China Adventure 2009

Hello friends and family!

Just a quick posting to let you know that we (Lazars) are safely in Seoul, Korea Airport where we have a 5 hr layover until our flight to Shanghai.

With my frequent flier status, we had great exit row seats for the 13.5 hr flight from Chicago, and we have access to the business class lounge here - where we have access to free food and drinks, nicer space to chill out, and Kate even took a shower here at the airport.

The airport is really modern and nice here. Unfortunately we do not have enough time to head into the city.

By now Bill ad Norine are well on their way from DC to Chicago to Shanghai where they will arrive an hour after we do. That's when the real whirlwind adventure begins... and we are ready for it!

We shall do our best to keep up with blog postings!

BTW - we learned that you say 'thank you' in Korean as 'Kamza Hamida'... just in case you were wondering.

Unitrin is probably really important

Wit

At the Wit

Lazar on the prowl!

Romz never stops!

Man of the year!

40 year old view!

At the Witt!

First blog Bill' BDay

Guatemala

Homeward bound

 

   We are wrapping up our last day in Guatemala.  On Sunday we headed out of Solola and moved into our plush new hotel in the colonial Spanish town of Antigua.  You have never seen such a  rush on bathrooms.  Meghan said that she now understands what heaven looks like and it seems to consist of a real mattress with flowing water and shampoo.  We still cant flush the toilet paper or brush our teeth with the water, but who cares.

   Yesterday we went to the Finca Filadelphia which is a medium sized coffee plantation just outside of Guatemala.  We did a 2 hour personal tour of the coffee plantation and discovered that no one in the US would be willing to work this hard to produce coffee that sells for one dollar a pound.  We owe the Costa Ricans and Guatemalans praise everytime that we go to Starbucks.  We were able to see the entire process from the nursery, planting, picking, sorting, drying and roasting.  Then we sat in their restaurant on a beautiful patio with a woman handmaking our tortillas over a wood stove with a view of the valley and volcanos.  When we got into town, John went on a  crazy Guatemalan shopping spree.  We then had dinner at the 5 star Casa Santa Domingo on the grounds of a collapsed monastery from the 1700s.  The 8 course tasting menu was $30.  Meghan suddenly felt the entire trip was worthwhile.  She was a little confused on why the wood carvings from the 1600s were sitting in the hallways next to the flaming candles.  Only in Latin America.

   Today we went back to the plantation, loaded into an open air jeep, drove 6000 feet up a cobblestone trail on the side of a cliff, and went zip lining with all instructions in Spanish.  Bill will be happy to know that my life insurance policy is up to date.  Meghan and John had a great time and then we sat for our 5th cup of coffee of the day.  Meghan is still a pleasant pale pasty color after her 2nd bottle of SPF 70 and is keeping Norine out of the sun. 

   Tonight we have the banquet and will be heading home around 400am tomorrow.  Upon arrival, Meghan will be finding a bag of prunes.  She cant quite do anything as expected, even when everyone around her is dropping with travelers diarrhea.

Guatemala

From Meghan

I had a minor surgical procedure on my eye this morning to remove a lump caused by a clogged gland that then filled with a "tapioca pudding like substance".  I got eye drops to numb my eye ball, a local injected into my eye lid, then my eyelid was flipped back and held with a clamp while the doc used a scalpel to slice open the inside of my eye lid.  She then used what she called a small ice cream scooper to get out all of the goo.  I have to hot pack it and use an antibiotic gel for a week.  All of this happened on a table in a concrete room with mostly sterile equipment and random team members coming in to chat and see what the fun was.  One of the handymen offered me a foot massage while we were waiting for the local to take affect.  Norine thought it was awesome.  I was seriously freaked out.

 

 

From Norine

     And we have WATER!!!!!  We have honestly had a wonderful time and this has been an amazing and educational experience.  The Guatemalan people have been extremely grateful (when they actually got through the gate to be treated and were not rioting).  There was a 15 year old girl who had a seizure and fell into a cooking fire.  She came to the hospital with her face covered and not even wanting to be examined because of the damage.  After her reconstructive surgery with the plastic surgeon, she left smiling and asking to have her picture taken.  It makes it all worth a few viruses and a few missed showers.

Guatemala

And things just keep getting better.  So yesterday, I got sick.  Meghan is apparently sharing her cooties.  Though it is hard to not share when there is no running water.  I have no idea how the hospital kept doing sterile surgeries, but they figured something out.  So I spent all day in bed yesterday and Meghan kept throwing up.  John showed amazing sensitivity by trying to get us out of bed jsut so that we could take him shopping and use our Spanish to help with the bartering.

   Today they set up a hair washing station on the lawn outside of the cafeteria.  No one has been able to wash hair or shower in 4 days.  It looked like the set of South Pacific with women helping each other lather and rinse.

