually see some Zebras way off in the distance and I took as many pictures as I could thinking it would be the best we would get for the day.  Much to my surprise after that initial sighting of a few Zebras we drove out into a clearing that basically was the same thing as the circle of life scene in the movie The Lion King.  I was blown away to see giant groups of Zebra, Giraffes, Elephants, Warthogs, Ostriches, Monkeys and many other animals.  Our safari vehicle was literally a few feet from most of these animals at one time or another and it was truly unbelievable.  Sadly we did not get to see any "cats"...Lions or Cheetahs that is.  However, we did see a large parade of Elephants walking along a river as well as a baby Elephant playing with the group.  It was quite funny to see the baby walking around the group being chased back and forth with its almost human or puppy like clumsy wanderings.  The safari was a great prelude to our climb and the amazing things we were able to see came as a very unexpected surprise.  I would recommend actually watching The Lion King before your safari for added effect.

            After our safari we made a quick pit stop to a Maasai village (I initially refused to go in because there was a price to enter the village, but I told the person in charge that I have been invited to many villages in my life time and never was asked to pay) and then made our way back to the Outpost lodge to receive our briefing from Joshua , who would be acting as our lead guide (this was his 73rd trek up the mountain since 99') for the duration of the hike.  He started by answering all our questions before proceeding to inspect our gear to assure we were adequately equipped to handle all scenarios of the hike (mainly cold, heat, rain and the sun).  Afterwards we got an early start to sleep that night as we were being picked up very early the next morning.

            We woke up and had our complimentary breakfast at the lodge and made our way to the bus to start the drive to the mountain.  It was about a four hour drive to the mountain and we picked up more of our crew along the way.  Counting the six of us that had paid for the trip
our groups compliment was twenty two altogether.  The large group was due to all the items needed to accomplish the hike, for us hikers we actually only had to carry small amounts of food, around three liters of water and all the needed items to weather the elements for the day.  As the days passed I was astounded at how much all the porters in our group could carry and not only that, but the speed at which they hiked.  The porters would usually start after we did and within thirty minutes or so they would pass us on the way to our next base camp!  Recent changes in regulation on the mountain states that porters can only carry twenty kilograms (roughly 44lbs).  Regulations aside, it is still forty four pounds all rolled up in a sack that they would balance on their neck and upper back or on top of their head and they were the ones passing us as we struggled to ascend the mountain carrying less than half the weight and moving at a glacial pace.  The porters surely had an edge having been long adjusted to the altitude, but I would be lying if I was still convinced of their super human abilities whilst on the mountain.

Beginning of the Trail

             On the first day of our hike our bus took us to the beginning of the Machame trail where our guide Joshua ha to register all of us for the hike.  We waited at the base of the mountain for quite as while as there were many large groups also waiting to register.  We sat in the hikers shelter grabbing some bites to eat while trying to keep any loose food away from the shifty monkeys swinging about.
 After we were finished registering we took our entrance pictures and started the walk up the steep road to the beginning of the trail.  The beginning part of the trail is a nice walk through the jungle, its the easiest part of the hike because the altitude is not yet an issue and the scenery is nice to look at.  This time of year is nice because there are really no bugs at all in the jungle in fact the only living things on the trail are the occasional bird and these black Colobus monkeys with really long draping white hair, they almost looked like a classic Muppet character.  We passed groups of these monkeys moving from tree to tree a few times as we walked along the trail.  This was the only day Joshua allowed us to set our own pace as we were at a lower altitude and had smaller risks of complications.  We reached our first base camp (called Machame Huts) early evening

Colobus Monkey

and went to the ranger station to register.  At just under ten thousand feet, this base camp was the most populated of all the base camps to come, we saw the higher we got the less populated it became.  My most memorable part of night one was when I got out of my tent in the of the night as nature called and I was able to see the clear night sky.  I have bared witness to some impressive night sky scenes in my hiking days when you get far enough from civilization to lose the light pollution, but I have to say the view of the milky way on the mountain was breathtaking.
             We were woken up by one of our assistant guides at six in the morning the next day to tea and coffee.  The rhythm of our daily hiking activities were managed in quite a methodical way by our crew.  Every morning we had a wake up call with tea, warm water for washing and then it was off to the mess tent for meals like porridge, french toast and eggs.  I have to say I was continuously astounded at what could be carried up the mountain by our crew, especially with regards to the amazing cuisine that was offered to us daily.  The dinners were almost gourmet level soups and meats cooked with spiced rice,  other fruits and veggies.

