VANCOUVER TIME

Hi Team!

So the trip has come to an end. (Okay, it ended a month ago now, and I've worked 24 of 28 days since I got back. So... weeeee! :) )

But the trip has come to an end in Vancouver, Canada.

All of us got of the Star Princess calm and cool and relaxed. Very different from the hectic-ness of getting on. So I'd say the Cruise served that purpose of relaxing and enjoyment. Which is always good.

I bid farewell to my family at the airport after a day of driving in traffic and seeing a bit of Stanley park. And chilling in the hotel room with my Dad playing Carcassonne on the iPad. Seems a fitting way to finish up. My brother and family saw "Suicide Squad" for the second time on the trip! I wanted to go but was too tired to make it through a late flick.

I was a little sad that the trip was over, but also grateful that it happened. So grateful. It's wonderful to see people I love a lot and get to do something awesome with them. I look forward to our next visit! I hope all of you get to take trips with people you love soon. :)

After they rolled away I headed into Vancouver for 2 days of "backpacking" at the end of the trip. I stayed in a bunk at hostel, met some nice folks. And shared stories of travel. It was fun to look at the cruise route on Google Earth and see all the details of where we went from above.

I rented a bike and rode around for 7 hours. Around Stanley Park, which is this enormous park, much like Golden Gate park in San Fran. There were so many people on the bike path it was almost like a demolition derby. People were racing around, with views of the bay and cruise ships and a dozen cargo vessels waiting to come in. I wrote in my journal, ate a burger and enjoyed the people watching. And there were a LOT of people. And, quite frankly, everyone was gorgeous, fit and looked healthy. I know I live in LA, but folks, Vancouver is giving LA a run for it's money. Maybe because it was sunny and everyone actually had an excuse to be outside. Maybe because the lifestyle there is walking, biking, hiking and generally being active. Maybe it's the Canadian diet (though I doubt it's much different than the USA. But I could be wrong!) Maybe everyone works out all the time because they don't do any work. (I doubt that's it. lol).  Anyway, it made for enjoyable people watching all around.

I rode all the way till sundown, which here was by 8:30pm, and dark by 9:00.  How far south we've come.

The next day I took the bus to the sea-bus (ferry) to North Vancouver and another bus to LYNN CANYON PARK.
A gorgeous bunch of temperate rain forest nestled near a neighborhood. There was a suspension bridge hundreds of feet over the river. Pathways through the towering trees. And people jumping off cliffs into pools of water. And signs EVERYWHERE that said:  Cliff Jumping Is Deadly.  This area has already claimed several lives. That your fear is smarter than you are. And yet the people were unfazed as they leapt of 20 foot cliffs. And 30 foot cliffs. And one crazy dude leaped of a cliff that was EASILY 60 feet tall, over a waterfall and into a pool. He had a cast on his arm. Not sure where he earned that.  Another guy dropped 25 feet off a bridge (not the suspension bridge) into a pool that couldn't have been 10 feet in diameter.  This shit was crazy. I love cliff jumping and swimming and pools with waterfalls, but this was insane...

... and some of it looked fun too. You could jump off the bridge into a pool, then slide over a couple of 10 foot or 15 foot waterfalls down to the bottom. But there are signs EVERYWHERE that say how dangerous it is. (Did I mention this?).

I grabbed lunch and went to the 30 foot lake section, where there were even more people jumping into a gorge. Sure the jumps were only 10, 15 up to 30 feet. But there was a plaque dedicated to a 17 year old who had died there in March. I pointed it out to a mom who was there and she said:  "Looks safe to me. You could die crossing the street.".

Good point, and that is a lot less fun.

So after surveying the jumps and the depths, I got on the 10 foot jump and hopped into the FREEZING COLD water!  Yikes!  That'll wake you up!
I eventually built up to a 20 foot jump into the deep part of the gorge. It was fun. Cold, goodness.

After that I hopped the bus to GROUSE MOUNTAIN for a cable car ride to the top. It's a pretty touristy area, but I figured a nice 3,000 foot view of Vancouver at sunset was a good finale to a great trip. I ate dinner and enjoyed the lights coming out.

The music playing at the restaurant was fun, and right before I headed down on the last tram, they played "Knocking On Heaven's door". It's a song that makes me think of my Mom because one of the patients at the hospital played it on the guitar when she was being treated. It was great to have her visit at the end of the trip. In truth, she visited a lot during this trip. In songs that were played in different places. In conversation. In feeling. The Alaska cruise was to have been my parents 35th wedding anniversary trip together... and as any of you who know me know, that trip didn't happen.

Well it did this year.

On what would have been their 50th anniversary, we took my Dad to Alaska.

:)




This is Craig Ouellette,
last member of the Nostromo (aka: Star Princess)
Signing off.

The Ultimate Packing List

HERE IT IS!!!!

The Long Awaited, Much Tested, Totally Amazing, Ultimate Backpacker Packing List!

This was started with my friend Liz while in Peru / Bolivia in 2004. We had thought we'd packed really light and fast and easy. That was until we got there and our porters on the Inca Trail were struggling under the weight of our bags. Before we were rushing to a bus with a huge backpack each, and carrying a big duffel bag between us. Before we couldn't put everything onto the 12 seater plane heading into the Amazon and had to leave a LOT of stuff at the hotel.

So it began in South America, and the next year when I went to Southeast Asia I said "I'm going to follow this to the T, and see how it all works out."

