Well I had a poor night's sleep last Night. Awoke at 4:20 to the sound of a rooster crowing (that then continued on and off til sundown!) A few minutes later the sounds of faithful Muslims' calling prayers, then, shortly afterwards, the repetitive striking of a nearby Hindu temple bell. I surrendered to the dual faiths' morning call to order and crept out of bed, so not to disturb my roommate, by 5:00 am. and did a little meditation of my own.

Now that you know what a spectacular view of Kili from my balcony (last blog), you'll understand why I took it outside!

I dragged a patio chair up the stairs and watched the shadowy outline of Kili lighten. While it was still dark I was tickled pink to see three separate campfire twinkles at various points on the mountain! Silly me. It was THEN that I had the conscious thought that there are lots of people there RIGHT NOW!!! Made me all the more excited to be one of them Thursday! I took a series of the progressing dawn on Kili. See?

Orientation was this morning. Kembo is our main guide and he went room to room inspecting our gear. I wondered if I would pass muster (he smiled and said my collection gets A+!). Big smile and big whew, from me.

Lots of packing and repacking and grunting and pushing and pulling to get our gear (my roommate susan and me) to fit in the required Tusker Trails bags. We managed.

So "This is it. Don't get scared", as McCauley Culkin's character says in the movie, Home Alone.

Everything's fine. We're ready. I'll try to blog each day but Kembo says don't bet on reception until Sunday--high up then. My friend Victoria, who climbed last year got a signal everyday.

This is a very humbling experience and I'm just popping with insights to share, but that will have to wait another day.

Signing off now. To bed with her!

XO Nina