    We shut everything down this morning and packed it all up.  I sorted through all the anesthesia meds with the soon to be outdated meds going to a nearby clinic that agrees to use them in free clinics.  John wrapped up the kitchen with cereal for dinner and breakfast.  And Meghan, well Meghan had Guatelmalan eye surgery.  Yes, you read correctly.  With 6 staff members staring at the surgery, and lying on top of a table in a concrete room, Meghan had her chelazion incised by the opthomologist.  Brave girl.  Rumor has it that they did wash the scalpel beforehand.  Not so sure about the Sharpie pen.

    We are off to take the group picture, if we can force the Guatemalan soccer team off the field.  We leave for Antigua tomorrow and look forward to seeing you all soon. And running water. 

Guatemala

  We are going to start recruiting for next year right now.  There are luxurious accomidations, fabulous food, fun and interesting people and a chance for fame and fortune.

   In other words, the water is gone.  Not the hot water, the running water.  Everywhere.  It sounds like the toilet might be back by tomorrow, but no showers until Antigua in 3 days.  I am so glad that I brought an entire bag of shampoos.

    No water, very little cooking.  I don't want to know and it is probably better that way.  It is amazing what they can do with canned pears.  Dad does make a mean apple crisp though.

   The midwife was out on Outreach team today.  Guess who got to fill in.  My life is now complete.  I did 25 pelvic exams on unwashed women who were all complaining of years of pain in the uterus and clear discharge.  And I had to convince most of them that this is completely normal.  Over and over again.  In spanish.  With a trough of used spleculums at my feet.  I never ever ever want to be a gynecologist.  Take me back to the ED where everyone just has an STD.

   And Meghan has the cooties.  She started puking into the garbage can last night at 2:00am and rudely kept me awake.  Luckily only a few episodes of diarrhea, especially when I remind you that there is no running water.  Around 1:00pm she was shaking with chills and wishing to die.  However, she gets twice daily house calls from the team doc and home delivery of nausea medicine and narcotics from her sister.  And she took pride in the temp of 101.5 as proof that she was really sick.  Don't worry mom, she is starting to look a little better and probably just has a virus. 

    And fame and fortune await.  A reporter for the Register Guard showed up today.  She has been taking pictures everywhere and been watching everything.  Apparently her daughter is living down here and she is fitting in a story while she is visiting.

     I will be distributing applications when we return.  You know you want to come next year....

Guatemala

From Meghan

 

Translating is going fine.  What's wrong with people is pretty simple, my stomach hurts, I have diarrhea, I have bad eyes, I want to see the dentist. 
 
We keep having to shut triage down early because the damn doctors are too slow.  So this afternoon I took a shower while everyone was still at work (yeah!) and then went down to the clinic to see if they needed help with translating.  Apparently they did since I hopped from room to room until they shut down for the day.  I translated for the ultrasound tech who was checking a pregnant woman because they thought she'd had a miscarriage.  Luckily there was a heartbeat because I really didn't want to have that conversation.  Then I helped Norine with a woman I'd triaged who showed up at the door when she wasn't supposed to come until tomorrow.  She was literally crying because she was in so much pain from a gallstone she'd had for a year.  Norine, being the rockstar that she is, managed to convince the surgery at 6:00pm to operate on her tonight because they wouldn't be able to fit her in tomorrow. 
 
And I got poked by more kids.  And some lady called me "señor".

 

 

 

Guatemala

Meghan and I are dirty.  There is, well, maybe I should have freshened up before dinner dirty.  And then there is I spent the day in a dust storm re-enacting the Dust Bowel and inspecting an entire population with parasite only to return home to find that the showers are broken...all of them.  On a high note, our snot is brown.  So is our ear wax. 

   Meghan and I spent the day on an outreach team in the small town of Rosario.  Meghan was pretty nervous about her Spanish, but spent the entire day with the Pediatrician translating.  We saw about 100 patients and diagnosed a few new pregnancies.  Most of the complaints are old people with cataracts,  young women with fertility or breast feeding complaints, and tons of kids.  It turns out that while Meghan despises kids, they love to jump on her and make faces.  And apparently the boys like to bark at her.  Maybe it's because she was throwing rocks at them. 

   Another high note, though not of course as high as having dirt in every orifice, Meghan finally got her luggage today, all wrapped in plastic Italian style.  This means she can stop wearing my socks and change her underwear.  Don' think about that last bit too closely. 

    Dad (John) is stuck in the kitchen.  The snoring is so bad that he is even moving out of his room and sleeping in the kitchen.  We hope that the feral dogs don´t get him. 

    We miss you all and look forward to spending a small fortune at Bliss Spa when we get back.