PERFECT.

It's been slightly modified for different trips, but really just barely. (When we started it we didn't have iPods:).

So here it is, in it's most recent incantation. Obviously you might need to modify it for your particular needs, but don't be fooled into thinking you need a ton more than this. It's much easier and more fun to travel when you aren't trying to carry your house with you on your back. And besides there is no need, the point of the trip is to get away from home.

You might also notice that there is no Cell-Phone, Blackberry, iPhone on here. You don't need it. I have never taken one with me. At first because it would have cost a fortune, but after one trip I realized how wonderful it was to get away from those things. To be free. It's a little scary, and totally awesome.

There is also no Laptop. Most backpacking countries, and developing or developed nations have Internet Cafe's. (That's where I type these updates afterall). And having to worry about a laptop, which is very expensive, and worth more than a month's (or even a year's) income to people in some nations, isn't worth the stress.

The point of this is to give you a good starting point to add or subtract what you need. But stay light and you'll be free to go where you want when you want. I obviously haven't been everywhere, or even close to it, but it's worked for me for where I have been.

CraigO

ULTIMATE PACKING LIST

By Craig Ouellette and Liz Cornejo (July 2004)

* Indicates the item can be split/shared by partners rather than each carrying their own.

-1 adjustable Internal or External Frame backpack with multiple pockets (approx 3000-4000 cu. Inch)

-1 Wide brimmed hat with String

-2 pair zip offs cargo pants/shorts – dark color – polyester

-3 t-shirts

-1 “nice” shirt (something collared guys)

- 1 "nice" dress, skirt, shirt combo (girls)

-Hiking boots OR dark trail shoes

-Flip flops OR aqua sox OR sandals (only 1 type)

-3 pair underwear

-2 bras (1 nice, 1 sport) (this includes you Jared!)

-3 pair hiking sox (quick dry)

-1 set of sleep clothes

-1 fleece with hood (note, not in hot weather locals)

-1 compressible/portable rain shell

-1 swimsuit

-1 sarong (for use as towel etc)

-Portable toiletries

- hair stuff (clips/braids)

- 1/2 size toothbrush

- travel toothpaste

- travel deodorant

- travel floss

- razor/electric razor

- *nail clippers

- *small shampoo/conditioner

- *small liquid soap

-1 lip balm

-Hand sanitizer (small)

-*bug spray (small)

-*sunscreen (medium and small for daybag)

-fabreeze spray (small)

-sunglasses

-Swiss army knife

-waterproof Headlamp

-*language phrase book (unless fluent)

-*Travel Book (Lonely Planet etc)

-travel pillow

-Journal and Pens

-1 paperback book

-Ipod/MP3player (favorites/sing-along/dance selection)

-Money Belt

- PASSPORT

- ATM card

- Student ID (if applicable)

- Travelers Cheques

- Immunization Records

-2 balance bars per day (okay, snacks of some sort!)

-eye cover

-earplugs

-Long Pad Lock/Pad locks for bags (TSA acceptable)

-4 bungee cords

-Mini Sleeping Bag OR sheet (depends on climate)

-*Game OR cards

-*Frisbee OR small ball to play with

-Small DAY BAG (collapsible is preferred)

-*Power Converter

-Small Digital Camera (Waterproof preferred)

- Extra battery

- Charger

- Memory cards

- Cables

-*Sewing Kit

-*Water Purifying tablets

-*First Aid Kit

- Ibuprofin/asprin

- Anti Diarrhea

- Cold Medicine

- Condoms

-zip lock bags (3 Gallon, 5 quart)

-*mini alarm clock

-2 extra batteries

-watch (with alarm if possible)

-toilet paper wad

-*scotch tape

-*mini scissors

WEATHER MODIFICATIONS

COLD TEMP (add these to list)

-gloves (mid size)

-extra layer (flannel shirt OR sweater)

-fleece pants OR slick sweat pants (wind resistant is better)

-1 warm hat

-1 pair warm socks

-1 scarf

FRIDGED TEMP (add these in addition to Cold Temp items)

-Long Underwear (top and bottom)

-Thick Coat

-Tick Gloves

-Heavier Sleeping bag

HOT/HUMID TEMP

Remove from basic list.

-Fleece with hood

-portable sleeping bag

Bring Instead:

-flannel OR light outer layer

-Silk sheet liner OR sheet

6 Levels of Travel Destinations

I've come up with this rating system (based on English speakers admittedly, but you can apply it to your own language). What purpose does it serve? It can make you figure out what you feel comfortable with, and maybe make you feel good when you take your traveling to the next level.
Enjoy

LEVEL:

0. BEGINNER - Traveling in your own country
1. EASY - Traveling in a country with the same language (for USA, such as England, Australia etc) where they have a good tourist services.
2. MODERATE - Traveling in a country with a different language, but good tourist services (see Thailand, or perhaps France). Where perhaps the main tourist track speaks English.
3. ADVANCED - Traveling in a country with a very different language, and not good tourist services (See Russia, Kenya, or Peru if you didn't know Spanish)
4. EXPERT - A country with different language, little to no tourist services, where you have to get local transport, perhaps bribe officials and such. (See Uganda, Bolivia, etc)
5. INSANE = Going to a war zone like Iraq or Somalia. Enough said.

THIS IS AFRICA

Well Team,

this is it...

the last report from the great continent, from the great adventure. (I hope I didn't get to wordy :)

How did it all go down? What was the big finale?

