More Stories From Around The World

It is a cold, wet morning on the mountain. It started raining yesterday evening and has been spitting on us all night. We have received around .33" over night and it is still coming down. The high yesterday was 45 with a low of 39. We are currently socked in on the top so I thought I would share another story from around the world.

The cook is dividing up the groceries amongst the porters for them to carry up Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Cooking for so many people on a day to day basis is my job. So, of course, I was curious how our cook would feed us on Mt. Kilimanjaro. The porters thought I was crazy when I started taking pictures of "the groceries". I was curious how and what they were going to feed us. As you can see there was a lot of fresh fruit and veggies. We ate well for the first few day. As the fresh stuff ran out, we were eating more rice and pasta. Since we were on the mountain for 8 days, they actually had new porters bring in groceries on our 5th day. I guess there is a shorter trail that led to our camp for that evening. With the rules and regulations on how much weight a porter can carry, these buckets had to weigh in at 33 lbs or less. They were extremely diligent in weighing all of the gear and supplies. It was impressive to taste the feast our cook would prepare for us. Climbing a mountain like Kilimanjaro, nourishment is extremely important. He would cook us things like spaghetti, chicken and rice, and local Tanzanian fare. I felt like I was on Mt. LeConte. I always went to bed happy and full. I was grateful for the big commercial stove I have to cook on at the lodge. The chef on our trip was using compressed gas canisters and camp stoves. Like our staff on the mountain, these men work so hard to make their clients happy. They were successful.