Night before the Trek up Kilimanjaro

Jambo,

Tomorrow I wake up early for the start of the Trek up to Kilimanjaro. I'm traveling with about 7 others and about 12 porters. Since I won't be able to blog while I'm climbing, I'll have to do it when I return in 7 days. I will also be doing daily video logs so when I get back home it will be nice to post the commentary. Hopefully I'll be able to film the final push to the summit (at 12 Midnight) which will be during a full moon. Nice!!

As far as how I'm doing physically, well I'm tired and I haven't even started the trek yet. Jet lag is a Biotch, and of coarse it doesn't help when you stay up late drinking tequila shots with the Belgians. So I guess I deserve any repercussions. I've pretty much tempted fate with my health here as I probably could be taking better care of myself i.e. Eating street food in Zanzibar, combined with taking about 30 tablets each day ranging from Malaria, Diamox and Vitamins. Last night I pigged out on dinner which included raw vegetables (they were soo good!). As a result, this morning I woke with a bit of a stomach ache. Gee, was it the food, tequila, weird to no sleep hours or perhaps the three mosquito bites I already got. Hard to tell what symptoms are what with all the stuff you put into your body. Main thing I'm concerned with is drinking enough water and eating enough food. The good news is I'm feeling pretty good tonight and hopefully it will carry forward through the rest of the week.

I've been speaking with other climbers who just got down and from what I've been told it's no cake walk. The porters usually have to monitor and baby a few in each group; some were even crying (I'll try and get that on film :)) as some of the hikes each day are very long (up to 9 hrs). You would think being in shape would help, but altitude has no selection criteria or body type. Some people get hit much worse than others and if the symptoms are not treated, it can kill you. Other than that, I can't wait to get to the top!! :-) I'll be crossing my fingers.

Today was spent regeneration and gaining strength for tomorrow. About to have dinner and perhaps a glass of wine. Wait a minute, of course I'll be having a glass of wine :-) since there is no drinking allowed on the mountain. Anyway, looking forward to meeting new interesting people on this expedition and also being pushed to my limits.

Thanks for reading all. Wish me a safe journey and I'll blog to ya later.

Ciao,

Tony

On to Kilimanjaro....and a few more edits.

Jambo,

I just arrived at my destination about 100km outside of Kilimanjaro. The place I'm staying is called the Armaru River Lodge and will be used as my temporary place to stay between Kili, the safari and Amani. I'm almost ashamed to be staying in such a nice place as I feel I should be roughing it a bit more (although I think there will be plenty of time for that in the coming days). Anyway, this lodge is in the middle of the jungle and is surrounded by coffee plants/trees (which you can smell). So needless to say, I'm looking forward to a good cup of coffee in the morning. :-) It's about 10:30PM, I just had a great meal (which I really needed because I haven't been eating enough on my trip) and a couple of beers and glasses of SA wine so I'm feeling pretty good. Tomorrow, I will post some more commentary on Zanzibar and the lodge. Upon reflection, there was so much to see in Zanzibar I realize that one day was not enough to explore the island. I already want to go back. However, I have a lot to look forward to with the next portion of my trek. I hope you've enjoyed the pictures so far.

Tony

Finally in Zanzibar!!

Before I get to talking about Zanzibar, I want to say what an experience it was just getting here. I got into Dar Es Salaam late last night about 8:30 PM (BTW, I'm 7 hours ahead of DC time and 10 hours ahead of San Diego time -- I'm adjusting, but boy! do I want to nap during the day). After picking up my luggage/customs etc., and picking a cab driver amongst many, I was driven to the middle of Dar Es, to find a decent hotel in my price range. I would compare the feeling to driving through Mexico, except everyone is speaking Swahili and they drive English style (on the left). Why is it that cab rides are pretty much the same in all poorer countries? A little scary but I soaked in the experience nevertheless. And after catching a few hours of sleep, I got up at 4AM to catch a 6:30AM flight to the island of Zanzibar....

Speaking of Zanzibar, this place is simply amazing. I'm now staying in Stone Town. In the 1800s, Stone Town Zanzibar was where the origins of the slave trading industry began. Catholics, Muslims and Hindus make up much of the people living here and much of the architectural structures still remain and are maintained as they have been for the last couple of centuries. I was just having a glass of wine over looking the port and this old world scene that looked like something out of Casablanca. With the old single sail ships and market places, this place exudes kind of a classic romantic theme a la Indiana Jones. I would definitely recommend Zanzibar as a destination and if I were a writer looking for inspiration, I would come here in a heart beat. Haven't seen too many Americans tourists as there are mostly Europeans on holiday.

After breakfast this morning, I got a personal tour from a guide, Mr. Atuba. He grew up here and has a vast knowledge of the history Zanzibar. Explained/showed me everything from the sultan slave trade organization, the fish market, facts about Barbara Bush's visit, to showing me where Freddy Mercury was born (did you know that? I didn't). Tonight they are having a film festival in the oldest open building in Zanzibar that I'm going to try to check out. I leave for Kilimanjaro tomorrow for the next stage and most challenging part of my trip so stay tuned...

