Monday, Oct 16 (Arusha—Moivaro)
I took an ambien last night. I tried to read the last three pages of my book, but I couldn’t concentrate on it. I slept fine.
I woke around 7:30 to the sound of a waterfall or fountain. It didn’t sound quite right, though, and I didn’t recall seeing any such thing when we got in yesterday. A bit later, I realized that it was the sound of rain on the roof. This doesn’t bode well.
My scratchy throat is a bit worse, and I think my glands are swollen. Again—not a good sign.
The water for the shower was spotty—very hot and copious at the beginning, but then the hot dribbled down to almost nothing after a while.
I found the conditions outside rather cool and wet—I felt a bit chilled during the buffet breakfast. I think I’ll skip a trip into Arusha today and just rest in bed.
I just spent about 4 hours sleeping well. I was chilled a bit beforehand, and it took me a while to warm up the comforter. I hope that I am not running a fever. I could sleep longer, but I should probably be adjusting to the new time zone.
I just went for a walk with John along the perimeter trail. We met a couple from England who had done Kili a week earlier. They were optimistic about the hike. We also met a friendly black cat that joined us for a while. I’m feeling a bit better than I was this morning, although I have a sense that I am weaker than normal, or that I get winded more easily. Not a good sign. My scratchy throat/cough is still here, but no worse. We didn’t see much that looked like a coffee plantation, although maybe that was on the outside of the perimeter wall.
We saw a banana plant, with the clump of bananas above a
huge, grapefruit-sized flower. We saw other plants with
interesting flowers
that looked almost like a large bird’s beak. We thought that maybe this was
coffee, but we were not sure.
We now have scattered clouds and sun, and it is rather warm and steamy—at least when the sun is out. The thoughts on whether to take Diamox seem evenly split. (Diamox is a medication to assist in acclimatization, but it also is a diuretic.) The power here is somewhat spotty—we’re getting occasional blackouts.
It is now 11:00 at night. Final packing is just about over. We need to divide our things into three packages—a day pack for us to carry, a duffle for a porter to carry, and stuff to stay behind at the lodge (e.g. safari stuff). I tried my first Diamox tonight. I’ll see how it goes. At 7:30 tomorrow is breakfast, and then the real adventure begins.
I feel a bit quasi-weak; my throat is sore, my stomach uneasy, and generally sort of shaky. Most of this is nerves. Some of it is jet lag. I really hope things work out OK on this trip.
At dinner, dessert consisted of a mousse with some cocoa on top. Two different people made the mistake of inhaling too close and breathing in some of the cocoa. This led to a lot of jokes about “just don’t inhale”.
I thought that I would be spending my extra night in Arusha alone, but to my surprise I found that there were four other people who were staying the extra night. I guess we all found that we could get cheaper airfare by leaving one day later. This was good—it would certainly be more fun spending the extra day with friends rather than alone.
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Forward to October 17: Arusha/Moivaro to Kilimanjaro/Shira 1 |
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