An Unplanned Day to Pool Ideas

Day 3 - True Date 6/8/13

As a group we had agreed to wake and meet for breakfast at 8:00 am. I slept soundly but a number of group members seem to have struggled through the night. One likely cause was remnant feelings of jet-lag. Otherwise, there were seemingly strange/distracting occurrences during the night. These included moments of blasting, party-like music that seemed like it was just right outside. Others heard dog fights and some sleep discomfort can always be credited to a new place.

As planned, we gathered in the upstairs of the hotel where a buffet breakfast was waiting. The items included fruit, cereal, toast, eggs, sauted vegetables, pancakes, etc. My favorite moment of the breakfast turned into a running joke for the trip. On the table there was an unlabeled bowl of soft edible cubes. Archer, with the impression that they were cheese downed one immediately, and it was not until halfway through his second that someone pointed out that it was in fact butter.

After breakfast we returned to our rooms to prepare for the day. Our expectations were that we would meet our guide to discuss packing for the mountain and then travel to a local secondary school to give donations and ... see a school. As expected, we met the guide at 10:00 next to the pool. However, he first informed us that the school was not available to visit today so we proceeded to planning and packing. The guide's name is Justin Kisota and he's done the mountain over 100 times (I take it that eventually the altitude doesn't matter). We looked at the map, talked about where we'd be camping and were told what we should expect on each day of the ascent.

From the meeting we each returned to our rooms to spread out our gear and supplies on our beds. When we did that Justin moved from room to room to look at what everyone was prepared with and make sure nothing important was missing. When missing items were found, he was able to rent them to the group (but overall we seemed nearly perfectly prepared). Once our gear was checked we all repacked our stuff. We separated the school supplies and the luggage for the safari to be stored in the hotel while we packed another duffle bag for the mountain. After that, we were free for the day with few plans.

Without plans, the day became one to hang out, get used to each other (not that we needed that), and relax before the 8 day climb. The sun was out and there were few clouds around. It wasn't long before we all congregated around the pool. Harrison, Archer, Liesje and Kelly all spent some time swimming, napping, talking, using hotel wifi, etc. Sabrina and I did much the same but I think both lacked any time swimming. We ordered lunch while there (from the hotel). In the evening we met for dinner upstairs. The hotel has a large variety of offerings including local food, Chinese, Indian, etc... After dinner we all headed back to our rooms for another early night. The plan was to be leaving for the mountain by 8 am...

Our last night of luxury for a while...(if you consider a week a while...)