We were woken up at 6:00 this morning for an early breakfast and the tipping ceremony. The tipping ceremony is the event where all of the guides and porters stand in front of us and sing the Kilimanjaro Song and do a dance. Then we say a few words about how appreciative we all are and we give out our tips per group. They have us do this out in the open to ensure that everyone knows exactly what they are getting and there are no fights over money. It was a very interesting event for us but is the norm for all of them. After we gave out all of our tipping money, they sang another song and danced. It was pretty cool. After that we began our 5 hour hike down the mountain to the main gate. The walk was really cool visually, but wasn't all that fun since it was so drastically downhill. We started at 12,276' and descended 6,381' to the main gate located at 5,895'. Clearly, it was a pretty steep descent and involved a lot of wooden plank steps and muddy slopes. The walk was annoying, mainly because at this point we just wanted to be done and at the hotel for a shower, but luckily it was a pretty cool walk visually as it was through a rainforest. I couldn't even see the sky through the trees which saved us from the heat of the sun as we descended. We saw some monkeys too which was cool.
At the very bottom, right before the gate, there was a large crowd of people who were dancing and singing and celebrating. It was pretty neat to walk to and then through. After signing out, saying that we had completed the trek and were still alive, we walked another 15 minutes to a restaurant in the local village. We had a packed lunch so we stayed just outside of the restaurant under an overhang. Erik was there to meet us which was really cool. Everybody was excited to see him again. At that point there were only 5 of us, including Erik, and we had to wait 2 hours for the last two to show up. They took quite a while to get down the steep, slippery slopes. While we waited, we were hounded by the local villagers trying to sell us anything from Kilimanjaro shirts, maps, mugs, magnets, and anything else you can think of. For anyone that knows me, you know that I bought a few of the things. I got two shirts, a map, two bracelets, and a plaque with the Kilimanjaro song on it. Plus I only paid a total of like 35 bucks...not too bad. I took a couple pictures with the guides, porters, and cooks and also gave away a few clothes that I thought they could use (winter hat, gloves, rain bucket hat, and rain pants). After the other two finally got there and had their lunch, we left. We said our goodbyes to the staff of guides, porters, and cook and got on our big van for the 2-hour long ride back to the lodge in Arusha.
After we showered at the hotel, Erik and I sat by the pool and I used the wifi for the first time in 8 days to let my loved ones know I was still alive. It was nice to talk to them, even for just a few minutes. The other people from our group came to join us a little later and we all talked about the trip and memories of it. We eventually all went up to the restaurant where we had our last group dinner and one of the others gave a great speech about their experience and what they thought of each of us. It was really nice and touching. I have to admit, I couldn't think of a better group to have done this with...we were very lucky. We are going to sleep in tomorrow before our flight to Zanzibar to truly relax for a couple days before heading home on Tuesday. WHAT. A. TRIP!
Here are some of the names of our group in case you were interested:
Besides Erik and myself, our group consisted of:
Andy: He's from the UK and just an awesome, awesome guy.
Peter and Marci: Couple from Canada who were super nice and really cool.
Jeff and Liz: Couple originally from Australia but now in UK who are also really nice and cool people.
Florence: Lead guide
Jonas, Shabban, & Crossman: Assistant guides
Winfred: Cook
Cast: Lead porter and an unbelievably awesome guy (he's only 22 and the younger brother of Florence)
Joseph: The lucky porter who got to carry my crap up the mountain.
Here is some Swahili for you if you're interested:
Jambo: hello
Mambo: how are you?
Poa: I'm well
asanti: thanks
Rafiki: friend
Uhuru: freedom
maji: water
karibu: welcome
karibu sana: you're welcome
tom tom: yummy
pole pole: slow slow
saua saua: good good
chocula: food
twendeye: let's go
mke: wife
mpenzi: my love
la la se llama: goodnight
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