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I wake by 6.30am and Eugenia is out taking photos. I use the loo and then have a little look around the camp. I can hear people singing on the other side of camp. It feels really nice here and I'm sure at 3820m we are all feeling a lot more comforable. I enjoy my tea and water bowl and Eugenia helps me get my knees strapped up for the rest of the descent. I put on two pairs of socks and then get my stuff together before breakfast. Everyones feeling good today and were all keen to get going. I take a couple of photos here at the camp and then were off towards the Mweka Gate where we will leave this Tanzania National Park. I even manage to carry my own day pack for about 3 hrs before Winford offers to take it for me. The terrain is quite steep again in places and some people fall. Its tricky and long and I'm so glad I got my knees strapped up as I feel they are taking the brunt of the injury on my body right now. Eventually a path unfolds in front of us with the beginings of the rainforest around us and the descent is more gradual but it is still long and tiring. We peek back at a lovely view through the trees of the mountain behind us. We stop a couple of hours later for a rest at the Mweka camp but I have forgotten to pack any sweets with me. Phil very kindly offers up his bag and there waiting on the top is a piece of Yorkie chocolate. Dads favourite. It tastes amazing and its good to sit down for a little while. I even joke about walking back up to Winford who is carrying my pack again for some water. Lets go up again! I joke. But actually it feels easier to walk up hill than downhill at the moment! We continue on and on for what seems like forever and eventually the path opens up to become a dirt track road for emergencies only apparently. The track goes on for another two hours and both Jack and I are wondering if it will ever come to an end. I'm relying heavily on my trekking poles now digging them in and using them more as crutches with my sore and aching legs and swollen knees. There is that numb feeling in my hands again and I think it might be from friction from using the poles but as its warm now i'm not so frightened. We pass the sounds of a large river or waterfall and eventually we can hear the sound of lots of people. Some of them start to sing and on any other occasion I would be happy to join in but its all I can do to keep my knees from totally exploding with each step. I get there last and get to sit down and rest. Travis joins us here and he look so much better! There is a rumour of a sit down toilet and I go to use it and for the first time in 6 days I look at myself in the mirror. Thats odd. I don't look too bad! My eyes are very bloodshot and I look like I've caught the sun a bit, Im ovbiously tired but not unrecognisable which is good! We sign out at the Mweka gate and have a group photo (which theres no way I can kneel for!) together before we board the bus and go into Mweka town for our lunch. We stop off at a shack of a restaurant. Getting down off the back of the bus is agony. The frame of the restaurant is a corrugated metal roof and the walls are bits of wood holding the roof up with a cloth sheet seperating it from the neighbours. We eat our lunch which is brought out to us by our Chef and waiters from the mountain and during this we are being tempted by all mannor of local good, tshirts, braclets, paintings and carvings by the street sellers holding their good in the restaurant front. Travis who has more energy than the rest of us now bargains for a football shirt in exchange for some sunglasses because he has no money! He manages to seal the deal before we board the van and get transported back to the Hotel. About an hour later we arrive at the hotel and we are given our same rooms as before. We go to the lounge behind the dining room to give in our tips and decide on a spokesperson to deliver the tips and to thank the group and they nominate me! Reluctantly and shyly I accept and take the tips over to the cashier and we divide them up for each of the Guides, chef, waiters and porters, 35 in all and the cashier tells me the tips are quite large and that they will all be very happy. Each of the porters is getting 35$ each (usually about 25$) and the head guide is getting 150$ (usually about $80) Then we arrange for the entire group to meet in ten minutes by the courtyard in the hotel. I say how grateful we all are to our porters for carrying all our things, to the chef and waiters for giving us the strength through the food to get us up the mountain and the songs and continued care from the guides to help us make it to the top. Then we hand out the tips, First the porters, then the chef and waiters and then the guides and Elias. They then sing some songs for us in celebration and they hand us each a certificate for making it to the top. I take this opportunity to thank Winford for everything and give him some of my equiptment and clothes. What a trip. I'm totally exhausted however I'm on some strange high and as everyone else goes to their rooms to shower and rest, I go shopping. I put all my stuff into my room and tell Eugenia to use the shower whilst I go shopping at their hotel shop. I buy an awesome water flask with Mount Kilimanjaro printed onto its side, two sarrongs, a postcard which I send from the reception, a shirt and a keyring with carvings like the door keyrings at the hotel here. Then I go for the most luxurious shower I've ever had! After that I feel quite a bit better, but I'm concerned for my knees. They are very swollen and I can only go at one speed and thats very "Pole pole" slowly! We all meet at the bar and then have a drink or two before we hear the dinner gong and go for dinner. Its a nice meal, some kind of beef curry with rice and breads. There is even ice cream for desert and John and I are so happy! Tara is leaving at 8.30 am tomorrow and Jack, Kathryn, Travis and Eugenia are leaving at ten so we vow to meet up before they leave tomorrow. For now though we all want to sleep!
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