Puddy, Dom, Anne Marie, Eva, and I left MMMMM headed for a hotel at the base of Kilimanjaro. We would spend the first night at the hotel before beginning our ascent to Gilman’s Peak and ultimately Uhuru Peak. I was very happy with the hotel choice as it had a Western toilet. Up until now, I had been forced to use a toilet, which was a hole in the ground that flushed. I can honestly say that I never really mastered it!

On the way to the hotel, we stopped at a restaurant for lunch. As the waitress was taking our order, she kept saying, “Finish.” Apparently, they were out of a lot of food. We all managed to order something and then joked after she left that it was a “Finish” restaurant. I have a photo of all of us pointing at Eva because she was from Finland – so Finnish.

The next morning we had breakfast and set off for the base of Kili. We met our guides at the base who explained everything to us. Several locals grabbed our bags, tossed them on their back, and headed off. We would see them hours later at hut one.

Even after talking with ISD students who had climbed Kili the year before, I really didn’t have any idea what to expect. As we headed out, it became clear that the hike was not rigorous. There were not any special climbing skills required. It was just going to be several days of hiking in air that got thinner as you went.

Speaking of thin air, the school doctor had managed to provide us with some altitude sickness medicine; however, she was under the impression that the guides would provide the meds we needed. She was just sending extra in case. We had to use our pills sparingly.

After somewhere between 5 and 7 hours of hiking, we arrived at hut one. Hut one was a small A-frame cabin no bigger than a 4 man tent. Eva and Anne Marie had to share with a woman and her daughter and Puddy, Dom, and I had shared another.

The guides prepared us dinner which I remember comparing to spaghetti noodles with ketchup. We found that when you are hungry, you eat. We had had a decent sandwich and piece of fruit on the trail for lunch that day. We kept our water bottles full for the trip up as well.

We woke up the next day and ascended to hut two. Hut two was amazing as after a very long hike, the last of which was in the clouds, you break out of the cloud cover and all you can see is the ground you are standing on and a sea of clouds. It was an amazing moment.

We had to stay at hut two for two days to acclimatize to the altitude. We did take a day hike to visit Zebra Rocks. They were so named for the streaks of white contrasting with the dark rock that resembled the stripes of a zebra.

We played a lot of cards, ate whatever they fed us, and tried to stay hydrated. We akso started talking about the food we were missing. I said that I was missing the Lumberjack steak from a restauarnt in Kaiserswerth, the small town I walked through to get to school. I described it so well that we agreed we would meet there for dinner after we returned to Düsseldorf!

The next day, we started walking to hut three. This is where the hike was more strenuous. It was harder to breathe as the air was getting much thinner. No one had the energy to talk as we walked and I got that stupid “Bingo” somg stuck in my head. You know the one, “There was a farmer had a dos and Bingo was his name-o…” I could not stop going through it over and over again in my head!

Hut three is the only camp where there was no running water. There was an set of outhouses for campers to use the toilet and water was freshly boiled snow. There was a lrage cabin with rooms full of bunkbeds.

We arrived at hut three near dinner time. We were shown our quarters and told the eat then off to bed. The idea was that they would wake us at midnight to set off for Gilman’s Peak. We would hopefully arrive at Gilman’s Peak for sunrise.

At midnight, we were told to get up and get dressed. By this time, the cold was fierce. There was no vegetation at this altitude to provide shelter from the wind and the wind was strong! We dressed in layers and stepped out into the cold.

They handed each of us a bottle of freshly boiled water. The bottle was still warm when I placed it in my backpack.

We headed out and this is where we had an issue with altitude sickness. Puddy had diarrhea and needed to use the restroom. We paused long enough for him to find a rock to go behind and then rejoin us. We pressed on.

After five hours or so of hiking, we reached Gilman’s Peak. It was still nearly 30 minutes to sunrise and the five of us were huddling together against a rock trying to stay warm.

I was disgusted by the number of water bottles broken and strewn across the ground. I really could not believe that people would go the lengths it takes to get here and just leave trash.

I understood better when I went into my bsckpsck to grab my bottle and take a drink. You have heard that warm water freezes faster than cold water, right? My bottle was filled with slivers of ice. When I went to unscrew the cap, the bottle broke in two. I drank some water and then put the empty bottle back into my pack.

As the sun began to rise, the guide explained that the path to Uhuru Peak (which was the ultimate goal of all ISD groups) was treacherous and icy because of an El Nino that year. He asked who wanted to turn back. My hand shot up into the air! He asked who wanted to go on. The four kids all raised their hands. It was a matter of pride for the ISD students.

The guide decided to take me back and the assistant guides carried on with the students. It may not have been my best decision ever, but I was exhausted and frozen!

It may have taken us five hours to get to Gilman’s Peak, but the guide and I returned in just over two hours. I was so excited to climb back into my sleeping bag and get 40 winks while the kids struggled to get to Uhuru Peak. I knew I would have at least four hours.

Just as I was about to crawl back into bed, Puddy ran into the room. He explained that it was too icy and since they had not brought crampons, they had to turn back. So much for a nap! We packed our bags and headed back to hut two. Again, the time it took to get downhill was significantly less than climbing up.

We spent the night at hut two and then headed back to the base and the hotel the next day. When we arrived back at the hotel, our feet were a muddy mess. We took pictures and then all showered, cleaned up, and met in the bar for a celebratory drink.

We had conquered Mt. Kilimanjaro!