It started with some dancing, some Re-meets, and some Mopeds.

After the Spice Tour, we met a bunch of people at the fish market for some wonderful fresh fish and Tanzanian Pizza. There was a big group of people gathering from different tours. People I had met on safari. People I just said "Jambo" to in the Market. We ate, we chatted, we sat at a beach bar drinking Kilimanjaro Beers asking questions and having some good laughs.

Then Victoria, Katrin, Patrick and I hit the disco. A large outdoor place on the roof of a hotel with a swimming pool in the middle of it. The pool was HUGE, 12 feet deep, and empty! A perfect place for some drunk folks to dance! And we did dance, although the music we seemed to like to dance to was less popular than the raeggaeton and Sean Paul and such that the African's enjoyed. Funny but fun. And to think, I was only approached by one hooker while I was there!

She said "Hello, what's your name?"

I Said "John"

"I like you John"

"that's nice. Have a good night"

she seemed very confused that I walked away so easily.

The next day was the first of the MoPed days!

Katrin, Patrick and I rented Mopeds (you have to have a temporary license for Zanzibar). We were taken to a soccer field to practice (good thing), and then were off on the roads of Zanzibar. It took us 2 hours to reach the east coast, with only one minor wipeout along the way. Patrick hit a bump and fell down, but was okay.

It was HOT, but the Indian ocean breezes hit us and we stopped at some bungalows and swam in the beautiful turquoise seas, with the perfect white sand beaches, and the perfect water as the sun went behind the trees and the full moon rose over the ocean. We ate fish fish and more fish! with green curry and bananas. (that's for you Rachel and Dave!). Yummy.

The sun set and I was off riding to Nungwi in the north, while Katrin and Patrick headed back to Stone Town.

Tangent: Did I talk about how awesome Stone town is? A literal maze of buildings, alleys, streets, twisty turney coolness. You can literally just wander around and be surprised at every turn. A shop. A Mosque. People playing Karem (basically pool with disks on a board.) I joined them for a game. I wasn't very good.

In fact in Stone town there is a Church built on the site of the former Slave Market, and Across the street is a Mosque. And between them is a white pillar with the words "May Peace Prevail on Earth". And here it does. Christians are invited over for the end of Ramadan celebration. Prayers are conducted, greetings are exchanged. Next door to this is a Hindu temple. It would be good for those who don't think the religions of the world are all meant to be here in harmony, it would be good for them to go to Zanzibar and take a look around. They might learn something about what every religion really teaches...

Tangent done, back to adventure:

MoPed. Dark roads. Confusing streets.

2 hours later I pull into Nungwi. Land of dozens of resorts both big and small, cheap ($20 a night) and astronomically expensive ($1200 a night!!!!). I'll let you guess which one I stayed at. :)

Problem was, at night its just darkness and rough roads and no clear idea where to go or what to do. Eventually I found someone to ask and they took me to the place I wanted to stay at. Right next to the water. A nice beach. A little restraunt and bar. About 5 budget places all next to each other.

I was so tired I hit the hay.

Up at 6:30am the next morning, walk on the beach. The tides here are HUGE. It's at least 150-200 feet difference between low and high tide. At low you can walk along the beach under the bungalows and balconies. At high tide the waves hit the rocks beneath them. There's no way past but to swim. The locals go out at low tide and walk amongst the rocks and corals in search of shell fish and clams and such. Hundreds of people. It's cool.

I ended up jumping on with a last minute scuba trip to the Mnemba Atoll. I haven't been in 2 years, but it all came back right away and I had a couple nice dives with thousands of fish in huge schools and a cool sea turtle. I love breathing underwater, especially turning on my back and looking at the bottom of the surface glistening in the sun above. Light streaming through. You really owe it to yourself to get certified, just to see it. Its amazing.

Got a little sunburned, but felt good, and then overheard 2 gals talking about the "FULL MOON PARTAY!"

That's right team, tonight is the full f-in moon partay!

So a nap was had, there was a Re-meet of the awesome Phia and Markus (whom I had met on Safari in Tanzania), and a group of us walked along the beach to find the partay. We heard what we thought was Karaoke on the way, but alas it was merely live music. (So no, 5 weeks, and no karaoke in Africa. In truth I never even saw a place that had karaoke and most people had no idea what I was talking about when I asked. :)

The partay was good. Basically a crowded beach bar with a cool acrobat show and then 4 hours of dancing. The full moon was bright. Some of the music was great, some was not. It was what I expected every bar in Nungwi to be like, but this is a much more chilled out place than Ko Phan Ngan, Thailand (home of the 20,000 person full moon partay I went to in 2005!). Still a good time.

The problem was I somehow was there after the music stopped and everyone had cleared out and there was no way to walk back (tide was in). So I went up to grab a cab, thinking others would be going back... but everyone was gone. So I had to negotiate with these cabbies who wanted 15,000 shillings ($13) for a 5 minute cab ride. Really? So a person I'd been chatting with said "go with those guys. It's 3000"

"who are those guys?"

"Friends. They're cool"

so I jumped in with 8 Rasta guys, jammin' the Reggae -- and smoking joints all around.

This'll be interesting.

Sure enough, we were stopped at the Police checkpoint for 10 minutes as I'm sure the driver had to pay some bribes. I mean, duh, the checkpoint is a permanent set up blocking the road to Nungwi. Did they really think the cops wouldn't be out on the full moon partay? :)

My final day was perfect.