 

Guatemala

Meghan and I are reporting back from the balmy climes of Latin America.  In our lovely camp site with dust blowing through the walls it is a scintillating 40 degrees with winds attempting to rip off the roof.  Meghan has not showered in 3 days, but it is not a problem since her luggage still has not arrived.  Norine has just completed her 20th pelvic exam.  Meghan learned that after a 10th child, uteruses can fall out.  It was great lunch conversation.  Meghan has not received any marriage proposals yet, but she has had her hair pulled by half the pediatric population.  Apparently the Guatemalans think that she looks like a ''muñeca'' or doll.  John has completed his first fine dining chicken dijon meal for 120.  Sadly it beats the food at all the hospitals where Norine works.  Right now we are all huddled around our computers, using the fans for warmth, and appreciating that they were donated by US Aid.  Some how we could not donate running water or flushable toilet paper though.  We miss you all and will try to send more.

Kilimanjaro Pictures (Finally!)

Hello Everyone!

Thanks for all your virtual support during our amazing trek to the highest point in Africa! Special thanks to Mr. Romz for enabling us with a blog to post our regular travel updates while on the trail from 9 time zones away!

Kate and I have sorted through the hundreds of photos from our trip to pick the "best" photos to tell our story - and we defined 2 online photo albums - one with our arrival in Africa and the Kilimanjaro climb - the other with our safari adventure.

Here is the link to the first album including Kili which has photo captions (we're still working on the safari web album):
http://picasaweb.google.com/markdlazar/TanzaniaMtKilimanjaroClimb2009?feat=directlink

We look forward to catching up with everyone soon!

-Mark & Kate-

Final Day in Tanzania

Well it is our final night in Tanzania... Sad that it must all come to an end, but we have had an amazing stay here.

Our past few days on safari have shown us places on Earth where nature is truly in charge. We did our best to capture highlights of the beauty of the varied landscape and the amazing and fascinating animals in our 100s of photos. There are some hard core camera enthusiasts here with telephoto lenses that you wouldn't believe... And pulling up photo shop on their Mac computers in the lodge to view and clean up their "perfect" shots... But we think our less-than-hardcore camera shots will come out pretty good, too.

Our final lodge in Africa is really nice. It is on the rim of an ancient volcano that has collapsed upon itself... Such that the crater floor is now a massive wildlife sanctuary that we will visit in the morning before heading to our flights. There are escorts/guards patrolling the hotel grounds for wild animals that might be dangerous to people going to or from their rooms in the dark. We found 2 giant buffalo roaming the hotel grounds...they are chowing down on grass as I type this...and security is keeping people away from them - apparently they can get cranky. There is also an owl here at the hotel that is making a bunch of noise and is hunting around the hotel. The sounds you hear during the night are mesmerizing... Making you wonder what is out there that would like to eat you for dinner!

Anyhow, it's been a nice trip, and we'll be home before we know it...just a few flights and about 32 hrs needed to get there.

So we shall see you all soon!

-The Lazars-

Post-climb schedule

Looks like we may not be getting an update from Mark and Kate for a while. Here's their post-climb schedule.

-Romz

Feb 13: Arusha / Lake Manyara
After breakfast, we drive to Lake Manyara National Park in the Great Rift Valley . After a picnic lunch in the Park, home to tree-climbing lion, colorful birds, elephant and hippo, we will have afternoon game drive in the park.
Estimated driving distance: 2.5hrs drive
Activities: Game drives
Accommodation & Meals: Gibbs Farm (new cottage), B,L,D

Feb 14: Lake Manyara / Southern Serengeti
Today we leave Lake Manyara for Southern Serengeti . Afternoon game drive in Serengeti, in search of large predators and gentle herbivores in which they feed.
Estimated driving distance: 3~4hrs drive
Activities: Game drives
Accommodation & Meals: EMC CAMP, B,L,D

Feb 15: Serengeti National Park
Morning and afternoon game drives in Serengeti exploring the rolling plains of Serengeti National Park in search of the large predators and the gentle herbivores on which they feed.
Activities: Game drives
Accommodation & Meals: Serengeti Sopa Lodge B,L,D

Feb 16: Serengeti / Ngorongoro
Morning game drives in Serengeti and then later we drive to overnight in Ngorongoro with a visit of Masai Village , and optional visit of Olduvai Gorge ($6/person).
Estimated driving distance: 3.5hrs drive
Activities: Game drives & Visit of Masai Village
Accommodation & Meals: Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge, B,L,D.

Feb 17: Ngorongoro / Arusha / DAR
Game drive in the crater exploring the short-grass plains of the crater floor. This extinct volcano embraces 100sq miles alive with lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, buffalo, and many more games. Later in the day, we drive back to Arusha for the 3:30pm flight via ZNZ, to arrive DAR at 5:30pm, board your return flight that leaves after 10pm (if we get a later flight from Arusha to DAR will change it).
Estimated driving distance: 3hrs drive to Arusha
Activities: Game drives
Accommodation & Meals: B,L

Finished the Hike Today

Well we had a very good last day on the trail with our team. We had a 6am wake-up for ourselves to get up and get an early start on the final 3 hours of hiking back to Mwke gate. It was a warm 42 degrees in our tent when we awoke...and we were practically overwhelmed by the rich, oxygen-filled air at our lower altitude.

