BTDT

From the itinerary:

A morning walking to Mweka gate reflecting of the past weeks experience with our Climb Kili vehicle waiting to transfer you to your hotel for a very welcomed shower at the hotel.  Overnight at SG Resort.

Last day! So I don’t know if I mentioned this, but the night before we were supposed to have walked to some camp, but instead we stayed at some other camp because it was closer and, if you recall, we slow. Anyhow, we wake up at Millennium camp, which should have a reason for being named that but apparently it doesnt, and we walk to Mweka Gate. The itinerary suggested it would be an easy walk, which it was, but it also suggested it would be short, which it wasn’t. I think we left at 8 maybe, and we didn’t arrive until.. well I have no idea, but much later.

Cause we slow. But it didn’t bother me, the going slow, because it was the last day and the sooner we got to Mweka Gate the sooner the trip would be over. So we took our time, and I took my time taking my time. I photographed every mushroom I saw, tons of Kilimanjaro Impatiens, lots of rocks, etc.

Impatien. It is seriously so hard to not put a T on the end of that.

The night before, as we came down the mountain, we had just left the rocky top of the mountain ecosystem and had entered the short little tree ecosystem. As we went further down the mountain, the trees got taller and the plant life thicker, and, in the highlight of the day, we started seeing monkeys again! Of course, my camera only barely registered them, but monkeys! Black and white ones. We actually didn’t see them until the very, very end, I think.

Singin’ and dancin’

When we got to the gate, all our porters were there waiting for us, singing a welcome song. and dancing. It was fun. We signed the little book saying we completed the trail, had folks clean our boots for us, which was kinda weird but pretty nice, and ate lunch.

After lunch there was this (I thought super weird) ceremony thing where the lead guide announced to everyone how much of the tip pool each porter was going to get. (There was a tip pool.) It was interesting though for a couple reasons. One, I naively thought that the porters were all basically the same rank, so to speak, but that was not true. The bottom run and the lowest-tipped were the dudes that carried the portable toilet, which both makes sense and doesn’t make any sense at all. They were followed by the water carriers (also kinda backwards, considering how important water is), then the kinda general equipment porters, then the porters who carried our personal stuff, then the waiters/cooks assistants/cook, and finally the guides, with the lead guide getting the biggest chunk.

The other thing that was kinda funny about it was that the lead guide, who was making all the announcements, would say what each person was getting in English, but then he’s repeat it in (presumably) Swahili, which would elicit cheers from whoever just found out about his bonus. The reason I thought it was funny is that I had kinda assumed that everyone spoke English pretty well and the reason they didn’t talk to us much was because, you know, we’re just boring tourists and why bother talking to us? I also noticed that the further up the hierarchy the announcements went, the less likely it was he would repeat anything in Swahili, which made me think that English language skills were pretty directly related to how high up in the organization you could go. Of course, I could totally be reading the entire situation wrong, which would be my style and not at all surprising.

Room for one more!

Anyhow, after that we all pile pack into the truck to head to Arusha. We have car trouble along the way, so we have to stop at a mechanic, but after 20 minutes and a couple bottles of something or other poured somewhere or wherever, we’re back on the road. We get to the SG hotel (which bills itself as a “neo-Africanized resort”?) and it is awesome. The first place we stayed at, like I mentioned, was expensive, had poor service, scary water, etc. I mean, it was fine, but when we got to the SG I was stoked. Okay i had just spend a week on a mountain, so of course it would at least feel better, but this place had pizza and a bar and weird neon lights in the rooms, and showers with reliable, non-scary hot water. So. Showers, dinner of pizza and beer, and bed! In a bed! Where I wasn’t even a little bit cold! And I’m going on a safari tomorrow!