I moved to a $23 room right on the beach. I ate a relaxed lunch with these two awesome folks from Belgian that I had been hanging out with. I went for a 2 1/2 hour walk/swim up the beach, through seaweed, crashing waves and white sand. I took a moped ride around town, where at least 300 folks were watching a football (soccer) match. I got a little sherbet cone for 100 shillings. I rode along the paved road for 20 minutes as the sun got low. I made it back to the beach for sunset, amazing sunset over the water. I took a sunset swim, and sat there as it got dark thinking about this absolutely fantastic trip I have gone on. I thanks my wonderful grandma for leaving me the inheritance which I used for this trip. Even though I have the money from work, I like to think that thanks to her I was given the chance to take this fantastic journey. I thanked my Mom for watching over me on my travels. It was perfect.

I ate a candle lit dinner on the beach under the full moon. The "menu" was to take me to the table and point out the different fish I could eat. Kingfish was had. It was good.

I then hung out with friends I had made at the beaches until midnight.

I feel good. Relaxed, and in truth ready to travel some more. :)

And travel I did... 45 hours from the time I jumped on my Moped in Nungwi, Zanzibar until I arrived at my front door half the world away in Los Angeles, California. I took a moped through the rain. Walked. Rode the ferry for 2 hours in crazy salt spray. Took a taxi (not getting ripped off for any of it going this direction). Took 3 plane flights: 1 where my seat had been given away. 1 where I had an emergency slide blocking half my leg room. 1 where I had space and could watch whatever movies I wanted! (Semi-Pro and The Wackness were the ones I watched). I even read 100 pages of the book I brought. (up to this point I'd read 10 pages the entire trip).

And now I'm home...

Los Angeles.

A world away from Africa.

A world away, but is it the real world?

Not really.

Africa is just as real as America to me now. Not that I'm planning on moving there or anything (I drank from the first water fountain I found when I got back! Hallelujah!), but Africa is no longer just something in books and pictures and movies. Africa is real. It's an amazing place full of wonderful people, fantastic scenery, animals, mountains. It's a place that tested me and rewarded me. It was a grand adventure, and one that I can't entirely process right now. When I look back at the pictures, It seems like a million years ago that the Gorilla touched me. Yet it feels like yesterday.

I've come back to the USA, and everything is mostly the same. Some good things have happened (Jared finished his album!, Scott and Lauren got engaged!), some bad things (the economy went to shit, fires burn southern California), but really it is mostly the same. As it is, things change slowly in daily life.

Africa.

It Fricking rules. :)

You owe yourself a trip there. Don't be afraid of it. Don't think it's all the horrors and sadness you see in the news. Sure, unfortunately there are places that are like that, but just because there is a crime somewhere doesn't mean the whole country, or continent!, is bad. It's not bad at all. It's amazing.

If I could tell you how I feel right now I would... but it's to much to explain.

Go see for yourself.

Get out there and live it, don't just trust me.

Get out there and travel... to Africa, or Asia, or to the mountains outside your home town.

Whatever you do, get out of your routine. Get out of the rut of daily life. Make your life the adventure you want it to be. Don't waste it. It's to precious. To amazing. This world is full of things that will take your breath away and blow your mind, and you can't get it from reading about it or watching it on TV. Go ahead, stand on the side of Kilimanjaro at sunset, have a Gorilla touch you, watch 10,000 wildebeest stampede across the plains, hear the sounds of children laughing and singing and dancing in the rain.

Don't miss it.

And though I thank you for reading all of these emails, trust me: It is so much more than these words can ever capture.

This is just the surface.

This is just a glimpse.

This isn't Africa...

But I've seen it.

And I'm so lucky.

This is Craig Ouellette,

last surviving member of the Nostromo

Signing off.

THERE IS ONLY ME (AND THE MOUNTAIN)

Only...

Only...

Po-le (Slowly)...

Po-le (Slowly)...

Yep Team, I am down from Kilimanjaro.

My legs hurt like hell. I can barely walk down steps. Strangely, going up was much easier on my muscles. They only started hurting when I came down.

So, for a soundtrack to this email. You can listen to the songs that were in my head for almost the whole trip. I had a lot of time for them there since it was only me and my awesome guide Wilson ("Wilson! Wilson!" says Tom Hanks in Castaway. I kept thinking about that the whole time).

The songs would be

"Only" by Nine Inch Nails (surprised there's a NIN song in the bunch?:)

"Getting Closer" by Nitzereb

"Be Good To Yourself" by Journey

and "Kyrie" by Mr. Mister

(yeah, the 80's are coming back).

ONLY...

So, it's just me and my guide. Wilson is a 61 year old former science teacher who has climbed the mountain for 20 years. (Dad, get off your bum and go climb a mountain! There are people older than you going to the top of this thing. :) He did fantastic preparation for me and my hypoglycemic needs. He made sure there was meat for all the meals and had the right food for me. Which is great since on the Inca trail (my next biggest trekking experience) I was not given the right food at all and there were some problems. Not so here, he took care of me, was very informed, smart, fun to talk to. He would say things like "you know your body. I can't know your body". and "If the Big Boss says we can make it, we'll make it".

