Day 4: Legho Village and meeting with mountain guides

JOURNAL ENTRY BY KEITH AND KOLE WOSNESKI

Today the band if SAE brothers woke up early and trekked to a nearby hilltop to view an incredible sunrise above the Kilimanjaro mountain range. After we soaked in the view we returned to our camp on Legho Mountain to start the day off with a big breakfast and some freshly made coffee. Pap Deo shared his life lessons with us using the stages of a coffee bean from being picked from the tree to being roasted as a seed in the pot as a metaphor. After that we had some quite alone time for self reflection before we departed. We said goodbye and thanks to the staff that took care of us then hopped on the bus and headed back to Arusha.

Along the way we stopped for pizza again (can’t get enough of it). After a long and hot bus ride filled with bad jokes we arrived back to our hotel where we checked in, and laid out our gear for a very thorough gear check. We finally got to meet our head guide and his partner, Samia and Ahi, who calmed our nerves stating it was going to be his 360th time reaching the peak. Next we all met up along side the pool for a briefing/Q&A session.

We learned a lot about the effects of altitude on ones body...as Steve said “at my age you can’t always trust a fart”. Once that ended we stuffed our bellies with fresh pizza and burgers. Many went to bed but my dad and I stayed up later then we should’ve attempting to download photos from the last few days. However it was well worth it because we received assistance from Erik and Erik, (yes they’re both named Erik), two super kind employees who work in IT for the hotel. We had a deep conversation with one Erik about his life and how he was kicked out of the house at age 10. He became a porter so that he could buy food and pay his college fees. Talking to him furthered my realization of how blessed I truly am. Then we headed to bed to rest for our big climb tomorrow.