Mountain 1, Shawna 2

Mt. Killimanjaro reminded everyone that this climb is not a walk in the park. There's a reason why it takes a special person to attain the summit. After two successful summits, the mountain bested Shawna this year.

It seems the guides are quite strict with their rule that climbers with unrelenting vomiting spasms must go down. It is the cardinal sign of severe altitude sickness. Despite Shawna's protestations that it was just the result of listening to Sara's snoring all night long, that she was fine and up to the task, she was sent down from the Kibo camp with a guide and three porters before the team made their summit push. Unfortunately, her sister Nicole was forced to join her exit by a worsening respiratory infection. Nicole wanted Josh to know that she was certainly not faking. A course of antibiotics for Nicole and a night not at altitude for Shawna seems to have healed their problems. They are planning to rejoin the team as they come off the hill today.

Initial summit reports were that everyone else made the lower summit and the team was doing well on its way to Uhuru Peak despite some fairly nasty and snowy weather. Full summit report coming soon.

While we are waiting to hear more from Mr. Me Talk Pretty One Day, I'll leave with this note from my friend HDT "If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected. "

Third Day's a Charm

Looks like Too Tall beat me to the update punch, but I really don’t have too much to add. I missed a call circa 1 a.m. from Shawniqua who apparently had trouble reaching Eric Abdul-Jabaar on her first attempt, so I got the sloppy seconds in the form of a choppy voicemail. It was short and sweet (well, from Shawna, tall and sweet), and here’s what I gist of what she said:

Day 3 weather was cloudy from 12,000 feet as the group was heading towards Mawenzi Lake near the Mawenzi Peak. Seems like everyone is hanging in there, despite a little case of Montezuma’s Revenge plaguing the otherwise happy campers. Two very tall blonde thumbs up re: the porters, who Shawna says are absolutely awesome and have helped make things easier. Sounds like Shawniqua’s sister, Nicole, the Aveda Vixen, developed a slight respiratory infection (I think she’s faking), but she’s getting better (good thing Naughty Nurse Dwyer is on the pleasure stroll up that hill!). As for Sarah, when she’s not wowing the masses with her tales of what she just said ten steps before, she’s apparently Snoresafrica, keeping Shawna up all night (or day?) by sawing some industrial logs. Isn’t it funny how the lowest of all low talkers can make the tent tremble with her louder than loud respiratory raucous?
More to come later tonight…hopefully either Too Tall or I can make live contact so we can extract some greater detail, but the punch line is that all are well and making great progress!

The Trek Continues

Isn't it just like Shawna to promise regular communication and then mysteriously be unable to answer the phone for days. Her story is that clouds over the mountain have prevented phone communication. I suspect they are too busy enjoying the view to call. The clouds cleared this morning and a short message came through. Everyone is doing great and they are halfway to the summit.

SAFE AND SOUND ON THE GROUND

20 hours of travel and our team is safely in another world.  A quick stop in Amsterdam followed by hours of traveling over the Sahara's endless sand.  As they climbed down the 2 story tall boarding ladder and look back, the KLM 747 looks like it landed on the equivalent of a dirt landing strip.  No boarding tunnel, the runway lights were quickly turned off and there sits the massive plane in the dark in the middle of nowhere.  Our travelers moved across the dusty tarmac into a single story terminal with a few tired fans barely moving the hot desert air. Cash obtained visas, customs made a cursory glance at their forms and their African adventure had begun.   

The trip was long and tiring but without problems.  Well almost without problems.  A bag or two was delayed and Amy Kaplan had a little run-in with a lovely KLM flight attendant.  It seems there was a bit of a dispute over some liquid that ended up in Amy's seat.  Amy was insistent that the flight attendant spilled soup while she was gone, it seems a leaking camelback may have been another possible explanation.  It's good to see our climbers well prepared for all contingencies.  By the time the group arrived, these travel annoyances seemed insignificant.  

In the words of my good friend Thoreau "Our life is frittered away by detail.  Simplify, Simplify." 

It seems like things are getting much simpler for our fearless trekkers.  Today they 

got a chance to meet some  the GAA sponsored orphans.  Food, shelter and someone to care about them is all they have.  There are over 8000 AIDS ophans in the town.  Many have no access to something as simple as clean water.  The worries of life back at home and fear about the mountain quickly disappeared when faced with the daunting impact of their fundraising along with a realization of how lifechanging the GAA programs are.

Tonight our team enjoyed their second night at the luxurious Kigongoni Lodge in Arusha located on a historic coffee farm overlooking Mt. Killimanjaro.  Tomorrow they board trucks for a lengthy ride to the base of the mountain.  If you think Chicago has bad potholes, wait until you get a chance to careen down a dirt road in a Land Rover at 60 mph for 3 hours.  At the gate they will join their support team and hike three hours to their first camp.  There they will find sleeping tents, a mess tent, a bathroom tent and dinner waiting for them.  (We are all waiting to hear how our vegan/rawfoodists will enjoy the menu.)  15 of their porters, including 5 women, are graduates of the GAA orphanage and training program.  We have been told that these 5 women are the first female porters on the mountain.  Its been amazingly empowering for them.  The support crew including guides, porters and cooks totals 48 for the 15 climbers.  

Everyone was happy to hear of our chilly temperatures in Chicago.  80 degrees in Arusha today.

More to follow.

Too Tall.  

Sasa by Proxy: The Rebirth

Jambo friends of Sasafrica!

