Acclimatization!

I have a hard time saying the word, 'acclimatization,' but I'm praying hard that I can do it better than I can say it. Especially since we live at sea level, and expect to climb to 6000m...

In what can be ranked as one of the most spontaneous (and hopefully not reckless) decisions I've made, I decided to join my friend and coworker Juan on a 2 week trip to Tanzania, where we will climb the Rongai Route of Mt. Kilimanjaro. On a whim, I first considered joining him 10 days ago... and we fly out tomorrow at 10:00 AM. I had already been going to the gym regularly, just training for nothing, so I decided that now is the time to do this.

After a little second guessing, the pieces slowly came together. I got vaccinated. A friend loaned me his gear. I found the Kenyan and Tanzanian Embassies to apply for tourist visas. I slowly bought appropriate clothing. I withdrew lots of dirham and exchanged to USD (2003 series and above accepted only).

To prepare for the elevation, Juan and I drove to Jabal Shams in Oman, the tallest mountain at 3000m. We stayed in what looked like a stone utility shed we negotiated in poor Arabic / English for $110/night with dinner. Oman is expensive!

From Jebel Shams

We woke at 4 AM and hiked for 10 hours, trekking up and down what seemed like 10 different peaks of loose shale. The trip there was perfect, but the way back was tough. The endless footwork was exhausting on my booted flat feet, but we did end off well. Here are some of the more scenic photos from the trip (more in the album to the right).

From Jebel Shams

From Jebel Shams

From Jebel Shams

From Jebel Shams

From Jebel Shams

From Jebel Shams

Preparing for a mountainous or cold trip from Dubai is an adventure in itself. I scoured Dubai malls looking for essentials with few and slow successes. I know thermal underwear is not a big seller in the desert, but geez, SOMEONE should carry it! While leaving Geant empty handed, I called Ty and asked,
"If you were powdered Gatorade, where would you be?"
"I would be on a shelf in the United States."
A Carrefour sales girl gifted me a sample toothpaste tube since they don't sell half sizes.

On my final night in Dubai, I convinced the currency exchange guy to break policy and switch out my pre 2003 USD to 2006. Then I tried to convince one pharmacist to sell me antibiotics without a prescription (he almost caved), but then I tried the next one with no problem. Now all I need is just prayer for good health and safety! And no thefts!