Kilimanjaro - to Uhuru and back (day 6)

We get up and put on at least two base layers, winter/ski pants, soft shell and winter/ski jackets. I push myself to eat two bowls of porridge, although I feel sick from it. Stan feels worse that yesterday and doesn't want to eat any porridge. We start walking little after 2 o'clock and we can see some groups of lights up on the hill. The serious slope starts right away from the camp and almost without exception will make our life harder in the next vertical 1,300 m/4,300 ft. It gets harder for Stan and Chewa takes his dayback. The path winds around rocks and scree.

After an hour or two we meet the first group that has given up. We can't laugh at them not making it, because we know very well what they have been up to and a part of us wants to turn away to the camp as well. I feel for them and tell myself that I am going to get to the top for them as well. After some time we meet another group of one that are going back untimely. Stan's state doesn't improve and he frequently needs rests, he feels dizzy, but continues.

The sky is starting to lighten up behind Mawenzi and every time we walk to the right we manage to feast our eyes on the unbelievable colors of the sky. We won't make it on time to see the sunrise on Stella point at about 5,700 m/18,700 ft, but it doesn't matter. I look upwards from time to time and the crater's edge doesn't come any closer, as if somebody stacks more and more rocks on top. If you hurry little bit the mountain takes away from you the little oxygen that it has given you, it is very impatient with the impatient ones.

Mawenzi and the sunrise

A night walk in Sofia

Since the first ten posts were about Cuba, now it is time for something local, Bulgarian, not that it would be very long, just one post, but still I have promised myself to alternate the posts, abroad and homeland. Some of you have already seen them in Facebook, but for others the upcoming photos will be new. However, the next few posts will be new for everybody, I promise.

What the night has in mind for me?

An exercise in Cuban carelessness - Varadero (Part 1)

Welcome. Have fun, whatever happens

In 2007, I and four friends of mine decide to organize a dreamed trip to Cuba. In December 2008 our dream adventure come true.

We pass the document check and although nobody is returned, our whole group has returned back, back to bygone times. But we are not alone, every step we take will be closely watched by Che and Fidel, following us from t-shirts, key-chains, billboards and street graffiti. That's why we boldly get lost into this unknown place, exposing us to a moderate dose of communism, retro cars, colonial buildings and endless tranquility.

We get accommodated at the hotel and afterwards go out for a bite. Everything looks rather old, there are abandoned buildings everywhere, and it should be the most glamorous Cuban resort. Time has stopped many decades before we arrive, but this is the main reason to come here, in the first place. Finally, we find a working ... thing and order five Cuba Libres, what else. The proportion of the cocktail ingredients is seriously messed up and we get kicked in the heads by way of welcome. Unfortunately, we don't have a clue that the situation with the cocktails (with little exceptions) won't change for better during the rest of our trip. The food that we get is of the same quality as the drinks. 

Sleepy Varadero

A view from above of the still sleepy Varadero and its early risers.