              Our goal for day two was to get to twelve and a half thousand feet up to the Shira Caves (there are some small caves on the way to the site) camp site.  Already at this point we started to see the landscape change from the dense jungle with the shaggy Colobus monkeys to lighter dry tropical type climate with smaller shrubs and trees.  At this point as you enter the Moorland zone you do notice there really are no more animals except for the smaller mouse variety.  Joshua with our assistant guides Mango and Philemon now took over the pace as they would continue to do for the remainder of the trip.  We moved at a very slow pace, but you begin to appreciate it the higher you climb as the elements, mainly the altitude begin to test your agility on the mountain.  As we moved out of the dense jungle to the dry rocky shrub trail we passed through the dense fog of the cloud line for some time.  Before long we were able to turn around and looking down the trail could see we had emerged from the cloud line.  It gave me a strange sense of isolation from the rest of civilization almost like "this is it, we are definitely going to the top of this mountain now, there is a peak ahead of us and clouds behind us, no turning back".
             I somewhat surprised myself at how much I was still able to talk while ascending the

Me and Mango

mountain as my tone at times delivered messages in an out of my gasps for more air.  I began to reminisce with our lead guide Joshua on my experiences while living in West Africa (mainly Ghana).  It was remarkable as we shared our experiences how many cultural similarities there were between where I had lived and Joshua's experiences in Tanzania.  I always find it extraordinary how the mind can spark up untapped memories that I had not been able to recall in years just by exchanging with Joshua.  In a world glued to TV, cell phones and laptops (I am the biggest offender)...there is really no comparison to sharing a series of good stories with a fellow companion as you walk along.  Joshua is a fantastic guide and I am so happy we got to bond the way we did, it was definitely an unexpected pleasure.
        One story that stuck out was the fact that Joshua was part of the local tribe known as Chagga.  Who historically believe their god lives on the top of the mountain, which in the early times was believed to be the reason anyone who tried to climb it would die (not knowing about altitude and lack of food and water on the mountain).  Joshua actually had to keep the fact from his mother that he was initially working as a porter on the mountain for many years for fear that if she knew he was trying to climb the mountain she would forbid it.  Finally one day he told her which took some convincing that he had climbed many times already and had lived to tell the tale.

             On day three we were getting into some serious altitude where we ascended to a rock formation known as Lava tower which would bring us just over fifteen thousand feet above sea level.  This day is typically when you may notice some reactions from the altitude.  All of us were on the Diamox medication and thankfully no one in our group had any major reactions to the medication or the altitude (besides one of the side effects: frequent urination, lets just say some on our hike were affected more than others).  While the hike brought us up to fifteen thousand feet our final stop was at Barranco huts camp site which took us back down to around thirteen thousand feet.  When we arrived at camp we had a nice popcorn snack waiting for us.  Barranco had a very nice view of some of the mountain high points as well as a steady stream and waterfall cut down the mountain side.  I was also again taken a back by the amazing views of the night sky at this site in particular.

Above the clouds

              I mentioned earlier how amazing the food was on this trip and I was particularly impressed with the soups coming at dinner time.  I felt obliged to mention that I also had a great self made recipe for Italian wedding soup and on day three Joshua called my bluff and asked me to work with the Chef to make it.  They actually had almost all of the ingredients to make it and we only had to substitute rice for the escarole.  The process was very enjoyable as I was talking to Mango our assistant guide to help translate which ingredients I needed and how or when to add others.  Our entire team was watching as we made our brew as I was told later they all wanted to try and make it for themselves back home.  Overall the soup turned out well, although we did go a little heavy on the rice, I miss judged how much the rice would expand relative to pasta...one cup of rice next time.

"Mt Doom" like rocky part of the mountain

              Day four began showing about the last of any vegetation on the mountain and a transition into an ashy "Mordor" like terrain covered with red pumice lava rocks.  I say Mordor because it seemed like the last part of Lord of the Rings when Frodo and Samwise were trudging up Mt. Doom to drop the ring off into the lava.  This day you range up and down in elevation finding pockets of vegetation.  There were a handful of plants we saw that were indigenous to the mountain also containing a proclivity to handle the altitude of Kilimanjaro.  Leaving our camp in the valley also included some mild rock  climbing where we had to surrender our hiking sticks to round a rock face until we took the turn to the "kissing" rock and through a temporary flat plan before more ascension