The only problem was that it was Only me. No other clients. So since we were just me and him most of the days. And at meals I didn't have group to talk to. Eventually it starts to get lonely. I would try to socialize, and would here and there. But it wasn't like I was IN THIS TOGETHER with someone else. As a result as one day turned to two turned to four and more it started to become difficult.

GETTING CLOSER...

Because hiking 30 miles each way from 6400feet up to 19,300 feet is one tough bastard of a thing to do! Holy cow.

"One step

Two Step

Getting Closer,

Getting Closer

Let them believe me...

I've got to say that it HURTS" --- Nitzereb

The scenery is fantastic! It goes from Cultivated farmland (before the trail starts), to tropical rain forest (like in Uganda), to Moorland (like in England except at 10,000 feet! often cloudy and misty), to Arctic Desert (because you are above most of the clouds! Like an island in the sky!) to Glacial Ice Cap (which is like the moon...with some ice:)

I have so many pictures.

The peak of Kilimanjaro is called UHURU. There are other points, like Mawenzi to look at along the way.

\

I took the Marangu route, which meant that I had Huts to sleep in at night. This was good because the first two huts, had four beds in them. Night 1, I was by myself! (which is good for sleeping, bad for socializing). Night 2 was with a German couple (who asked about Obama), and a fellow named Jose from "the Basque country" of Spain. He was trying for his second time. He had attempted 25 years ago and not made the top, and was back to kick it's bootay. (I don't know if he made it).

The last night before the climb is at Kibo hut... more on that in a bit.

At Hirombo hut I saw the mother of all sunsets. No exaggeration, maybe the most beautiful, if not in the top 5 sunsets of all time. We were above one set of clouds, below another and there was a cloud that looked like a mountain peak in between. The top clouds were dark, the bottom light, the middle glowing like gold. Absolutely breathtaking.

So I was on a 6 day trek, that somehow became 5 days. I felt fine at Hirombo hut (hut number 2) at 12,700 feet. So Wilson said lets keep going. He's seen people not make it in 6 or 7 or 8 days, so if you feel well, best to keep moving. So we did.

I actually didn't have much problem breathing and my oxygen level (he had a little gadget that checked it and my heartbeat), was high, so off we went.

The Alpine Desert was amazing. The peak dome looming across a rocky landscape. Clouds surrounding and below us. It was like walking in the sky. Awesome.

Just put one foot in front of the other. 5 to 7 to 18 HOURS in a day. (the 18 on the summit day). Getting Closer...

BE GOOD TO YOURSELF

So Kibo hut is at 15,650 feet.

Higher than I'd ever been before.

Unlike the other huts it was actually just one building. All the others were A frame huts with beds in them and a separate dining hall. Hirombo hut could sleep 150 people. So more like a camp than a "hut".

Kibo hut had 5 rooms, 14 beds a room.

I got there at 2pm. Tried to eat, but couldn't eat much. And laid down for a nap as a huge group of retired Japanese tourists were getting ready.

Then I started to feel nauseous...

...oh shit.

I rushed outside and puked up my lunch.

...oh shit.

So I found Wilson, told him and he said "Do you feel better? Then that's good. Is okay to throw up, as long as it's just food and not blood".

Great. :)

So I walk back to the hut and no less than 3 people were puking outside the door. And I got inside and there was puke on the hallway floor and puke in the doorway to the room I was in.

Fantastically Unsavory to say the least. (what was more unsavory is the puke was there all night long.)

So at 5pm I have dinner.... or what little I could eat.

...oh shit. Mr. Hypoglycemia isn't able to eat. I have an 8 km hike to do. It's 4000 FEET! up 'til the summit. It takes 7-8 hours up. 5-6 hours back to Kibo hut. Then another 4 hours hike back down to Hirombo hut. And I can't eat.

...oh shit.

So I'm starting to lose it. I have no one to talk to, I'm getting bummed out, and frankly a little scared. If I pass out on the side of that mountain, Wilson and my summit Porter, Roman will have to carry my ass off that mountain. Let alone the other possible consequences if they cant...

So what to do?

Wilson says sleep, see how I feel in the morning.

The morning is 2AM. That's my wakeup. Other people get up at 10:30PM or Midnight. Yes, most of your vertical hike is in the dark. They say it's "easier" cause you can't see how far you have to go. I say it's fucking retarded because it's cold and demoralizing.

I sleep, I dream. I try to stay positive. But I have no food, and anyone who knows me knows that without food I am anything but positive.

...oh shit.

So I'm up at 1am. Everyone else is gone. It's about 30 degrees INSIDE the hut (but actually not much colder outside.) Wilson says we are lucky, it can be a lot colder than this.

I try to eat. 2 crackers and some Milo in 30 minutes.

shit.

I don't think I can do it. I'm a wreck. I'm so tired and sore. And I have no energy. I think about going down. Screw it, I'll just go down, it'll be easier.

But then I thought about THREE O'CLOCK HIGH, the movie. (funny what comes to your mind).

In that movie our hero has been trying to avoid a fight after school with the school bully. Doing anything he can to get out of it. In the end he offers to pay the bully money to leave him alone. The bully takes it but says this. "You're the biggest puss I ever met. You didn't even try. How does that feel?"

After some soul searching, our hero comes back and says "I'm no pussy, asshole. Fights on at three".

Fights on at Three tonight too. I tell Wilson how I'm feeling, the situation, and off we go into the night.

