Today, which began at 6:45 AM, would be our first of five days of agony. After breakfast, we met our guide, John, and our mountain cook, Steven. Then, we were off to Marangu Gate to begin our adventure.

The past couple of days, the top of Kilimanjaro was covered by clouds, but by 9 AM as we approached the base, the clouds parted, revealing its majestic beauty.

Before beginning our climb, we had to sign in at the main gate. John, meanwhile, was selecting the porters for our tour. There were only 2 of us, but our complete party consisted of a guide, an assistant guide, a cook, and 4 porters.

We waited a short time at the trailhead before John sent us on our way with one of the porters, named Steve (John still had to arrange for the porter's food - our food was already arranged by the tour). The start of the trail was an access road used by vehicles to assist anyone with medical problems at the first camp . The slope started out gradual and was originally paved, then it became gravel, and finally dirt and mud. The gradual incline was a nice way to begin the hike and we made sure our pace was slow to prevent altitude sickness.

2 hours passed before we reached the half way point and that included a 15 minute stop to photograph some monkeys. The weather was very warm and humid with many clouds zipping over us. Any sort of breeze sure felt good.

At our lunch break, Steve told us that several years earlier, he and John were part of a group who assisted Jimmy Carter to the top. Steve did not mention how big Jimmy Carter's party was, but he did say that they required 3 guides and about 50 porters!

When the access road ended, the trail began to get steep and muddy. We had to weave around and through tree roots and branches and this part of the trail was quite strenuous. We finally arrived at Mandara Hut around 3:30 PM , and, as I checked in at the reception hut, it started to pour rain. At this point I learned that the guide and porters always slept in different quarters than the tourists.

Our accomodations were A-frame chalets , which could sleep up to 4 people. Each bunk had a pillow and foam pad to sleep on, and each room had a small light powered by car batteries which were recharged by solar cells. There were even flush toilets here - quite a luxury from the expected pit toilets. The reception hut even sold Tusker beer, bottled water, and soft drinks.

About 15 minutes later, my rain soaked bag arrived. My bag was water-proof, however, it was carried zipper-side up, and some water leaked in to get my jacket and towel a little wet. Luckily, the rest of my stuff was wrapped in garbage or plastic bags (recommended by some of the tour guides I read) and everything else was quite dry.

By the time we made it to the dining hut , tea was ready, and we had a chance to meet some of our fellow travellers. Phillipe, from Tennessee, was taking a 6 month tour through Africa, starting in Cape Town and eventually ending in Barcelona. All I remember about Charlie was that he was from the UK. There was another tour of about 6 men from Germany who we never really socialized with.

After tea, Brian, Phillipe, Charlie, and I took a side hike out to Maundi Crater. The rain had stopped at this point but the clouds still looked threatening. The Crater was supposed to be 15 minutes each way, but it seemed to take longer, probably because the trail disappeared and it took some time to find the Crater (at least we think we found the Crater). We were not impressed.

I noticed during this side hike that my knees were starting to hurt whenever I climbed any steep trail and I hoped this problem would go away after a good nights rest.

By the time we returned, dinner was ready and I had quite an appetite. There was not much to do once the sun set so by 8 PM I tried to get some sleep. Unfortunately sleep did not come for over 3 hours because of the tea, altitude, and excitement. Brian, who was able to fall asleep quickly, would later start suffering from a bout of Travellers Diarrhea and would be running to the toilet every hour starting at midnight.