We had a final breakfast with our guide. The entire crew was in good spirits as it was our final day of the hike and they would get to headd home to their families for a couple of days before doing it all again... But possibly as importantly for them was that it was 'tip'; day...and looking forward to what might come from the pockets of these Americans.

We wanted to be fair with tips, so we generally went with the guidelines on the company website... And when doing so, we were given many handshakes, hugs, smiles, and much gratitude. That was very very nice...to depart on such good terms. In some touring groups in developing countries, guides or porters will try to push for getting more money or tell a story about their family's woes, but no one in our team said a word about tips until we brought it up, so we were even more glad to recognize them for their fine job. So if any of you are thinking of a trip up Kili (and for some reason didn't want to come with us!), we would recommend going with Good Earth Tours...specifically with James as your guide. We found out that this is his 19th year as a guide! So that number of summiting over 700 times in a previous note could be true. He was certainly the most experienced guide on the mountain.

One other special momento we had for some of our support team was perfect and made them smile almost as much as the the tips... We brought several Barack Obama buttons and bracelets (acquired from Walgreens in Chicago) to give to our porters and guides since there is so much hype here (and in Africa, in general) about Obama. Since we only had a few, though, we had to make sure we avoided ruffling any feathers among the hierarchy in the group by giving the items to the highest ranking 3 people... Our guide, assistant guide, and our cook. When we came our of our tent this morning they were all proudly wearing their new accessories and smiling! Well...except for the assistant guide...he apparently made a deal with a Porter buddy that the porter could wear the bracelet for 2 days and then had to give it back so he could wear it. We'll chaulk this up to playing our little part in contributing to international diplomacy! :-)

So we got to the final gate where the bus would meet us and we received our official 'gold'certificates indicating that we made it to the very top of Africa...Uhuru Peak!

We eventually made it back to our hotel in Arusha where we quickly sorted out all the dirty clothes we needed laundered for the safari and then we took what was probably the most desired benefit of civilization....a long, hot shower! Then a rep from Good Earth came to our hotel to ask us about our hike and asked for feedback on what was good and bad so they can make continuous improvements. Well...asking 2 consultants to dissect the 7-day experience into feedback was like throwing chum to sharks. :-) The poor guy expected a 10-minute discussion, but we kept him for almost an hour letting him know what worked and what needed improvements. I suspect that by implementing our suggestions they will double their business in the next 12-18 months. ;-)

The rep then also gave us the necessary details for our safari tomorrow... Departure is at 9am...he said we have a driver with about 15 years of guide experience, and they've also issued us a newer car / land rover for the safari. So it should be absolutely amazing! We will drive for a few hours to get to the first site, Lake Manyara! We'll see how much access to internet we'll have there.

But we also wanted to say thank you to our Moms and my Dad for their 'congrats' notes after following along with this blog! We love that you are following along and can share in these experiences. We hope everyone out there has gotten something out of these updates!

Lala Salama for now! (Swahili for 'good night')

Day of the Big Climb

Well, everyone....today was the day. We woke up at 11:15pm after about 3hrs sleep to find our tent a drafty 32.6 degrees F. We told each other after the fact that we had been asking ourselves at that moment 'What part of this idea sounded good originally?'

At midnight we were called for tea and cookies prior to the trek...but I couldn't drink anything with the anticipation building.

Before I go any farther with this tale...what were the Vegas odds on us making it to the top?

Back to the story....We were a sight to behold...each of us in layers - I had 5 on top and on bottom and had an extra top in reserve in the backpack. Kate had 5 layers on top and 6 on bottom. We had our boots, gaitors, headlamps, balaclavas, windproof fleeces, puffy down jackets, and more. It was an impressive showing for an assault on the mountain. Our main guide, James, and his assistant guide Masungo were geared up and ready to guide us up.

The day before was a full moon, so now it was an almost full moon. Kate and I used our headlamps for navigating the path for a while until we realized our guides were leading by moonlight...so we switched ours off and it was a totally surreal experience with the mountain and the trail showing it's features in shadow relief. The stars looked so close as if they were mobiles just above our heads.

The temperature started around 32 degrees F and then dropped to about 20 degrees F (based on when I was peeking at my watch temp gauge), but the wind decreased the temp by a good 15-20 additional degrees. So I know what you're thinking already...that's just like living in Chicago and heading to the office in the morning. We thought that, too...and dressed for it...and we're probably the first hikers at Kili ever to say that we were actually a little too warm during our trek....so we unzipped to breath a little to avoid getting sweaty that was fine. BUT the factors we lack in Chicago include being out in that cold for 10+ hrs straight...AND the fact that you are climbing from 15,000 to 19,000+ feet with oxygen significantly less readily available. So it was tough...and our guides kept us on a very slow pace with several rest stops.

