Today was a really great day. I went to bed at half time of the game and was able to sleep the whole night!! Woke up this morning and headed to breakfast. The food here is pretty basic and pretty plain but over all not to bad. I ended up sitting with a woman by the name of Lady Bug. I had actually talked to her on Facebook prior to coming over here as she is doing the same hike! I didn’t think I would meet her as she said that she started on the 4th… So that was a nice surprise. She has also hiked the AT and the PCT! I also met 2 of the other women who she is climbing with. A great bunch of women! They leave tomorrow morning so I should see them around before they head out!
After breakfast Tom (my guide), Will (the other groups guide), and I headed in to Moshi. We walked around the local market, ate lunch at a local coffee shop… We had a bacon and avocado pizza… The avocados over here are amazing!!! After our roaming we took a tuk tuk back to the hotel and then headed over the the Kilimanjaro Orphanage Center…
What a truly heartbreaking yet inspiring place! There are 59 children that reside at the orphanage ranging from 2.5-18 yrs old. We helped fold cloths and then just hung out and talked, played with, read to, and even helped with some math. While we were there another group came by to say hello and so the children sang us songs, introduced themselves and even put on a little play. Just to see how little this kids have and yet how vibrant their personalities are is amazing. They are all curious and happy and care for one another. It’s amazing just to spend even a few hours with them. I still have a few days left before I hike so there is a good chance I will head back over there to spend some more time.
After getting back to the hotel I sat down to dinner with a full table of people that had just got back down from the mountain. A family from North Carolina. Three generations of men hiking together grandpa, father, and son. Super nice people and great dinner conversations! Dinner here runs late so after that and a little more conversation with Paige, another hiker from Florida, I headed to bed…. Tomorrow night Brad shows up, the adventure is slowing starting to get underway!!
Cinderella Adventures 