This is Josh, the original ghost-blogger who kicked off this series back in August while Sarah and the girls got settled in their new African digs. Since then Sarah has taken the reigns and delighted us with her daily tales of life in Tanzania, all while subtly instructing us to send clothes, to carpe diem, and to not eat shit sandwiches. Well folks, we’re going to TiVo that stream of red-headed consciousness for a little while as Sarah leads another ambitious group up Mount Kili. In her absence, I and Eric “Too Tall” Schoonveld, the stretched husband of Shawna, Sarah’s co-leader and partner in crime, will be filling in with both play-by-play and color commentary as Fric & Frac lead another group of brave philanthropists up the hill. For those who have grown accustomed to the stylings of Sasafrica, please note that the tone will change a bit. With me, you’ll get a Sedaris-like slant on the events with a light-hearted, but sardonic take on the climb. When Too Tall starts typing, his eloquent lawyerness will come shining through, and suddenly you’ll be Thoreau country. Once the climb is over, he and I will gladly pass the baton back to Ramona Quimby: The Acid Years for her own take on the climb and 2nd semester in Africa.

As for the climbers, welcome to the great journey that is sure to change your life! Sarah introduced you all in previous posts in guest star fashion, reminiscent of the opening credits of the Love Boat. All that was missing was each of your faces in the ship steering wheel and, of course, the Landers sisters, Sid Caesar, and Charles Nelson Reilly. A key pointer: when you’re on the climb be warned that Sasa likes to tell stories…repetitively. When you hear her open up with “Did I tell you…?” quickly cut her off at the pass. Sure, you’ll need the entertainment to get through the grueling part of the climb, but don’t let her think that the multiple climate changes will erase your memory. Demand new material!

I’ve also sent Sarah 7 awesome CDs, so if anyone is short on music, ask Hannah Africanna if you can borrow her collection, then you all can dance a Soul Train line up the mountain. However, watch out for Sarah’s moves…when she puts that iPod on she’s Elaine Bennis with a backpack, and trust me, there have been casualties.

Shawna will be a great resource, particularly if you need to reach the top shelf. Her favorite pastime is laughing (and subsequently peeing in her pants), so if you want to feel like you’re headlining at Caroline’s Comedy Club, grab Shawniqua and let the jokes fly. Knock-knocks had her at hello.

So good luck to the climbers, and happy reading to friends and family near and far. It’s sure to be another successful adventure, so Too Tall and I will do our best to translate the journey to make you feel like you’re right there with them!

Snow and Spelling

First a shout out to all my misspelled words...I type fast and usually never edit...similar to how I live my life...I could use a full time editor....anyone intersted in the position???
Anyway...so I just wrote my group about how the snow on Kili had been going away and then BAM...it's now covered. Yesterday I drove to Arusha and noticed Mt. Meru has also gotten snow (very very uncommon) the second highest portion of Kili...Mwenzi...snow...ug.
I am hoping the unseasonable rain we have gotten of late is almost over as we start climbing Monday. They are mostly traveling from Chicago which I hear has gotten its fair share of snow...
Soon on this page there will commence a bloggins smackdown...in one corner we have Josh...who is a Google exectuive...in the other we have Eric who is a high powered attorney...I doubt they will have misspellings...should prove for some interesting reading while i am away....best to all of you and more when I return on the 23rd!!!
Love and Peace,
Sarah
PS...positive energy our way as we do a Valentine's day summit!!!! LOVE

Intros continued!!!

Ok...so...next we have Jimmy Masterson...Jimmy has been interested in doing this climb sense the first time I came here 4 years ago. He had that look in his eye as if to say "I want to do that" way back when . He and his wife Beth ( who will join us for the second half of the trip) generously sponsored me for that first climb! They are parents to 5 great kids...who I hope they are inspired to bring back in the future. I look forward to spend ing this time with both Jimmy and Beth!!! Then there is Yong Myong....he is the father of three great girls. Yong has traveled all over the world so he will lend an experienced sense of this adventure. yong is checking out the climb for his wife and first born daughter who also want to climb with us in the future (right cathy????)
Julie Newman is a business woman from Chicago...a very very busy one who I imagine will have a challenge slowing down to the pace of Africa. I doubt she will flinch on the mountain as she is a courageous independent soul.
Anna Loftus and Joanne Jorgenson are the other respesenting lawyers on the climb. They both owrk for the same firm but in different regional offices. Joanne hails from Utah...and has been hiking at altitude...she'll be leaving her its and her Army employed husband....now it's her turn to leave the country as he spent time in Iraq. Anna I don't know as well and really met briefly at our last meeting in Chicago...she strikes me a a bright vibrant addition to the group....she's tiny...and looks very fit.
Melissa Guierrez is the youngest member of our group. She is a veteran traveler mostly in South America...I'll be happy to introduce her to Abu one of our drivers who is fluent in Spanish. A few of our Tumaini trained porters also speak Spanish...I like Melissa's enthusiasm and will appreciate it onthe mountain!
Last but not least....it is our lucky luck to have Jamie Dwyer labor delivery Nurse extrodinaire. She was supposed to climb with our group in dec. but contracted Dengue Fever in South America...she has been here in Tanzania for the last few weeks traveling and visiting her sister Sam who is a GAA employee. She is great....I am SOOOOO happy she will be joining us!!! Nice to have a nurse along as well....especially if anyone goes into labor!
Ok....more later my mom needs some more training! HA....
Love to you all....see you climbers soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sarah