KYRIE

But first we take hands beneath the starry sky and Wilson prays for us, for a safe climb, to see the wonders of God's creation, the great mountain Kilimanjaro.

Tears came to my eyes.

Here we go....

Po-le, Po-le.

That's what they say here. Slow-ly, Slowly. And we go SLOOOOWWWWWW.

I mean, each step is careful and slow. Maybe 10 steps a minute. Maybe less.

We head up and up and after about 15 minutes, maybe 30 minutes, I have to stop and try to eat.

I can't eat but a bit of chicken.

We head up...

Stars stretch forever. Including stars from the headlamps far above on the mountain. I mean FAR above on the mountain.

15, maybe 30 minutes later, maybe 5... I have to stop and eat.

I sit, I eat... and almost fall asleep sitting up. (Devin, Vanessah, Lawrence... you might remember this situation from the Anasazi Death March in the Grand Canyon 10 years ago).

We head up...

10 min, 20, 30 later. I don't know... I sit again.

I can't eat. I can't FUCKING EAT!

I take a bite of beef, try a sip of drink, and puke up nothing cause there's nothing to puke up.

but that is it.

third times a charm.

at 16,300 feet in the dark on the side of Mount Kilimanjaro my attempt is done.

I can't fucking eat.

and unlike the normal non-hypoglycemic person, if I don't eat, I can't just push on.

my body has betrayed me.

and the climb is over...

I tell Wilson. He isn't going to push me "you know your body". And I sit there as the sun starts to glow on the horizon behind Mawenzi peak. It grows brighter and brighter and brighter until it breaches the clouds and blasts us with light. It's amazingly beautiful and as disappointed as I am I know I have made the right choice. It sucks cause I wanted to stand on top of this mountain so badly, but as the Stones say "you can't always get what you want".

So I spend about an hour there. As the sun came up, taking pictures and some video. Watching the brilliantly bright sun go up over the Alpine desert and the clouds below. It was like being in heaven (Hi Mom!, nice to see you up here on the mountain.:)

....

Turns out I was about 200 feet below Anderson Point. I looked past the rock and Wilson said that that was 16,500 feet. I said, "Let get there". Truth is with the sun up it was easier to climb, and I thought maybe I'd given up to easily. Wimped out.

But I hadn't. Once we started up it quickly leapt back at me that I had no energy.

No fuel.

But we did make 16,500.

There is literally a painted mark and sign that says "Anderson Point. 16,500feet".

So that's my highest yet.

And that's pretty cool.

ONLY AGAIN

Heading down the mountain.

2 1/2 hours to get up. 30 minutes to get down to the hut again.

I try to eat.

I'm done.

But we have 4 more hours of hiking to get back to Hirombo Hut.

And people are starting to return from the summit.

I want to get out of here. I don't want to talk to anyone.

So we head off, the wind is blowing. The clouds are beautiful.

My mood is shit.

And as we go down, the "walk of shame" begins. Because we began to pass all the people I had met briefly on the way up. Those who were coming for their next day summit attempt. And every single one of them asked "Did you make the summit?" And I had to explain over and over, as Wilson would speak in Swahili to the guides and porters about how "I had enough food, but couldn't eat and my body is hypoglycemic and had no fuel, blah blah fucking blah"

It sucked.

The hike was SO hard and SO long (I can only imagine the people who actually did the full summit hike and then had to walk this).

When we finally got to Hirombo at 1pm I ate and slept until 5pm.

Woke up, ate (alone again, next to the retired Japanese climbing group. 5 of the 6 of them made it. great. just great). And watched a cloudy night come in.

My mood jumped all over the place. I was able to eat better now and my oxygen level at 12,500 feet was 98 percent, which meant I was totally acclimatized to this altitude. I have no idea what happened up above. One minute I would say it's worth it, I'm going to find out a powder or pill so this doesn't happen again at this altitude. So I don' t have to stop because I can't eat, I'll be able to push on. Then the next minute I would be pissed off and depressed that 60 year olds can climb this and I couldn't.

Couldn't find anyone to talk to.

Listened to some good old Nine Inch Nails on my iPod. felt better.

Went to bed late... it was about 8pm. :)

JOURNEY

The final day came. And I sat and talked with two gals I had met briefly on the way up. One from south Africa, and the other from Orange County, California. They said I have climbed Kilimanjaro. I've trekked 5 days. I've seen the views. They spend less than 3 minutes at the top. The top is not the mountain. I should be proud.

The walk down was LONG. 14 miles. Yahoo. My legs decided to get painful. And now that I'm back I can barely walk. I listened to my iPod on the way down, and that made it go much faster. Some NIN, A lot of Journey, Some Genesis, and Metallica. Kept me walking. Felt good. Wish I would have listened to something besides the songs and voices in my head on the way up. I'm a people person and though I like to be alone, being alone on a trip like this is very difficult.

Alone Craig? What about your guide? Yes, Wilson rules. But he is working, and it's not the same as being with someone else in the situation. Perhaps the last song should be "We're in this together now!" by Nine Inch Nails. But it wasn't.

As it went on, and I realized that with tip and rentals this has cost me $1350 for 5 days (instead of 6, I probably wont' get any money back even though we were on the mountain one less day), I couldn't decide if it was worth it. It's pretty miserable, yet pretty amazing. It's painful and exhausting, let awe inspiring. And monotonous... this was twice as long as my previous mega trek, the Inca trail, and in only one more day. And at thousands of feet more elevation.

