Time really does not shift on the mountain!!! I slept earlier than usual on day 1 (about 10:00pm)and trust me it is waaayyy earlier than my usual bed time because ordinarilly,i am one of those night dancers that sleep when people are preparing to wake up for morning devotion so…this previous night in particular had been a loooooooong and endless one. Maybe it was the discomfort of sleeping in a bag….or maybe the cold weather….or the highschool double deck beds we were using…or was it the fact that we were sleeping in a forest of sorts…..cant really tell but trust me…i checked my watch several times and morning was not anywhere close. Joy woke up in the middle of the night , she was not feeling too well, our neighbors in the next room were snoring….i could hear every sound, every little thing that moved or thought about moving…o heard!!  …..oh well …morning did come ..finally!!
We did our dry shower( with wet wipes), had breakfast , prayed and set off at about 8:30am. We stopped a few meters into our walk and our guide Johnson explained the route we were to use on a map.

We even had a chance to take a some thelfies because we were looking forward to what day two had to offer. I remember telling myself that everyday would have its own different challenges and i would deal with them as they came so i needed not worry.

We walked to the Mubuku river , crossed the Kurt Schaffer bridge , took a few pictures  and started the real hike.
You know the song ” i am under the rock,,the rock is higher than i,,, jehova hides me…i am under the rock……..” that is exactly what was going on in my head as we climbed up and down and around and under endless rocky ground. Of you get tired and bored of climbing over these rocks you launch into auto-pilot….and just put one foot infront of the other. I kept asking if we were almost there( at our next destination which was to be John Matte Camp) but alas ….we were not anywhere close…there was still a long way to go but like i said earlier….time on the mountain does not shift so in my head…we had been walking forever……on the watch…we had only walked two hours , and that can really be frustrating.

If you are planning to climb any mountain in this life or the after life, take this with you, There is nothing as beautiful and rewarding as climbing with great company and trust me when i say i would not have climbed with a better team than the “Rwenzorilings ” i am dead serious i wouldnt have… because everytime i felt like i had had it for the day….someone would sing a song, crack a joke, say something that would keep me going. We would take “90” everytime one of us needed a break…we waited for one another, encouraged ourselves, checked if we were doing ok, pushed ourselves beyond our limits, believed in one another……we were a team….that bonded and became family!

The sun was up, yet it was still cold..we could hear the sound of the water flowing in the nearby rivers and it was soothing .I was tired , i wanted the days’ walking to end. We had rested a bit for our lunch at Nyamaleju river  but it was not enough for me….i just wanted to hear that day two was over ….those rocks had not left me the same. We had walked so long and i had been asking soo much when we would arrive at some point one of the climbing party shouted…” i can see the camp, we are close” I dont even think tje walk had been that long….but rather that the rocks had been soo steep they wore your legs and body out. Hearing that we were close to our destination was great to hear. Infact our pace also increased abit …looks like i wasnt the only one dying to end the days’ journey 😉

We arrived at about 3:00pm and much as we were tired, cold and hungry, the beauty of the scenery and the sound of the water around were amazing. We could see the peak peeping at us from a far and we just couldnt wait to be up there.  Jacob our chef gave us warm water to shower, we took tea and had dinner. Day 2 was almost over and God…you have to believe we were so proud of ourselves because it was definately harder than day one and i was super glad i had made it to John Matte camp.

Because of the fun team we are, we cdnt let the day go down just like that so ofcourse we reminded ourselves of the training days we had undertaken in preparation  for the climb…laughed together, prayed together and went to sleep……rather early still….looking forward to facing day 3 and its unique challenges!