My Kili Trip
We set up the blog to provide tips about what we do with our hair and our products but it can become quite boring for you to read and for us to write if that’s all we discuss. So please bear with us as we attempt to move beyond the hairstyle and encourage you as well as ourselves to embrace our natural beauty while enjoying life. A member of our family recently had the chance to go to Mount Kilimanjaro, and this is what he told us about it.
They said that the best way to prepare for Kili was for me to go hiking; pack my backpack full, strap on my boots and hit the trail. I tried to go somewhere new every weekend, but a hard bike ride or a long run were good substitutes when I didn’t have much time.
There were 11 of us in total; most of us were a few years out of college, but there was a couple in their 50s, often times leading the charge up the mountain. We took lots of breaks to snack on some clif bars, drink water and bust out the jolly ranchers if things got really rough.
During the breaks, some of the porters would try and talk to me in Swahili. I smiled and shook my head, in which they often replied “You speak English? Ahhh Rasta! Peace and love man”.
We were walking excruciatingly slow and I was still out of breath, it was extremely cold at night, and I had altitude headaches most evenings. But the biggest hurdle was on summit day, after walking for several hours I realized still had miles and miles to go. The peak still looked like a tiny speck in the distance. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done (and possibly ever will do), but the view of the sunrise at the top, and finally reaching the sign at the roof of Africa made it all worth it.