While up there 3 people were brought down on these stretchers. I saw none of them. One guy, they said his lips were totally blue and he wasn't moving.

Kilimanjaro is no joke. The routes are hard. The timing is far to short. These should be 8, 9, 10 day treks with half the elevation gain each day. People die on this mountain. Probably to many. It's only 19,000+ feet. It's not even to the death zone (26,000 feet). Not even CLOSE. So we "know" the risk (hardly, not until we've done it), and yet people do it anyway. To get to the "roof of Africa", to get to their own inner limits, to see God on his terms.

Is it worth it?

Exhausted, hungry, filthy, I said "thank you and goodbye" to my four porters and Wilson in the parking lot. The smiles on their faces as I said thank you and offered a tip were large. These guys work harder than almost any of us. They trudge so much weight up that mountain on their heads and backs, and you can see them struggle. But in the end, they've got smiles on their faces. A "Jambo!" ("Hello in Swahili) on their lips, and a spirit that so many people I know in the more "civilized" world don't even know they have inside them. If I ever think my life is hard and my work is hard I'm going to think of my crew and chill out. How we face life is what matters, the rest is just circumstance.

Is it worth it?

After saying thank you. Wilson got the guys together and they sang me the Kilimanjaro Song. They clapped their hands. Wilson did a little foot stomping dance and they wished me safe journeys. (I asked them to do "take two" since my memory card ran out of space and I wanted to record it. :) Always the filmmaker). But the truth is I wanted to hear it again. Because hearing them sing and dance about this mother of a mountain. To see the smiles on their faces and the spring in their step after all that work. To shake their hands and look them in the eyes. To see Kilimanjaro vanish into the clouds, I think that answers the question for me.

CraigO

PS: If you'd like to watch a video / photo diary of this adventure, goto www.TrespassingOnTheLot.com, it's called "There Is Only Me (And The Mountain)"

RWANDA RUMORS CLEARED UP

Hey Team!

This is going to be a quick update, the details to follow, just wanted to let you know I was alive and well after journeying through Rwanda and Nairobi, then a 4 day Safari at Lake Nakuru and the Masai Mara in Kenya. Kenya is great, Rwanda is great. I Saw a bunch of Lions at 10 feet! Including little 2 week old baby cubs! awesome!

I'll give a better update tomorrow (I hope), when I will enter Tanzania and go to Arusha which looks up at Kilimanjaro.

But before I go, a few words on Rwanda.

1. the roads are great

2. The people are super super nice

3. They speak French, not English, so the language barrier popped up for the first time this trip and I remembered how much harder it is to get around when you have to communicate with signs and smiles.

4. The genocide memorial is sad, touching, disturbing and heartbreaking. However, unlike the Tual Song Prison and Killing Fields in Cambodia, it isn't as horrible. The reason is that it is a memorial built to heal and teach. The mass grave outside of 250,000 (!!!!!) people is covered in a granite slab. In Cambodia you are walking on bones and teeth. The horrors are no less terrible or real, but the experience wasn't as devastating as Cambodia. However, there are churches in Rwanda with clothes and bones and even one where the bodies are all preserved in Lime 14 years later, including hundred of children. So had I made it there I'm sure I would be so fucking disturbed and angry right now I couldn't contain myself. The things that people can do to each other is just staggering...

5. It's a beautiful country of hills, mountains, hills, and more mountains. Kigali is a safe city you can walk around at night (unlike Nairobi).

That's what I got for now, I'll tell you about the Safari in the next update.

Keep traveling and visit Africa, it is amazing.

Rock on

Craigo

YOU AREN'T GOING TO BELIEVE THIS

-->

So I'm hanging out at the UN base in the Democratic Republic of the

Congo, located in the city of Goma. I'm taking pictures of an active

volcano in the distance and this DRC Soldier marches up to me and asks

very seriously to see my photos. I show him and he looks through and

wants to make sure there are no pictures of him. He's got an AK-47

over his shoulder. I think: don't take the camera, it's got all my gorilla pics on it!

He doesn't. He walks away. And we continue to take pics of the

sunset over the cooled lava field that buried Goma 6 years ago like a

modern Pompeii.

an hour later, after being offered tea and cakes about 5 times in 2

hours, we hear machine gun fire from about a mile away. At that point

I decided NOT to climb the active volcano tomorrow and camp on it's

rim. :)

So you say... is this all BS Craig? I mean, really... the CONGO?

It is not BS my friends. I went to Rwanda, and was sitting in the

rain at a restaurant eating when these 3 Indian fellows asked where I

was going. I said Gisinyi (the resort town where Dan Mirvish made his

infamous phone call from a war zone in 1991 (I got pics of the place

Dan!!!)). I told them this and they said, we'll take you there. So I

sat down, we chat and off we go. Only one vegetable tossed at us on

the way (Rwandan's don't like the UN, go figure).

It's been fascinating. I'm staying at the base and making new friends

(and not leaving the compound, I can assure you. :)

Welcome to Africa!