You could see the train of headlamp lights of tourists up the mountain paths high up above as we climbed...and there were an occasional pair of headlamp lights that would bounce down the paths and go past us....people that couldn't quite acclimate or became ill and being escorted down the hill - their hike was over.

So we hiked and hiked...starting at approx 12:40am... we were a little nervous when our hearts pounded and we found ourselves out of breath and gasping for more air, but we kept on going. After hiking for what seemed like 3 hrs, Kate asked if we were at the halfway point yet, and he said 'maybe in 2 hours depending on the pace.' That was a bit of tough love from the guide.

It was around 17,000 feet when I thought it would be cool to take some digital video of the night trek...which I quickly realized was going to produce a dark video with some heavy breathing and shoes scraping loose rock...not a winner. So I stopped the recording and saw the dreaded LOW BATTERY symbol flashing on the screen! It's a known issue that batteries can get drained fast on the cold mountain. So...what did we do? Well I reached into my chest pocket and pulled out a fully charged backup battery! Oh yeah! For the record, we brought 2 digital cameras - each with backup batteries to mitigate the risk.

Then we were in the 18,200 foot range when we saw the beginnings of daybreak on the horizon which was absolutely stunning...and re-energizing. We kept hiking but also looked back over our shoulders at the brightening sky awaiting the sun to appear as the moon was getting ready to duck down behind the mountain.

We were exhausted at this point...living on a few sips of the water that hadn't frozen and about a dozen peanut M&Ms...and our stomachs were twisting around wondering what the heck we were doing...so hunger was not a problem, just energy draining away.

We got to the point where we saw 'Stella Point' which is where an explorer long ago THOUGHT it was the peak...and turned around there. But on the rim of this volcano is a higher point about 45 min past Stella point named Uhuru Peak (Freedom Peak). Kate said seeing Stella Point just a hundred or so (nearly vertical) yards away brought tears to her eyes that we were so close.

We tredged our way up that final path...with its silty scree punishing us and sliding us backwards every other step. I kept myself entertained in-between deep breaths by yelling out 'Stella! Stellaaaaa!' Not sure if anyone else was 'as' entertained as I was.

SO! I'm come to the point to say that we reached Stella Point! But you say...how could you get soooo close but not get to the actual summit!?! To that our reply is... WE DID IT! We made it the final 45 minutes to the summit and took that bad boy of a mountain by the horns and wrestled it down for a great win and tremendous experience for us!

It was a beautiful, clear morning so we could see all around for hundreds of miles and could see into the volcano's crater where it's possible to go explore and still feel a hot floor from lava still deep inside awaiting its next emergence. There are also grand glaciers and neighboring mountains. Was beautiful, and we took many photos. :-)

We actually stayed at the summit for about 30 minutes....we were (oddly) not having any issues with the altitude, lack of oxygen, and chilling wind. Finally our guide had to say 'Mark, it's time we head down the mountain.' I didn't want to leave! :-)

We spent 3 exhausting hours sliding down scree slopes with our guides back to the campsite where we had a couple of hours to 'un-layer' and 'rest' and re-pack...for there were 3 more hours of hiking to do today to get to our FINAL campsite (at an oxygen-rich 10k feet) where we are right now awaiting a dinner with all of our porters and support team to thank them and get to know them a little more. Then tomorrow we have one last 3 hour hike as we leave the area to get picked up by one of our outfitter's buses and head back to Arusha where we will (wash clothes and really dirty bodies) and then begin safari!

Thanks to everyone still keeping up with this blog! We shall be in touch as much as possible.

Barafu Camp - Day of summit trek

(mobile web access again at 15k feet!)

Well we are HOURS away from our summit trek. This morning we hiked 3.5 hrs to our final camp from which we will launch our summit assault.

I had some stomach issues this morning that a triage of immodium, pepto, and finally Azithro seems to have under control. Again - I can't over-emphasize the value of a private port-a-potty tent. Ok...enough of the 'too much info' stuff...but just a reality check that anything can happen on the mountain. One of the impacts was that i had to live on chocolate throughout the hike for energy since I skipped breakfast. Kate and I have a little more headache as we got to our new camp at 15,000 feet, but we are drinking more of our potions with extra eletrolytes and the hydration helps. Getting up and walking around is good, too, but the sun has been evil-intense and we are trying to fend off even more sunburn.

Today we will have dinner at 4:30pm, then we are supposed to sleep from 6 ish until 11:30 to then get our final layers on...then grab tea and a cookie before hitting the trail at 12:30 for a 6-7 hr trudge up the mountain in temps dipping to minus 10 celcius...so they say. We have a BUNCH of layers and heat packs which we expect will be very helpful.

Then the plan is for us to summit between 6:30 and 7:00am...take some photos, then had back down to camp...another 3.5 hrs...for a rest before another 3 hr hike to the next camp.

