Rolly Polé Slowly (Kilimanjaro - Day 3)

The phase I heard the most was “polé polé” - meaning “slow down” or “go slowly”. Altitude sickness can creep up on you, and it can get ugly. Don’t rush, don’t push your body to the limit.

If the days before my guides kept reminding me to "polé polé", by day 3 the tables took a hard turn.

I really start feeling the altitude. The trek is long, uphill, slow. If you stop the world spins, so the strategy is just keep putting one foot in front of the other. We are now resolutely above the clouds, it's impossible to see that there exists a world below.

The terrain changes. We lose the trees, what's left is mostly just lava rock. A bright blue sky contrasting with endless fields of lava rock, like a different planet.

Finally after 5 hours of trekking, I spot the marker for camp. Feeling overjoyed, I actually hug it. My guide Sam lets me enjoy the moment before popping the bubble - this is just the lunch stop… we have 3 more hours to go, to descend to where we will spend the night.

Bah, humbug.

As we continue on, I find other ways to take my mind off the pain. Enchanted with these funny looking palm trees that remind me of shawarma, I probably stopped to take a picture of each one, along with all the other cacti.