Last day on the mountain

7/14 Beautiful but cool day this morning at Horombo Hut, waiting for my evac ride - G&G had already left to hike to the gate. (Gordon had tried to convince OCG to let him ride with me - thinking that I was going straight to the hospital, I wasn't - so he could get his PCR test.)

Got to talk to the young Italian guy who was headed up on my way down the mountain. He had passed us on the way down, I was going slow if you recall. He did not make it all the way up due to altitude sickness. He told me that he had thrown up the night before. He works for a solar energy company.

The Range Rover showed up and OCG and I rode the long way off Kili and back to the gate that G&G had already hiked off toward at 8 AM. We started off at about 11:30 AM and got there about 1 PM, just a little before G&G showed up. The road was rough most of the way with some odd concrete parts built in some places that lined up with where the tires would run. Probably so run off wouldn't wash the road away in those parts?

Got to the Morangu gate before Gordon & NGomu; the porters were already there. Those guys walk fast with 20 kg (44 lbs) on their heads and who-know-what on their backs. Got to look around a bit, nice little area. Joseph found us a chameleon to take pictures of (it was a male.) Then we headed off to a local restaurant for lunch. Very nice lunch with all types of food AND a beer!

Gordon was still fretting his PCR test so we first drove to the hospital so he could get it taken. 48 hour turn-around is apparently considered expedited and it costs $100 U.S. to boot (they only accept $50 or $100 bills which messed me up a bit later on). They do have to send the sample to Dar-Es-Salam for processing.

We headed back to the original hotel to get our bags. Once that was accomplished I was driven to my next hotel, The Secret Garden, my HAFH for the remainder of my time in TZ. So, shower time!

Then Gordon & I were picked up to go to an Indian-Italian restaurant for a 'goodbye' dinner. Good food and beer again! We met a 'sister' group who had 'peaked' the same day we did. Gordon had met them already somewhere near the top, I missed that. One was a management professor from Algeria, there was an accounting professor from Spain, and four Irishmen, father and three sons, from between Dublin & Belfast). The father, Brandon, was a Joiner (type of carpentry), the three sons were an architect (Gary), a technology teacher (Michael), and the last (Paul) worked for ASML in the Netherlands. They all had already had one beer but I quickly caught up then passed them. (Tim would have been ashamed for his ancestral homeland compatriots poor showing.) This trip for them was to celebrate the father's 60th birthday - or to speed up their inheritance.

Good dinner, headed back to the hotel. Forgot my new sleeping bag in the back of the van.