Nothing too funny to report today...just focused on tonight. Wish us luck around 3:30pm Chicago time...for that's when we'll be heading up.

Tent Scene on Day 4 of 7

Here we r at camp after a (short) 4 hr hike 2day. And we have cell signal! The past 3 days have been intense... & great. We start our summit trek tmrrw night! No issues with the altitude. We were at 15k ft yesterday. :-) More updates when possible!

From the Mountain

Guess who found some mobile reception at 13,000 feet! Yes, we are on Day 4 of 7...our hiking is very intense but going well. We have handled the altitude well with only minor headachey-ness from time to time... But we are happily strong. We reached 15,000 feet yesterday on a practice hike...and will sleep at that level tomorrow.

Our support team is really great - our 9 team members consist of a main guide, an assistant guide, a cook, and 6 porters. They are all friendly and work hard and go out of their way to help make us comfortable. The primary language here is Swahili, so we have learned many words, phrases, and even a song!

We have had days ranging from 3 to 7 hrs of hiking along all sorts of terrain. Our hiking poles are invaluable... But not as invaluable as the portable private toilet we have hired to be brought with us! Yes.... the tented toilet is rugged, but it's worth its weight in gold compared with the public outhouses.

Our tent is nice and stays warm...enough. This morning it was 32 degrees F...but warmed up as we got moving. It is our home for now which is perfectly fine.

We usually go to sleep around 8pm... it's dark and we are generally tired from the day. Then we wake up the next morning around 6am...and get ready in the tent... We always make sure we put our clothes for the next day in our sleeping bags... Along with anything with a battery to keep them warm. We also rented sleeping bags for the trip (for 20 bucks a bag) that are incredible....very warm.

So we wake up and get our clothes on, duffle bags re-packed, sleeping bags stuffed into compression sacks, then head out of the tent for breakfast... But we also usually have warm water and soap waiting outside our tent for us to wash up in the morning. Then we have breakfast of porridge, hot chocolate, toast, and eggs. Then we check our water levels (sometimes needing to purify several bottles worth with iodine tablets to then put in our camelbaks), throw on our packs and head off for the day's hike with beautiful, clear mornings in which we can see the surrounding mountains and valleys and Kili's peak and glaciers towering in the background. Quite the sight.

Our guide, James, calls Kate 'boss' because she likes to be in the lead and go at her own pace... Even though the motto here is 'pole pole' meaning 'slow slow.' But Kate is a very strong climber and doing great. I am feeling fine on the hikes...but my knee injury from surfing is back, so I wear a brace which makes it 90% fine. We drink a lot of water, we take breaks, and we have plenty of energy snacks on which to indulge along the way.

So...just wanted to provide a brief update while en route. We are taking many photos... And will continue to do so.

Tomorrow night we will start our summit hike around 12:30am to reach the summit at sunrise which is at 6:30am. We will be wearing every clothing item we have because it supposed to be very cold up there. Using many self-heating packs, too. Hoping it all helps make the cold tolerable. Then we start down for the remaining 1.5 days.

Will provide another update when we have access again!

Here's the schedule for Kate and Mark up the mountain. We should be expecting posts and pictures from them once they've completed their descent and reach the Impala Hotel on the 12th.

- Romz

Feb 6: Hit the mountain to Machame gate, after registration process start the hike to Machame Camp, 9,900ft, (5~6hrs) Camping, B,L,D.

Feb 7: Shira, 12,600ft, (5~6hrs) Camping, B,L,D.

Feb 8: Baranco, 12,850ft (5~7hrs) Camping, B,L,D

Feb 9: Karanga Valley , 13,300ft (2~3hrs) Camping, B,L,D.

Feb 10: Barafu, 14,910ft (2~3hrs) Camping, B,L,D.

Feb 11: Summit , 19,340ft (6~7hrs), then descend to Mweka 10,010ft (5~7hrs), Camping, B,L,D.

Feb 12: Mweka gate (3~4hrs), transfer to Arusha (1hr), Impala Hotel, B,L.

Pre-Kilimanjaro Climb

Hi everyone! Again I am skipping about a day from Zanzibar that we will need to make up, but we are now in Arusha, our starting point to head out for our 7 day climb of Kili!

We were greeted here by a manager from our travel outfitter, Good Earth Tours, to make sure we arrived at the hotel safe and sound. She said someone would meet us in the lobby at 5:30pm to discuss the plans for tomorrow.

We showed up at 5:30 and met our guide that will lead our excursion up the mountain. His name is Jemsi (yes, that is spelled correctly), and he says he has climbed Kili over 700 times... But he does not look old enough for that, so we will see. He is very nice and we had a little bit of a roles and responsibilities expectation setting discussion with him - to make sure he knows we appreciate a 'high-content' hike with plenty of info on the mountain and eco-systems and local culture. :-) Poor guy doesn't know who he has to deal with for the next week! But we got along, and he seems really good. We meet the other 7 or 8 porters, cooks, and assistant guide tomorrow.

