The two sleeping bags required two people to pack them away. Unlike the other two, mine was simple. Teamwork was the key! When squatting in the tent, it took a lot of patience and skill to change and clean up. And flexibility, agility, and awkwardness are required to crouch and crawl into and out of that zip door. Do you think we would get used to this?
We begin our second day’s hike to Shira 1. All the way there, there was an incline. More steeply than on day 1, the trail ascended. It was necessary. Were not we ascending a mountain? We used to sigh, get happy, and say, “Oh good, now it is flat,” but after about two minutes, an incline would begin.
The ground was very dusty, sandy, and dry. Dust and sand move, shift, and land all over us as hundreds of porters march our luggage, kitchen, tents, etc. As we pass each other, we say,’ Jambo’ ‘Mambo’ ‘poa poa’. We also get to speak a bit of Swahili !
The day was very difficult! When we arrived at Shira 1, our second camp, we were exhausted from having worked so hard. Our clothing was smeared with dirt, sand, and other things. We had a dirty appearance. To clean ourselves, plenty of wipes were brought out. We no longer appeared tidy. The story was written in our fingernails.
Enock report: We were doing well! Next day: Easy!
The sleeping rota, oh my! Sid was supposed to get some “Alone” time to sleep. He enters, settles down, and after 15 to 20 minutes laments that it is freezing in his tent and that he must enter our tent. Indeed, ours would be warmer with the two of us, and now that there are three of us, it will just be a warm squeeze. We stow our luggage in the other. I am the cheese between the two baps, and I am warm and good! Each of us has a designated space where we keep our essential precious possessions. We do argue and we are loud. Voices carry! Later, we learned that the other campers found us to be very rather entertaining.
I do wake up for a pee in the middle of the night. So does Sid!