Craigo

2 BODA's, LOTS OF MUD, THE RAINS OF GOD and yes, GORILLAS

Well Team!

sorry for the long delay, I have been in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park where there is... well, trees, mountains, rain rain rain, awesome people, gorillas and a lot of darkness coming in at night. Electricity and the internet are not around, and that is perfect. :)

sooooooo much has happened since my last email, that I’m sure I won't be able to tell you it all in this email. but here goes:

some folks asked about a gorilla permit. Well, in order to see the mountain gorillas of Rwanda or Uganda you have to purchase a permit from the government. These go for a whopping $500 USD a piece. And there are only 32 a day in Uganda. And 40 a day in Rwanda. That's it. It buys you a guide, trackers and the chance to see the mountain gorilla at close range in their natural habitat. a lot of times tour operators buy them all up. the fact that I got one was pretty lucky and the foundation of one crazy ass journey.

but first...

Lake Bunyonyi.

Awesome. Island studded lake. I rented a canoe and managed to make Mzungu Circles for an hour before I was given a tip by a local who was rocketing past me. Then I got it down well. Devin, I now know what was happening that last day of the canoe trip!

I hung out with a bunch of kids in a little village at dusk.

okay,

this update is going to be short because my hands are hurting from this keyboard (what is it with the keyboards!). And I’ve been typing and responding to emails personally for an hour now.

still...

2 Bodas? yep. On mountain roads. I mean MOUNTAIN roads. One lane wide with jungle cliffs on the side. And then, on both trips it started to rain. HARD. and yes... we crashed, ONCE. we were going about 10km/hour and WHOOSH, slid down in the mud. Only a little scraped up. The second ride was supposed to be a car, and the car wasn't there, so a boda boda it was. Down THE WORST ROAD ON EARTH. Okay, it wasn't really the worst, but it was a 4WD road for sure, muddy as hell, rocky, rutted and surrounded by beautiful mountainside. And cliffs galore. but Richard (the driver) was much safer than the first guy and better and we made it safely down the mountain. Though I did have to walk a little bit of it as well. :)

Everything in western Uganda is muddy. It's a rain forest. Its' beautiful.

And speaking of rain. The Rainy season (here) has begun. I was on a village walk in Buhoma (a tiny little town outside the National park). we were seeing tea plants, medicine men (who speak French), and these great kids at the school who did a fantastic dance and song for us. Then had us join in. Wile there the RAINS OF GOD came. I mean...hurricane Ike, you have met your match. Perhaps not with wind, but the rain fell so hard that you couldn't see anything beyond 25 feet. And with such a force as you wouldn't believe. If we'd stepped into it we would've been soaked to the bone in 3.2 seconds, MAX.

after the rains we couldn't get back to the lodge because of the swollen creek over the road. no one dared cross except this drunk pigmy guy who went back and forth like we were all a bunch of idiots. I have some cool video of it.

And yes... gorillas.

two words:

Absolutely Amazing.

I was in the Mubare group, which has 8 individuals, 1 a silver back. 1 baby. etc. You meet at the park office at 8am, and head out with about 8 people. a 30 minute drive later we began trekking through a village and into the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Thick and muddy. Steep slopes and exciting. The guide was in touch with the trackers via walkie talkie. They found our group, so we took shortcuts over the hills. 2 hours of hiking and we neared where they were. (other groups had to hike for 4 hours in really thick vegetation and rain, so we "lucked out").

So we leave our bags and get rid of our walking sticks so as not to scare them.

And head on...

Naturally I got up front near the guide cause hell, I came to see the mountain gorillas.

and see them, we did.

Came past a tree and there was a HUGE silverback sitting and eating. I mean, he was 15 feet away. Then you see the others. One on a tree branch 12 feet away. Then a baby climbs up on the branch and they wrestled. A black-back (adult male about 13 years old), pounds his chest and tears through the trees. We move to a different location above them on the slope.

Then we're nearly surrounded. The gorillas playing, eating, and looking at US. Staring right at us. You could take all the pics and video you wanted, but no flash, no eating (yep I had to do it before I got there), and stay 5-7 meters away. Well, we can try, but gorillas don't really follow the rules. So this 5 year old decided to challenge us... and when I say us, I mean me. He stared at us, and then came forward and rolled down the hill a few feet. Everyone watched or took pics as he inched forward and then slapped his hand on my knee and left it there. Then he hurried off. Pretty fricking awesome.

But it's not over. We watched two others wrestle, and then the baby joined in. The mother nursed the baby and some of them fell out of a tree. Then the Silverback got up, grunted and they all moved out.

And naturally we followed them.

And then they got to a clearing under some trees. The baby on the mom's back. And then Mr. 5 year old decides he'll have another go at us. He charges forward and then comes up and hits my knee again. And turns back...looks me in the eye... and comes up and slaps my shoulder before running a bit away and pounding his chest.

Pretty fricking awesome.

And very unusual. Apparently they rarely do that. And it happened three times.

And writing this doesn't capture what it was like. It was amazing. This isn't a petting zoo. This isn't a domestic animal. This was like touching mother nature herself. It was such a surreal experience that it actually brought tears to my eyes.

Incredible.

My tip to you is: Wear Red. Apparently one lady one time had bright red hair and the gorilla came up and played with her hair. :)

Worth every penny.

Come to Uganda.

Gotta go, gotta sleep and rest. The 3 hour muddy boda boda ride on the edge of mount doom was exhausting (after the 3 1/2 hour hike through the forest).

It's been good. I leave Uganda tomorrow and love it. "Hello, How are You?" ask almost everyone you pass. And they want to know. And you can chat to anyone like they are your friends. It's safe and friendly and pretty much just RULES.

Get your ass to Uganda.

Talk to you in a couple days.

Craigo