Be careful what you wish for – Kilimanjaro, Day 4 (22 July 2008)

So after the boring trudgery of yesterday, I was repaid in spades today. My diary says “Best day yet – not boring at all.” It also says “Justaz secretly trying to kill us. Up and down, up and down.”

Today covered from Barranco to Karanga. On the six-day hike we would have pressed on to Barafu, and then to the summit tomorrow night. We’re on the seven-day hike for extra acclimatization, though, so today’s hike was only supposed to take 3 hours (at least according to the sign). It took us about four and a half. When we got to camp I felt fine, and thought we should press on. Then I took a nap. For four hours.

Karanga is my least favorite camp. It’s got a tremendous view of Kibo, but the entire campsite is set on an angled plain. When I woke up from my nap I had to stumble downhill to the latrine, and felt like I was going to fall over the whole time. At first I thought it was altitude sickness, but I’m pretty sure it’s just a function of being on a tilt. It reminds me of Silver Dollar City, an amusement park near my home town. At Silver Dollar City they have a funhouse where there’s a room with a tilted floor. They’ve got a pool table set up, and at regular intervals a pool ball comes out of the wall, traces a parabola across the table and goes back into a corner pocket. Meanwhile you’re fighting millennia of evolutionary developments in balance trying to get out of the room. It’s the same thing here.