We were a little bummed to find out that the other couple that was signed up for the same dates as us had a last-minute cancelation... just 2 days ago. So it is the 2 of us and the whole porter team to tackle the mountain! I am sure we will meet others on the trail from other tour operators, though...so that will be good. We also bought a deck of card and a couple of books for time in camp.

Our tour group said they have had a LOT of safari trip cancelations this year....Tanzania is feeling America's economic problems.

So tonight we are at our hotel and enjoying a real bathroom (read toilet and shower) for the last time for several days and got some food and packed our bags for the hike...filling duffel bags that the porters will carry and 2 day pack backpacks that we will each carry with our water and rain gear. The first 2 days of hiking will be pretty warm, then gradually gets cooler and then cold.

We felt pretty good, though, when the guide quizzed us on what gear we brought, and we have everything we need... but will rent sleeping bags from here. He also said to us 'you look very fit' which was a little confidence booster - it also prompted Kate to flex her arms for him (Romz - definitely let Kevin know about that!) ...he said he is very confident in our abilities to make it to the top.

So now we are packed and will get some sleep before our 6-7 hrs of trekking tomorrow.

We will lack e-mail access while we are up there, so Mr. Romz will do us a favor and paste into our blog the hiking itinerary for the next 7 days... And we look forward to checking back in with you when we are back from the hike. :-)

Thanks to those that are keeping up with this blog. I wish I could post photos, but Yahoo's mobile version does not seem to have a way to attach photos... So those may have to wait until I have full-size computer access.

Will be in touch again soon!!

TingaTinga Market

After the fish market we headed to 'TingaTinga' which is where they have a group of artisans making paintings in a specific style originated by a guy whose family name was TIngaTinga. The paintings are colorful depictions of fanciful animals from africa in different settings or other Africa scenes - but the key is that there must be a message or symbolism in the painting for it to be a true TingaTinga style painting. There were also other styles of paintings represented there with some pretty cool scenes.

So you all know how rather particular we are from time to time....shopping among hundreds of art pieces was a bit daunting...and our guide was patient... But was funny when we asked our guide about having to follow us around in our indecisiveness... he said most people's time in Africa is just waiting around not doing much...so following us around watching us be indecisive was a busy day for him!

We finally had to make decisions as it got close to time to head to the airport, so we made some selections that made us happy, we got them rolled-up for travel, and we headed to the airport to catch our flight.

Because the guide (from our tour company) offered to hang onto our art until we pass through Dar es Salaam again in 2 weeks, we took him up on the offer so we did not lose or destroy the art in our transits. We just really really hope we get it back from him! But promise of a thankful tip is often incentive enough to get what's needed here.

Ok... We then head to Zanzibar.

Flashback: A morning of markets

(This posting is a flashback to Tuesday) We have had quite a day in DAR! After breakfast we went to the largest local market in Tanzania - called Kariakoo where we wandered past hundreds of stall and booths selling every vegetable and grain imaginable and random household products. We got some friendly waves and a 'Barack Obama' shouted at us once or twice (quite a boost to our popularity factor here) we chatted with one guy that knew a bit of English... And we said a lot of the same Swahili words over and over again... For lack of not knowing the correct words. There was also a guy that seemed to be following us for a bit, but eventually he went elsewhere. It is CRAZY humid here...and pretty hot. But feels just a little more humid than an intense humid day in Chicago - so we were ok...sweated like crazy, but our odor had little impact on those around us.

After the market, we went back to the hotel to meet our pick-up guy from the night before and the driver.... To head out for our city tour. We went straight to the 'biggest fish market in Tanzania' where they had a whole assembly of businesses going....fishermen bringing in the catch selling to hotels and retail shops and restaurants...but also handing off some fish to hundreds of people scaling and filetting the fish...and then passing it to a cooking area and the cooking area backed up to a group of people selling random alottments and fragments of firewood to keep the fires going for cooking. The smells were pretty intense...actually putting Kate into near-hurling her breakfast mode... But she held it together. I also had an incident in which I accidentally slipped in some fish-guts water and it splattered all over my pant legs AS WELL AS some poor guys standing nearby in semi-decent outfits. I felt really bad about it, but our guide
encouraged us to move along and just accept that it was an accident.

After the fish market, we went to TingaTinga which will be the topic of another blog soon.

Hope everyone back home is doing well!

Quick update on Zanzibar Arrival

Hi All,

 

We are now in Zanzibar  - it is Wednesday evening around 9pm...which is Noon Central Time.  We've had an interesting (good interesting) past couple of days as we toured DAR for 3/4 of yesterday before catching our 3:40pm flight to Zanzibar.

 

DAR was cool....and I have a great blog typed out on my mobile...ready to post when there is wifi, but our hotel only has normal PC connection in the lobby - so we will be a little out of sequence once I can upload that posting.

