Steph and the Volcano...

This past weekend was amazing!! Three other volunteers and I decided to hike a volcano!! We left early Saturday morning, and after a 6-hour drive, the last 4 hours of which was basically offroad and the roughest ever, we arrived at the base of Oldoinyo Lengai, a ~3000-meter active volcano that's part of the Great Rift Valley mountain range. The last really big explosion was in 1961, but the most recent was 1999. We arrived in the late afternoon, and were told we had the option of doing a small hike to a waterfall near our campsite, which I'm so glad we did...to hike alongside a small river with towering canyon walls made of hardened lava on both sides, and then to round a corner and see the most beautiful waterfall that you've been hearing for the past 5 minutes on approach, then to jump into the water and swim underneath of it, have it rain down on you, and then to swim a little bit farther upstream and see a huge gushing torrent coming out of a crevice in the rock wall, that pushes you away from 10 feet downstream, it's so strong...it was the most impromptu hike ever, but it was the most incredible experience!! It was quite a bit hotter in Lengai than Arusha, so to cool off in the river and wash off all the dust and sweat from the long drive, was so refreshing!! After a delicious meal that we scarfed down we were so hungry, we turned in around 8 to sleep for 3 hours, which I was not so successful at because I was so excited!! We got up at 10:30 pm, drove for an hour to the base of the mountain, and started hiking at midnight. The night sky was the clearest ever, and the stars were just awesome!! Our headlamps helped to light the way, as it was pitch black. We took a break about every hour, passing by the different zones of vegetation, then rock and hardened lava, smelling sulfur at about 100 meters from the top, and after a very steep 50-meter section that I sort of felt like Spiderman while scaling it, we arrived at the top at about 5:30 am! As it was very chilly at the top and still dark, we huddled together around one of the steaming fumaroles to keep warm while we waited for the sunrise, even though the smell of sulfur was a little much at times. At about 6, we climbed over the top lip and down into the caldera, which was sort of like stepping onto the moon. There were several pyramid-like formations on the floor of the caldera, and we had to walk through the soft ash, giving a wide birth around the opening that drops down 25 meters, to the east lip of the mountain to watch the sunrise!! To see the sky lighten and get highlighted with pinks and light blues, and then see the huge pink ball of the African sun come over the horizon, cast bright oranges and pinks across the sky and over Lake Natron, the lowest point of the Rift Valley, then slip under the clouds again, while we made our way back over to the west side to climb back down, was incredible--"...as I look down from lofty mountain grandeur, and hear the birds, and feel the gentle breeze...how great Thou art, how great Thou art." Now, when I say it was steep coming up, I mean we were actually dreading going back down...so when we crested the lip to head back down, we were all a bit scared...and when I say we went pole pole sana, I mean the slowest possible pace. We made it back down though, even though my legs and knees were pretty much shot after the first 2 hours of the descent, and I had a few hard falls, but we did it!! To look back at the mountain on the way down in full daylight, we were pinching ourselves that we were even crazy enough to do it in the first place!! We met a couple from Israel back at the campsite that attempted it but had to turn back after a couple of hours due to the grade, but I don't think it even occurred to any of us that turning around was an option! The drive back to Arusha was pretty long and even dustier than the ride in...needless to say, a shower definitely felt pretty good when we got back to home base. I have a lot of scrapes and bruises, and my legs are still sore today and probably will be for the next few days...I look pretty funny doing stairs, standing up and sitting down, and almost fell off the toilet the first time I tried to sit down on it...squat toilets are pretty much out of the question for the rest of the week. For those people that I did Kili with...I'm so glad we didn't do the Breach, summit, and then come back down in the same day...little too much!

So this is my last week here in Tanzania...can't quite believe I've been away for 13 weeks, but I'm really looking forward to coming home. Will try to update everyone at least once more before I leave here...thank you all for your love, support, and prayers...it has truly meant the world to me!!