We had a really good guide. Maybe i mentioned earlier that his name is Steve. He was the funniest person i ever met. At some point when he noticed we were soooooo tired he offered the kindest advice of going back down the mountain. However, when he saw our determination to continue he started to advice us to live because frankly for first time climbers we were doing not so well.
I like to say every once in a while, that day the mountain made me. It changed me completely from the inside out. I have a certain respect for something that can unmake me so deeply then remake me again. We are walking and its dark. We have what look like torches out but they are not helping. This time we are walking down rather than up into a valley. The camp is like not too far away. There is a sense of desparation here. the only comfort is that really we are not the last ones ... there is one more behind us and we know this because someone way behind us was flashing a torch...a sign of life. Seemingly out of the blues a man appears. He is a guide . I absolutely hate him right now. He is passing us like the earth belongs to him. So easy. He says he thinks we are ok and we will make it. An angry frustrated tear drops down my face. I cant even feel it. I am too cold.
For the longest time, we have been hearing the river. Finally its within our sights. God, that seems good. We will live. With some alien burst of energy we cross it , on a tiny bridge made of some wood and then there is this stone. Oh Lawdy....that stone...its so invitingly flat. Our bodies give in and we sit down. The guide as tired as he is , is still giving us fantastic wisdom..." dont go to sleep he says"...honestly my mind tells me....this is a line from a horror movie...who says such things on a mountain. It turns out he is serious and makes sure we are disturbed enough to wake up and walk
We had not anticipated the wind. I had always imagined in class when they said windward it a was a small wind thing that would not hurt a fly. But this was different. Its coming at us as if its on a revenge mission. its full of cold finger like sharp things and i think that is my imagination. But in the state we are all in , we can be forgiven for creating wild imaginations.
In such moments when the spirit is willing but the body is not, its a one foot in front on another affair. Slowly but surely and painfully we are making our way to a destination that seems to move itself the closer we get. its dark , really dark and the one light remaining is conspiring to go off too. Lord have mercy. Then we come upon it. The sign that reads Mackinders ...i cant read the rest but i assume its trying to tell us that our destination is near. This is a historic moment and we should all be celebrating this milestone. But we cant.
We are stepping in water, moving because we must move. Finally we find this outcropping of rock. Its enough , we cant move anymore. (for those who have climbed mount Kenya, and this is a little embarrassing, that rock signified 5 minutes to the end of the journey round 1)... We sit...too tired and too frozen to speak. Our guide cannot convince me and my partner in tiredness to move another inch. Everything seems too heavy even the clothes on our back. ....nope, not moving.
You know how the earth conspires to save you when you cannot save yourself....I dont know what you call it but there are moments i swear you See God. Here we say (and this is direct translation) - that God comes and does not send another. Anyway just as some form of sweet sleep threatens to make a home in our eyes, a man wearing pink appears. Me i thought he was an angel. Who wears pink in the cold of the night , on a mountain top.
I am looking at my friends - because that is what we have become and i am assuming i am telling her, this is how people die. How do angels appear out of nowhere? the said angel, goes ahead and hands each of us a cup and proceeds to put in steaming hot something that looks like tea. I am too tired to care. I put it in my mouth and it comes out sideways. My goodness i had not realized i was that frozen. I am telling you, that was like the best tea i have drunk in all my ears. It brought and painfully both feeling and energy to go one last mile.
He tells us as he lives for the one person out there, far away...Just climb over this rock and you are home. I cried then. two hot streams of sour water pouring down my face. We are here. We climbed those rocks like our life depended on it because it did. and then, there was nothing. I'd expected a house . I'd expected a welcoming committee.......it wasn't too far off but have you ever been tired?
Well we would not give up now. We walked on , practically running. Last mile, last mile ......last .......there is that house in the near distance....there is a light....there is hope, there is a door....there ARE PEOPLE.......we are home. Home at last.IT HAS BEEN 12 hours ...this is day one. We are alive, we are cold , we are well. There is a visible sigh of relief from everyone else. I just need to change. I just need to eat. I just need to sleep.