Rock Climbing

towards our final base camp.  It was at this point in time where the rest of the group began to share my weakness of recognizing repetition for items such as the frequent zipping and unzipping of the tent zippers at night for the bathroom.  Our Diamox medication was the reason for our frequent trips to the bathroom or that big rock off the trail (the bathroom).  We arrived at our base camp in the early evening to have a bite to eat before we began the most difficult part of the hike.  All of the nights on the mountain were very cold, I took the advice of our guide Joshua to zip up one of my jackets around my feet (its basically impossible to sleep if your feet are cold).
               Day five on the mountain started as early as the day possibly could (midnight), we woke up, strapped our head lamps on and started the long hike to the summit in the pitch black of Kilimanjaro.  It is important to note that the evening before I had begun feeling the affects of the altitude and had worries about making it to the top, luckily when I arose I had no such symptoms anymore (I did take an extra dose of Diamox just to be safe).  It is hard to see what the terrain looks like in the dark as you are climbing, but it is very clear how steep it is.  As we were climbing I would catch glimpses of the horizon and get a stark realization of how high we actually were.  I would look behind us the higher we got and see an endless line of flickering headlamps from the other groups ascending below us.  I appreciated the timing in the morning as I

Almost to the top

entered this tired trance like state while we were climbing up the mountain making it easier to take step after step.  As the sun crept over the horizon we were just arriving at Stella point (18,848 ft above sea level).  From this point you are just a forty five minute hike from the highest point in Africa.  While walking to the summit the increasing light begins to reveal the long stretch of glaciers and snow piles resting on the mountain top.  At this point it was very cold, so cold the water lines in our camelbaks froze solid.  Thankfully our supportive guides had trekked red bull all the way up the mountain for us to enjoy.  I am not a huge fan of the drink, but after expending every last nutrient on the hike, the sugar and energy bomb from a red bull hit the spot.  As we passed along the glaciers and finally made it to our destination there was a great deal of relief that came over me, so much that I actually have about a five second moment where I may have shed a few tears.  I was very proud of Sarah for making it to the top and equally proud that we had made it to the top together, it was quite a couples feat.  After that short emotional reaction I broke out the other drink that I had hauled to the top: Johnny Walker, I had a good swig of it before passing it

Massive Glacier

on to Travis as a toast to the top (19,341ft).  I do have to note that even a small swig of scotch at that altitude can have quite an effect, but I had to have scotch on the big rock.  After a good set of pictures we started back down the mountain.
               Thankfully the descent down Kilimanjaro only takes a day and a half, but after losing the hype of making it to the top, going down can be tough, especially after the long day of reaching the summit.  I realized how much using the hiking sticks paid off going up (takes about 25% strain off your legs), but going down they also help keep your balance.  The path down on the first day starts

Scotch "on the rocks"

with a trudge down a pile of ancient volcanic ash, it is very dusty and rather monotonous.  After a while it transfers to a rocky terrain going up and down for a while before getting to the camp for the night.  The hike down is particularly challenging because you use leg muscles that you do not frequently use in every day life.  Having hiked Kilimanjaro I would opt to hike to the summit twice if it meant I did not have to go down once.  When we reached camp I gave the rest of my scotch to our team to enjoy as a thank you for all they had done.
                The next day we had a few more hours of hiking where we finally made it down to the jungle parts of the trail.  Both days while climbing down we kept passing these unicycle type carts meant to quickly escort hikers that had succumbed to severe reactions on the mountain.  I was passed, well I was actually hit into the bushes by one of these carts as I tried to get out of the way.  We were very fortunate that our group did not have any serious issues while on the mountain.  I forgot to
mention that during the summit in the night I went for a bathroom break and while I was searching with my head lamp, I ran across a memorial from April of 2015 from someone who has died on the mountain.  It is not a terribly
common thing, but it does happen, I made sure not to mention my finding until we were close to the base of the mountain.  As we got back into the jungle area we ran into our muppet like monkey friends before finally getting to the end of the trail.

                After loading back into the bus we stopped at a nice restaurant for lunch and decided to treat the team as well.  I was astounded at how cheap it was as our team was over twenty people
all ordering a main course with a beer and or soda and the total bill was only one hundred dollars.  The food was great and it was also great to see the team enjoying themselves after all the intense hard work they had done for us.
               Following lunch we were dropped back to our hotel and said our goodbyes to the team.  Kilimanjaro and the Safari were more than memorable.  The hike up the mountain was probably one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life, it was technically not even on my bucket list, but I suppose now I can cross it off.  The task was not something I thought I would never do but more importantly something I never imagined I would be capable of.  It is a mental and physical test of endurance and your reward is the amazing experience of getting to the top...the roof of Africa.

Our Beer of Choice on the Trip