Today began a little after 6 AM. Brian, who had suffered an upset stomach all night, was feeling a little better. Around 7 AM a porter came by with some tea and a tub of warm water to wash up with.

Breakfast was excellent, compared to everyone else, and consisted of fresh fruit, cold meat, and bread. Everyone else was served this warm white porridge, described as "grits" by Phillipe.

By 7:45 we were ready to leave. The temperature was cool and both Brian and I were wearing jackets. John told us to take off our jackets because it would get very warm - he was right.

The trail was very steep and muddy. After about an hour, we emerged from the rainforest into a meadow and scrub environment. . At this point, we could see the snow capped peak of Kilimanjaro for the first time since we started.

The trail switched from being steep to a more mediocre grade. This incline, being more of a gradual climb, was very welcome because my knees were still very sore. In fact they were so sore that I considered I might quit if they stayed sore the rest of the day.

On the way, the trail crossed over many small streams, some of which were muddy and difficult to pass. The area seemed to be a series of hills and whenever we reached the top of one hill, there was always a taller one beyond it. The whole hike to Horombo would be like this.

We stopped beside a stream for lunch at around 11:30 AM. I think I ate too much because I was not feeling so great hiking afterwards.

It took another hour after lunch to reach Horombo Hut and this place seemed to just appear as we rounded a hill. . The weather was windier here and clouds were threatening us from below. The temperature was cold in the shade but hot in the sun. As I checked in at the reception hut, I noticed that softdrinks, beer, and water were also sold here.

Our accomodations were the same A-frame chalets as in Mandara Hut with all the amenities (foam pad, pillow, and electric light). The community bathroom consisted of 2 sinks with water running continuously (there was nothing to shut them off and the water was freezing) and 2 stalls with drop toilets. The toilets flushed automatically, every 15 seconds, and required you to have good balance as you squatted over them to do your business. The stall doors had no lock and you had to make sure that no one entered (by keeping a hand on the door) while you were doing your balancing act - a feat requiring a bit of coordination, especially at this altitude. It was very difficult to determine if the stalls were occupied unless the occupant was singing or whistling (or making some other bodily noises). A common courtesy would be to knock on the door but most people seemed to walk in, say "oops", and then repeat the process in the other stall.

We had the whole afternoon and evening free. There was nothing to do here which was fine because most people were exhausted. I was both extremely sore and tired.

Horombo Hut is an interesting spot because it is the only place (on the tourist route) where people climbing up can meet the people descending. You could easily identify the people descending because they looked even more exhausted than everyone climbing up. Actually, everyone on their way down had reached the summit earlier that morning.

About 2:30 PM, tea was served at the dining hut with an added treat of ginger-snap cookies. Everyone else had these hard dry cookie-like things or popcorn with ketchup. Several mice were scampering around the dining hut floor scavenging for scraps and anyone not wearing shoes were being bit. I met a Swedish man who had just made it to the top and he told me that his group/tour had excellent weather the entire hike, but an American group experienced blizzard conditions at the summit the previous day.

Dinner was excellent and included pork chops and spicy rice. After dinner, we decided to observe the scenery below us since the clouds, which had been threatening us earlier, had dissipated. The rest of the evening we spent talking with Phillipe and Charlie.

As soon as the sun set, it became very cold and I left for my hut shortly afterwards (with Brian following a little later). At 7 PM I tried to get some sleep, but it would take another 2-3 hours before I finally fell asleep. I remember waking up once, around midnight, to see the Southern Cross shining brightly through my window.