The Descent continues

No need to update on the health situation. It's just a long slow recovery and frankly, I'm getting tired of the situation. Just have to take one day at a time and I'll get there! Of course, It's always easier to recover in your own house, but I'm doing pretty good for being on the road. 

The worst part at this point are the bug bites on my legs. Itchy, but thank goodness for AfterBite and there are no new bites! What I don't understand is what bit me and when? I didn't see or feel a thing. As I age, I seem to be more reactic to all kinds of bites, so I must become much more diligent with bug lotion. No more sluffing off that I'm tough and don't need it. 

And now back to that descent. The top is 5,985 meters or something like that. After that first part of the descent, we were back at our camp at 4,645? I need to double check those altitudes as my memory is not great at that kind of stuff and there were so many numbers being floated around that I just get mixed up. 

For those suffering from the high altitude sickness, they were starting to feel better, but not completely back to normal. 

After our quick nap, we had a light lunch and discussed how much further we were going to descendd that day. I know -- it had already been a long day and more descending? No!!!! But it had to be done. We had the option to climb down to the next camp (2 hours) to 3700 feet or four hours to 3100. We all opted for the shorter distance. My legs and brain were already freaking out at the thought of two more hours of descent. 

What was the terrain like? River stone - essentially we were climbing down a dry river so there was a bit more solid ground than what we had covered earlier in the day, but it was still treacherous in my mind. Nothing is easy on any descent! 

I had my walking poles with me and I was determined NOT to make a fool of myself by fallling. I managed that task, but it was tough. There was no stoppiing to take pictures, and no stopping to rest. There actuallly wasnt a need to stop to rest as the pressure in our lungs was disappating and all was so much better. The downhill took so much less effort physically, but way more effort mentally to stay alert and watch your feet. 

My phone was dead anyway

Lots of tree roots, loose rocks, and big rocks that can trick you!!!!

True to form we arrived in good shape and I think it actually took us 90 minutes to get down. I was trying not to hold up the group, but at the same time taking caution with every step. 

Let's say that everyone slept very well that night. Even turning over in the sleeping bag was getting so much easier and I didn't really have issues with the high altitude. 

It was about this point when I realized that I was having other issues with my lungs. I had a tickle in my throat and a bit of a sore throat on one side. At one point, Erick had passed around some candies and that helped a bit. No major coughing fits at this point. 

We were up early and ready to tackle the final descent and we started at 7:30 or thereabouts. I had asked for a couple of extra candies to help me through the descent. 

This time we were descending through the rain forest and yes - we had rain. Actually a fine mist that kept up for most of the descent. But what comes with rain? Yep -- mud and slippery dirt and lots of it. 

My shoes were caked with mud and some people had mud up to their knees.

Some spots were easy walking with a gentle path, but most of the way was giant steps created with the tree roots or just cut into the path to make the descent easier. Oh my --- those steps were going to be the death of me!!! I had no issues but it was an exhausting mentally descent. 

I was in about third position of our little line of people, but about halfway down, I dropped back. I was starting to cough up phlegm and at one point, I coughed when I was eating something so it was no longer yellow. Erick was starting to get concerned and I told him it wasn't blood Oh dear -- that was the thought that came to mind when I saw it, but I knew it wasn't blood. 

He wasnt happy but there was nothing that we could do. I eventually dropped back to the last person in the line and this made me very happy. While I knew the group was ahead of me, I didn't even think about keeping up with them. I was also protecting my knees and would go down on the left knee, then on the right knee so they got equal workout!! Two of the guides were behind me chatting up a storm. It was so nice to have the pressure of staying in a group gone and I actually enjoyed that part of the descent. 

At last we exited the crazy path, but still had 30 minutes to walk to the park gate. There were no rocks, no steps, just a little bit of potentially slippery ground. We were not getting wet, but just dampish. It was a glorious walk and the group had waited for me so we walked together. 

They had walkie talkies to keep in touch with each other. And then we arrived at the final milestone. Yeah!!!!! We made it up and down successfully and then the feeling of accomplishment hit. 

OH -- I have to tell you this story about the "ambulance". At one point, we could hear a group coming down and making a huge amount of noise. I said to one of the other group members that I was glad our group was quiet. It allowed us to enjoy the rain forest and just enjoy nature. 

Turns out the noisy group behind us was a rescue team. They had a person on a stretcher. The stretcher has a single large wheel on the bottom and they were running down the hill and making all that noise so people would get out of their way!!!! Oh my gosh --- it was insane and thankfully not something that I needed. 

They actually passed us twice and at one point, we saw them fixing the wheel or something. I would have been terrified to be on that stretcher! 

Once we reachd the bottom, we went to the building where we signed out of the park. But we had to wait for them to fix the photocopier so we could get our official certificates. Those were presented later. There was a small sourvenir shop which I checked out and the question was -- buy the sourvenirs here or wait for the place where we would have lunch. 

I think we had arrived a little later than planned, but that was mostly because of me. And I don't care one bit! 

I ended up buying a Tshirt -- I never buy a sourvenir T-shirt, but I did buy this one. A badge for my backpack, and a magnet!!! 

Lunch was at a local craft place and there is so much artwork --- you want to support them all, but we are done with buying artwork. I was glad I purchased my sourvenirs where I did as I couldnt find the same things at the other place. Others were sorry, they didnt buy so thanks to Marie who said -- buy it when you see it. 

Then we fixed up the tip envelopes -- I gave every bit of cash I had and wish I had more. We had a small ceremony where I got to present the tips to the three groups --- porters, chefs, and guides. Why did I get chosen? I was the most positive person on the trip! Yep -- that's me!!

Here's a crazy story about one of the other "older" ladies on the trip. She was the mother of the young man who had so many issues on the trip. 

Let's talk about knee braces for one second. I didn't wear my brae on day one, but hought I'd better on day two. Erick was not happy that he didn't know about that, but it's no big eal -- it's there for support. I don't remember seeing anone else wear one. 

On the way down on the final day and perhaps on the previous day, Marie was waering some tensor bandages on her knees. That did not stop her from attempting to keep up with her son who was trying to be mister mocho and not let up with anything. 

At one point, I saw her drop back from second in the line to about 5 or 6. That night or the next morning, she is complaining of how bad her knees hutrt and how swollen they were. DUH!!!!!! You are not your son's age. I don't think the two of them learned a single thing about taking things slow on this trip. NOTHING. That was there loss. 

I had ZERO swelling or pain issues with my knees. Yes -- there were a few times when hey were not happy, but the overall effort was painless. 

We had another travel day yesterday and I'll try to get to that later today. We are staying with some of DH's relatives in Dar Es Saleem and it's qutie an interesting exerience. 

On that note, I'll see if I can ownload some picures - I forgot at the beginning. UDH!!!!

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!!!!