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Cheers,
Scott
I've never really had a blog before so I guess that this will serve its purpose as my gateway of personal expressions, thoughts, sentiment. With that said, I do not expect everyone to agree with what might be written, and nor do I care. This blog is solely just thoughts of mine that have been written down for you to read.
Goma, which is where I am staying, is famous for being a modern day
Still in the lava!
About half way through the week last week we decided to climb that beast. The hike looks intimidating but I’ve hiked a lot in Bishop, which is Mammoth basically, and not really gotten tired. Plus, like I mentioned before, I fancied myself as a fit human being. So, we pack up: a few sleeping bags, socks, sweater, tent, and anything else that is necessary for an overnight stay outdoors.
We get to the base of the beast and I find out that the hike has absolutely no switch backs (meaning there is no zig-zap climbing to the top that would make the hike much easier); instead it is one straight hike up the volcano. I’m thinking, “cool, I’m starting to get a little tired, I want to get up there quick-style so I can get in my sleeping bag and call it a night.” At the base we a warmly welcomed by volcano sign and try not to let it phase us. We ask someone hanging out the base what happened to the sign.
His response, “ahh, someone was trying to nail the sign to the post.” Riiiiiight, really bad aim with that hammer and nail of his. We also find out that we are not allowed up the volcano without a guard. Interesting, why would we ever need a guard, and why would there be unfriendly at the top of the volcano? Ok, so we have some guy with an AK-47 leading us up this gnarly hike…I guess that is kind of cool; problem though, he didn’t speak English--well, not enough to communicate effectively.
The only thing that I could really understand well was how long he told us the hike was going to be (probably trained to say that one sentence in English) which was going to be four hours. I look around at Adam and give the guard a, “pssssh, we’ll be up there in three.” Well, the hike took roughly 5 and a half to 6 hours and near the top my legs felt like a 90 year old lady’s.
We started off with a brisk pace without much an incline in the hike. About one hour into the hike I was sweating like
The top at last! I swear, another 30 feet and I wouldn’t have been able to make it. So the question comes, was it worth it? Well the view was pretty badass I must admit, but what about the view in the volcano? Nope, didn’t see anything because there was too much smoke. When you look over the edge of the volcano you get blasted with a sulfur smell. The sound coming from the volcano sounded like the crashing of waves when you’re lying down on the beach.
Thirty minutes later when we were setting up our tent at the top when all the smoke inside the volcano blew out and left us with a view of the lava lake that was mind blowing. I was mesmerized. This was by far the coolest thing I’ve ever seen that was straight Mother Nature. I was watching the lava lake for hours, watching it bubble, crack, cool and reform, the melt away the top layer again. Now this site was totally worth the hike.
Cheers,
Scott
View from the top
Straight awesomeness with this picture
Continuing from where I last left off upon reaching the border of the
Getting in and out of
We didn’t know anything about our Congolese contact except his name and number. We gave our contact a heads up when we where at the Rwandan border and he met up with us as we were exiting the DRC immigration border. He was a cool guy, local musician and an actor.
Upon getting settled in at a place he suggested, Adam and I looked at each other….finally in the
Blogs
I want to start this off with an apology for not updating sooner, but access to a computer in the Congo, like I said, is very limited…and also like I’ve said, having that computer have access to the internet is just as rare. With that out of the way, let me so kindly fill you in (if you’re interested, but of course you are that’s why you’re on this site) with some of my travels.
I flew in
Settling in is always difficult in a place that is so different and I wasn’t given much time because the next night we caught a 2AM bus from Kampala to Kigali (Rwandan capital), Rwanda. Me thinking that this would be a good idea because I’d be able to catch some sleep on the bus ride was in for a rude awakening. All started out fairly well except for the amount which was packed on the bus. The driver managed to fit in some 50+ people in the bus, so much that people were standing in the aisles which first caught my attention because this was suppose to be an eight hour ride, were they going to be standing the whole time? The bus takes off and in the first 20 minutes I knew this ride would be a miracle to survive. The bus was going 150 km/hr, swerving like a mad man, the woman behind me was throwing up on the bus floor (to which to received some on my foot…thanks ma’am), and the temperature was insanely cold. Looking out the front windshield gave me the chills. For the longest time I thought the bus was going to crash, only when I finally figured out that the bus’ alignment was way off—let me try to paint a picture of the alignment...Think of a car traveling down a road as 0 degrees...now our bus traveling straight down the same road at a 45 degree angle (confusing?), because that was how off our alignment was!
Upon exiting the bus, I felt it necessary to kneel down and kiss the3 solid ground. I vowed that I’d never go on something like that nine hour trip from hell again! I was in
“Adam, just what are you doing in that line?” I inquired.
“We need to buy our bus tickets to
So, I leave the “one-way-ticket to death” bus just to get on another…hey, if anything I know that death by bus crash is kind of cool. This would be safer in the fact that it is shorter, only five hours this time. I figure that it was safer because I’d be cutting down my bus riding time by four hours—less time on the road = less chances to die, right?
Thus ending this chapter of the blog…I know that I’m just keeping you guys on pins and needles, but I have to give up the computer now, so I should be back with some more good stuff on me being in the
Cheers,
Scott