We return to our cliffhanger from yesterday. Your intrepid explorers head out into the darkness, full of hope, fully tired of airports, and optimistic that this airplane adventure would all go smoothly. Join us in their moment of excitement as they walked across the pavement to their plane:
That is enough foreshadowing. The short summary before we get back to the pictures is: The adventurers arrived at the JRO airport. The bags decided they liked Kenya better and stayed behind in Nairobi.
We cast the “bag summoning spell” (paperwork) at the airport, and then headed out for the 90 min drive to our lodge. Now, back to the pictures. You are only here for the pictures, right?
Just before we turned off the bigger road, we saw this:
Arrived at the lodge at midnight, and up for a day of hiking at 6.
Here are some pictures along the road to/from the trailhead. The first is an interesting business opportunity. Does the customer drink before, during, or after the haircut? Do you drink while watching someone else’s haircut? Can the barber drink at the same time? So many questions.
The most frequent way of traveling on the roads in the area is motorcycle, and amazing numbers of people (4), and things (mattress, sugar cane, bananas) fit on a little 150cc bike. In town, the tuk-tuk appears. Our adventurers will try to fit in one of these in the future.
There were several lumber mills, cabinet shops, and welding shops along the road. The cabinet shops looked to be making very nice furniture and doors. The welding shop was a guy with an arc welder, sunglasses, and steel lying on the ground in front of his door. Lots of ornate gates. One particular shop caught my eye. In the spirit of a minimal welding shop, I bring you the minimal table saw at the crate shop. The blade is at least 15″, maybe 18″ (but probably something metric).
The hike was planned as a walk above treeline on the west side of Mount K, but that area was closed due to fire. Sadie, our guide took us to the south side to hike in the forest on the Machame route (“the whiskey route”). We went 5k in, ate lunch, and returned. Below are a collection of pictures of some flowers, and views on the trail.
The porters you see are carrying 20kg of “group gear”, an 5kg of their own gear (50# packs). For a party of 4 climbers, they get 19 people (guide, a cook, porters). Why do you need 19 people for four climbers? Lawn chairs is a start. Climbing this route is 5 to 6 days.
At the trailhead, we found a small troop of blue monkeys.
As we finished our day, Sadie told us he had been told that our bags would arrive in the next morning as the driver came to take us to the next stop. hmmmm….another day without my favorite toothbrush. After dinner, the waiter said “your guide is here and has your bags” Yes indeed, we now have clean socks.
The planets can align.
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