FYI, I'm not the best blogger or elegant writer in the world so please be patient with me. I will try to post a couple of pics here shortly as I have already taken over 150 pics today. Tomorrow I will try my hand at video. Also, I have no email capability but I can text. If you have quick questions you would like to ask while I'm on my trek, you can text me at 7039552728 and I will do my best to respond. Otherwise, continue to comment and I will get to all of your questions if you have any.

Additional Comments and Photos (updated 31 Aug):

I'll try to post a few more and some commentary later when I have more time. I overslept this morning so I'm rushing a bit before I have to get out of here. Enjoy!!

These two pictures were taken from the hotel cafe when I first arrived yesterday morning. Not too bad, eh?




These next pics were just from walking around Stone Town and inside some of the shops and market place. As a side note, there were a lot of Obama references, i.e. posters, graffiti etc. They love him here. I had one shop keeper yell to me “Yes We Did”! as I walked by giving me the thumbs up.



I was hanging out at this place last night having a glass of wine while they played some pretty cool down tempo tunes. At one point a tiny monkey jumped up next to me (I thought it was a cat at first). I think he wanted a drink.



I love the children shots. The children that I saw were running around and playing in the very narrow streets of Stone Town. Fortunately I was able to take these before they noticed I was there.





The fish market had the worst stench you could imagine. I held back on the close ups for this post.



I didn't notice it during the day, but while walking around at night, there are so many families that live in these old dwellings.



This was my tour guide Mr. Atuba. He was awesome!!





These last two shots were take from the patio of one of the hotels I was checking out.





Well I'm off to Kili now. Bye for now.

In route to Dar Es Salaam

So after a crazy couple of days getting things done before my trip, I'm finally on my way. Canada's not such a bad place to be on a 4 hour layover, however the trick now is to get acclimated to a plus 6 hours. Need to try and sleep on my next flight to Zurich then wake up and fly to Dar Es Salaam. Thank God I'm flying First via miles, only way to go.

Tutaonana for now; time to work on my Swahili a bit.

-Tony

Thank you...

...to all who contributed thus far. If there are still folks interrested in donating, please let me know via email and I will contribute on your behalf. My link will still be open during my trip and I should recieve confirmation if there are any more donations.

Well only one more day before I leave for Zanzibar and I still have so much to do before I leave. And FYI, I will be at Amani on the 12the 13th of September.

Thanks again and Tutaonana for now,

Tony

Friends....

As many of you know, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro has for a long time been a major objective of mine. But what many of you might not know is that I have also been spending time lately searching for organizations to which I could volunteer my time. Well, in a couple of weeks I will be traveling to Tanzania – and working toward reaching both goals.

I have learned of a very unique home for street children and AIDS orphans in Moshi, Tanzania and I am totally drawn to their cause. The Amani Children’s Home provides healthy food, education, counseling, and medical care for needy children who are alone and have nowhere else to go.

Amani isn’t just an orphanage but a place that’s focused on giving these children and teens the opportunity to become healthy, productive young adults. They are committed to reducing the number of children living on the streets in Tanzania (often abused and turning to crime just for food) by providing a safe, nurturing home in which they can heal, grow, and learn. In addition to providing long-term care, Amani aims to reunite children with family members when possible and to equip these relatives with the tools they need to be self-sustainable. I believe Amani is really dedicated to creating a path for each child that leads to a future filled with hope.

I thought of simply donating money to The Amani Children’s Home myself, as well as asking for contributions from friends who are also interested, but in my research I discovered their Ambassador program, which gives volunteers the chance to work with the staff and kids at the home in whatever capacity is needed at the time. So for two days during my trip, I am going to help at Amani! I have been corresponding with the Amani coordinator in Moshi, and right now, they are particularly in need of basic food supplies: rice, beans, sugar, and maize. One of the things I am going to do when I am there is visit the local marketplace with a staff member from the home to purchase and deliver these much needed basics. I am really excited about this part – how often do you get to actually see directly where your donation is going? Also, I plan to document the entire experience by taking pictures and video and posting them to this blog.

Just like you, I receive requests from friends to donate to various causes from time to time, and I know that in this economic climate it is not always easy to contribute as often as we’d like, so I’d like to first say – NO PRESSURE!!! – but if this story interests you as much as it has me, I’m asking you to consider joining me in offering support to these very worthy children who have so little. A dollar stretches farther there than you’d imagine, so ANY donation is greatly appreciated! The website for the home is www.amanikids.org. Check it out yourself – there are photos and stories about the organization and the individual children themselves. Their backgrounds, the conditions under which they came to need help… some of these kids are so amazing… it didn’t take long for me to both recognize how fortunate I am, and, that being able to help was going to meet my desire to start doing more service work when I can.

There are a couple of ways you can help. If you would like to contribute to the fund I'll be spending at the market, you can do that by donating through my PayPal site: Amani Children’s Home direct contribution via Tony Sanchez. Or if you would prefer to donate directly to the Amani Children's Home, please do so at their web site: www.amanikids.org/donate/usa. Please remember that I am not looking for large donations -- every dollar makes a difference -- AND donations are tax deductible.

My visit to Amani has given my climbing trip another dimension that is going to make it so much more meaningful, and I wanted to share this in case you’d like to help too. Thank you very much for your friendship and support and make sure to follow my journey through my blog.

Sincerely,
Tony