Uluguru Mountain!

Saturday-
We woke up early, and met at Coffee Corner- with Frankie and Baisa who were taking us up the mountain today. We left and started walking towards the mountain at 7am. We stopped to get some water, and sugar powder to help keep us going up the mountain.

The first part of the mountain was a paved road, while a steady slope upwards. Then it turned into dirt roads and the slope was getting steeper. We saw many people walking down this road with bananas and other fruits in baskets on their heads. They get all the food in the mountain, go into town to sell it, and then repeat this throughout the day. They are in really great shape, because walking uphill there was tiring, and while carrying stuff on their heads- it's amazing. So, I was tired already and we just started. I am so out of shape right now, so the beginning was pretty hard. Anyways, we kept going, and taking little breaks here and there. As we kept going I felt better- still exhausted but I felt like I could keep going despite being tired. We passed through little communities here and there, and by people's houses with kids playing everywhere. The view was already amazing as we were going up.
We passed by waterfalls here and there and I was sweating so much, so I completely drenched myself under the little waterfalls. It was so refreshing. Kept going, and there were really steep parts now. It was really challenging now. There was a part with long grass and the tiniest little path we had to follow and be careful since on the one side of the path there was a drop-off pretty much. It was very thrilling, and still tiring.

Finally we got to the jungle part of the mountain. This was about an hour away from the top- the jungle was amazing, I loved it, there were huge trees above us so the sun wasn't shining on us, making us even hotter. It was cooler now, but still huge steep slopes every now and then.

One funny part- was when Frankie and I were hiking along, Frankie made a random noise and yelled it out. Then literally 20 seconds later, we heard a monkey repeating pretty much the same noise back. We couldn't believe that actually happened. Frankie did it again, and it replied again- it was so funny! We didn't actually see the monkey though- too bad!

Soooo! finally we get to the top. It was a 1.6 km hike up the mountain, so not that bad- but pretty bad since it was steep and I was so out of shape.
I was so happy to get to the top!!!
There's a tower at the top for radio and communication lines. And a man who takes shifts at the top of the mountain to guard the top.

We had Ugali (maize flour and water mixed and cooked together) and Samaki (fish) for lunch! Delicious!
It was great to be up there- the only problem was that we were in the middle of the clouds- so we couldn't see anything below us. I really wanted to see the view, it would've been great, and we waited a while and hung out to see if the clouds would clear, but they didn't. So we didn't really get any good pictures from the top!

On the way back down, it was really hard too- since it was steep you could fall, so we had to go slowly and carefully. My toes hurt so much since they were sliding forward in my shoes from going down the mountain and trying to go slowly.

Finally got to town once again, I was so sore- and had little plants (like burrs) stuck all over me, and stuff in my hair.
We went to the supermarket to get more water and snacks, and then took a taxi home- too tired to walk the rest of the way home.

Frankie and Baisa weren't even tired, I couldn't believe it, but they've climbed the mountain many times before so I guess they are used to it.

Anyways, it's two days after the climb and I'm still sore. Hopefully my muscles feel better tomorrow!
Miss and love you all!
Love: Jenn