Climbing Every Mountain

I have never been one to turn down an adventure. When the opportunity to climb Mt. Mulanje presented itself, I was not about to say no. However, next time a mountain climbing opportunity unfolds before me I will do a little research into what I am getting myself into...

Mt. Mulanje is the third tallest mountain in Africa. You have to have a guide and apparently they have not been informed of the beauty of switchbacks. We literally climbed on all fours up the mountain. This in itself would have been difficult but our group was too frugal to get a porter so we carried our packs. Again, this would have been totally manageable, but I was carrying WAY too much stuff. (Clothes and work for Lilongwe, books, lots of food, water...) The first day was six hours up. On all fours, climbing up rocky steps and stairs, straight up. We made it the hut, patted ourselves on the backs for a job well done, and made a delicious dinner. We heard the first day was the hardest so we were pleased with our efforts and excited for the next day. Little did we know....

Day Two: We climbed for another 3 hours to the next hut. We were told we needed to move quickly if we wanted to summit. We threw our bags down and were ready to go. It didn't take more than 5 minutes to realize the first day had nothing on summiting this crazy mountain. The positive was that we didn't have our super heavy packs, the negatives were that I am really scared of heights and we were bouldering (jumping from rock to rock) and scrambling up the side of a mountain. We were about 40 minutes from the top and then it started raining. So now we were scrambling on wet rocks on the side of a mountain. Good idea? Bad idea? ...bad idea. I don't like quiting things. In fact, I hate quiting things. But I quite. Alexis and I huddled together while the rest of the group scrambled to the top. We had some thoughts on freezing on the side of a mountain and tried to laugh off the ridiculousness of the situation. But it was pretty scary. The rest of the group found us and we proceeded to slide down the side of the mountain. Yes, slide. On our bums, crabwalking, slipping, planning which piece of vegetation was going to stop a slide off the mountain. By the end we had 5 ripped pants (some of us ripped through to the second layer and were literally sliding down on their bums), 1 lost camera, 12 ripped up hands, cuts, bruises, and very wobbly muscles. Luckily, we made it off the really slippery part before it got dark. Some of us had headlamps and were doing our best to guide each other down but with very little muscle control, darkness, wetness, and exhaustion it wasn't very pretty. After what seemed like hours (it did take us 4 hours to get down) we saw the hut. I have never seen such a beautiful building in my life. It was a glorious sight.

Going down the mountain: Should be easy, right? no. At first it was funny because none of us had any leg muscle control from the crazy day before--so in a span of about 10 minutes each of us fell. But then we had to keep going...and going...and going...Down the slippery, muddy staircases we climbed up 2 days prior. Going up was tough, going down was a pain in the butt. (literally-my tailbone has never been so bruised)--we forded rivers with rocks and logs, we climbed up and down until it was all I could do to put one foot in front of the other. But we made it. 7 hours later we were at the bottom. The best part of being at the bottom of the mountain is that there is a pizza place. We ate the best pizza I have ever eaten (well, ever eaten in Malawi) and felt/looked like we had just been through a war.

Post Mulanje: Walking is a bit of a struggle. Many of our feet are still swollen and our hands are ripped. But we did it. It was awesome. And now we have some crazy stories.

I am headed back to site today and get to meet my new environment neighbor tomorrow! I hope they will be as awesome as Sarah and Austin (that is a tough task : ) ) But it is back to site and back to work.

loads of love,
elisabeth