 

Meanwhile, in Zanzibar, we have a nice hotel room with a balcony overlooking the pool, beach, and the Indian Ocean.  When we checked into the hotel, they gave us a suspicious look when assiging us a room...and we got to the room  to find that it has 2 single beds in the room...each with its own mosquito netting.  We tried to switch to a room with one bed, but it wasn't available...but we'll have a LOT of up close and personal time in a tent for about a week...just  a couple of days from now, so that will counterbalance the separation for these 2 nights.

 

Anyhow, Zanzibar is known for a few things..one is spices, another is the former slave trade, and the last is the nice beaches.  Last night we walked around the town and found a  nice hotel bar with a view of the ocean where it's  considered the best place to viea a sunset on the island.  We checked it out - was nice - and a the bar a woman introduced herself to us as a journalist writing a story about people's reasons for coming to Zanzibar...and she'd overheard us talking and said she needed to find an American for input into the story.  We shared some entertaining anecdotes with her, and we got along very well so we grabbed a beverage with her and chatted more - turns out that she's from Australia and has been taking a "walkabout" Africa for the past 4 months.  Anyhow, it was an interesting conversation.

 

Then we fell asleep early and got up for a good hotel breakfast followed by getting registered for a group "Spice Tour" trip on the island followed by a Stone Town Tour.  More to come on those shortly...

 

 

When responding...

Hi all - another quick post. If you want to get in touch with us, please email my Yahoo address. We can post to the blog pretty easily (thanks Romz), but we will not see the blog site very often.

Thanks!

First morning in DAR

It is now 7:30am and we are wide awake after 5 or 6 hrs sleep. The room was nice and air conditioned. We hit breakfast where they had everything from yoghurt, baked beans, beef liver, sliced fruit, spaghetti, sausages, bread, and am omelet station. Yes, Kate did manage to communicate that she wanted an egg white omelete with minimal oil and no cheese. Success!

We are going to head to the local market this morning before getting picked up to check out the largest fish market in Tanzania, the coast, then a place called TingaTinga where they have artwork, then a driving tour around the city to see its vastness, then to the airport for a 3pm flight to Zanzibar.

Today is where we think the weight restrictions on luggage comes into play....44 lbs limit including carry-on. We will see how we fare with that. We were a bit over than when leaving home, but we ate so much trail mix on the trip here, maybe we are within the limit now. :-)

It is warm and humid here. There is also an unusual aroma in the air that strikes us as the same scent as a turkey cooking on a webber grill.

Okay, more later.

Friendly Folks Here

As planned, there was a guy from our outfitter agency at the airport with a sign waiting for us. He was very nice and he and another guy drove us to the city to our hotel. We made it to our hotel - The Peacock Hotel. But while coming through the heart of the city, we noticed that every building and street was dark. Our pick-up guy informed us that there are power issues today, but that hopefully things will be back up soon. Fortunately our hotel is pretty decent... and has full power. Well...except for one moment when power went out during dinner.

(yes - I was almost excited to have the chance to break out the headlamp a few days earlier than planned!)

Our driver pick up guy convinced us to let him take us on a tour around DAR tomorrow before our flight to Zanzibar... not without a heavy bargaining debate on pricing, though. I think what we settled on was fair. :-) The day should be fun and interesting.

Will post again soon!

Dar es Salaam Arrival

Hello everyone! We just finished a long flight from Zurich to Nairobi (Kenya) and then to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (to be refered to as DAR).

We flew Swiss Air which was great. Plenty of food...got several hours of sleep. Did some additional studying of our travel books to refresh knowledge of DAR and practice some Swahili phrases... Periodically inturrupting Kate with great new phrases as she tried to read her new book. (she tried to limit my teaching to the end of each chapter, but my enthusiasm in explaining that 'hakuna matata' really does mean 'no worries' in Swahili was way too exciting to wait for the end of her chapter to tell her!)

To our doctor friends, you will be happy to know we have stayed current with our Malarone and during flights did what we could to avoid blood clots. :-)

More to come soon...

Zurich and Beyond!

The Lazars have passed checkpoint B...Zurich. We are now on the plane to head to Tanzania. The flight over was great...Exit row, palatable food, and got a couple of hours of sleep.

Found the staff here at Zurich airport to be very friendly and helpful. Contrary to what you may have imagined, we did not indulge in vast quantities of Swiss chocolates during our 45 min layover here!

But it is cool to see more adventure-bound people on this flight...boots and technical gear. I can see the fire in Kate's eyes getting ready to challenge these folks up the mountain!

Ok... more to come later. 9 or 10 hr flight coming up now...

Heading out!

Well after many months of preparation, the Lazars are finally heading to Africa! Just boarded our first plane... The first of 4 flight segments over the next 24 hrs of flying to get us to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania!

Will update you again soon!