Mt. Mulanje

All 8 of us made it up and down Mt. Mulanje! It was a difficult climb. Two of Terrie's English friends, and one of their friends made the climb with us. They picked us up at around 9:30 on Saturday, and we got to the beginning of the hike a little after noon and began hiking right away. About 10 minutes into the climb we were huffing and puffing. The climb took us about 4 hours, and we stopped about 1/2 way to eat the sandwiches that we had brought. Terrie's British friends were experienced hikers, but they were very nice and one of them lead the pack and the other one stayed in the back with the slower hikers. It was very hot and humid during the climb, and there were time during the hike that sweat was pouring off my head and it was difficult to catch my breath, but we made it to the plateau before dark and it was wonderful. Once we got there, we walked to the "pool" and cooled off. All 11 of us stayed in the same cabin once we got to the top. We cooked our dinner over the fire and then most of us slept on the cabin porch that night. It was so peaceful to wake up to total silence and beautiful clear skies. On Sunday morning Shant, Emily, Angela and Tom went with one of Terrie's friend (Terry) on another climb, and Sammy, Katie and I went with Suzanne to find a different pool. It felt so nice to get in the water and splash around even though it was ice cold. We left the plateau where we were staying at around 1:00 and got to the bottom at 4. I thought coming down was easier except that our toes kept hitting the front of our shoes on the really steep parts (which seemed like it was most of the time). One of the amazing things about the hike was that the porters that were carrying our bags literally ran up and down the mountain with very little difficulty. Here is a picture of most of us (Kim had gone on ahead) on the way down, and a picture of the porters carrying our bags. I'm not sure if you can appreciate from the pictures how tired we are and how heavy the bags are that the porters are carrying. One of the porters was even wearing sandals! They are certainly in great shape!

At the bottom of the climb a large group of small children waved at us and said hi. We had been told that they loved "sweeties", and since Kim got to the bottom of the mountain before we did she opened up our bag of marshmallows and handed them out. She said that they all waited patiently for their marshmallow and then stared at them, unsure what they were! Kim showed them they could eat them, and they were all so happy. About 2 hours later when the rest of us made it to the bottom most of the kids were still clutching onto their marshmallows! It was very sweet!

Well, I have to go get ready for another day! Tonight we are having an Oscar party with some of Terrie's friends. None of us are allowed to look up who won what and we will all vote tonight who we think should win. Then we will watch the Oscars. This party is a tradition here, they have been doing it for many years. Have a good day!