Day 7: The last leg of an amazing journey

Doing it for epilepsy awareness!

Some rest and food is exactly what the doctor called for. I felt much better today. Although my appetite is still not 100 percent back, I was able to eat an egg, a chapata and a second chapata with banana and peanut butter. Nurse Amy was satisfied with my breakfast. She is like our mother hen, looking after her little chicks. 

The three hours hike down to the gate took a little longer, and our guide Raphael held my hand for a good part of the time. I am never going to be good at going down. In my defense, both the ground and rocks were pretty slick with mud for the first half. But finally we arrived at the gate and went to sign in for the last time, only to realize that the permit number we were told would be at the bottom was not there. So we had about an extra hour to hour and a half wait before we could load up and leave. 

It was really hard to leave all these guys. I had such an amazing time, it is one that I will never forget. I really would love to return and conquer that mountain! And who knows, maybe one day I can work at a foreign desk in Arusha. It is so easy to love the people, the music, the dance, the culture. 

Our amazing Mt. Kilimanjaro group. Tembea Africa is the best!

It is hard to believe that my time here is coming to a close. I will be going on safari tomorrow and visiting Nickson’s village, and returning to Arusha on Friday. Then I leave early Saturday morning for the U.S. (NOOOO!) and will be touching down in Chicago around 5:30 p.m. 

I have made some great friends here, and cannot wait to return. There are more than a couple people I would like to see again, and I really hope to return to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. They really were the best guides and guys I have met. So amazing and fun!