Quote of the Day...

Meringue, our personal care porter

"Walter's a sexy, sexy man"

Must have something to do with the newlywed thing...

Anyhow, I digress. We awake from our first night on the mountain to the sounds of sweet singing, laughter, and our personal porter Meringue (I probably TOTALLY wrecked his name!) arriving at our lodge with hot water to wash up with, hot tea and chocolate to wake up with, and the most incredible morning personality we have ever met. In a week plus, we never saw him not singing, laughing, smiling; just a glorious human to be around. As we got higher up the mountain, he added in dropping off hot water bottles at nightfall so we could throw them into our sleeping bags to help warm us through the night. I asked him to marry me.

We go to the dining lodge along with 100 of our closest friends and partake in our first mountain breakfast. To say it was incredible would be an understatement; we had fresh fruit, bacon, pancakes, and about 20 other dishes. I have never eaten such a variety of great food, greatly prepared. Now we knew why they needed 3 cooks with the expedition! In talking with one of the porters over breakfast, I asked if this was the way that he would normally eat when not on expedition. Sadly, he told me no; he and his family eat porridge most every day, sometime with some fruit. On a really big occasion, like a wedding or Xmas, they might have some meat and such. It was a VERY tough moment for me, and it really honed in on just what a luck of the draw it is that we were born first world instead of third world.

We hit the latrine (ie. the big hole in the ground), get dressed, and hit the trail. Today we will hike out of the rain forest in a mile or so, and on up to 12k'. It's about 6 hours for 8 miles. We're in a scrubbrush zone for the next 4k or so feet, which means more sun and wind exposure, harder ground to walk on, and less oxygen with every footstep. For several of us, this will be the highest we have ever hiked, and we're all aprehensive as to how it will effect our breathing.

Onward and Upward.

Lumpy out