Day 4 - Shira Camp 2, Lava Tower, Barranco Camp

Facts
Starting altitude (Shira camp 2) = 3,840 m

Highest altitude (Lava Tower) = 4.630 m
Campsite altitude (Barranco camp) = 3,950 m
No of hrs walking = 7 hrs & 20 min
Distance covered = 15 km

Over the night I woke up maybe more about 50 times even though it wasn't as cold as the previous night. It was about 5:30 in the morning that I felt my head wasn't normal. It felt a bit heavy. Then about 6:30am, I had a bit of stomach upset and nausea. I jumped out of the tent and rushed to the toilet. "Altitude sickness?! But how come?!" I knew that this was definitely the sign for mountain sickness, but I was surprised. The highest I had been was 4,600m in South America and did not feel a bit of sickness over there. "Why now?!" I came back to the tent and drank half a litre of water.

At breakfast, I told the guys that I had a little bit of headache. As soon as I said that, they are shouted and congratulated me for being a normal person! :) Up until then, they all had some sort of mountain sickness, except me. Eitan had nicknamed me "the tank" ! Since according to him, I never felt any headache, never was out of breathe, never was tired and kept on walking with a smile! :) Little he knew how much this trip meant to me. I was living my dreams and enjoying every moment of it. Tiredness and complaining just wasn't in my dictionary! :)

I asked the guys what I should do and they told me to have a couple of paracetamol. In fact, Ryan said that every morning he takes 2 tablets just to keep him going and still he had the headache. I only took one to see whether that would sort it out. It was at this moment that I was having doubt for not taking any Diamox. "Maybe I should have!" It was too late for this anyway. I had a light headache when we started the hike, but no stomach upset. I made sure I had extra tissues in case of emergency in the middle of the hike! :) I did not mention my headache to Wilibard as I did not want him to make a fuss about it. I knew I had it under control at that point.

A short break just before we reached Lava Tower

The walk was along a steep path. Today Gideon was guiding us and Wilibard was at the back. He was going "pole pole" very slowly. I tried not to look around too much and at every stop I drank water. Slowly the headache got less and less until maybe after about an hour it completely disappeared. I was thinking to myself, "so this is how it feels!" During the past 3 days the other guys were having headaches and Ryan even had stomach upset. This is what they were going through. In fact mine was just a light version of it. It is not the best feeling, specially that you get worried that it might get worse. I was still surprised that I had this headache at 3,840m, but maybe because I walked a lot yesterday and hardly had any rest until the night. From now on, I had to play it more wisely. As we were being told all the time, "pole pole (walk slowly), drink a lot, eat a lot".

White-necked Ravens
These very nasty creatures. They were all over the camp sites and would
nick anything they see. One of them took Eitan's soap !

Those ravens were after Eitan for some reason. First they nicked his soap
and here one of them dropped a big sh** on his light colour trousers. That made us all laugh of course!  :)

Lava Tower

This day was another interesting walk. We had to go from altitude 3,840m to 4,600m. There were lots of climbs. Today Gideon was guiding us and Wilibard was at the back. He was going "pole pole" very slowly. In fact I liked the pace. With that pace, I could walk for hours and climb the steepest path without feeling tired! After 5 hours of walking, we reached Lava Tower, 4,600m. After a short break, we started descending all the way to the camp, located at altitude 3,950m. It was a full speed descend. I really enjoyed this part of it. Somehow I was feeling so light and so alive. Maybe because I had got rid of that nasty headache. Whatever the reason, it felt like I was flying. Gideon was going super fast and I was behind him and the rest of the team were following.

A raven flying off Lava Tower

Behind the Lava Tower

The scenery was changing drastically as well. The rocky landscape was changing into a terrain covered with various vegetation, due to the lower altitude. Later on the guys complained about the pace since they all had headaches and Ryan has had nausea/stomach upset on top of that. But none of them said anything during the descend, otherwise we could've slowed down. They only complained afterwards. I did notice that they were all quiet, but I thought maybe they were tired and didn't know they were all suffering from mountain sickness.

After 2 hours and 20 minutes we arrived at the Barranco camp. This camp has a spectacular scenery and is overlooked by Kibu peak. Once we got there, the others went straight to their tents for a nap, but I just couldn't do that. As soon as I decorated my tent, I came out to explore the area. This was my way. As soon as we arrived to a new camp, I used to go inside my tent, re-arrange my stuff, put aside what I'd need for the night and for the next day and then that was it. I did not got back inside until the night time. I used to tell the guys that I decorate my tent! :) If I was very tired, I would lie down for half an hour or maximum an hour and then come out. I would then either walk around or sit down on a rock and read the book that I had brought with me. This was another reason that Eitan had nicknamed me, the tank! Since I hardly took any rest. :)

As we got closer to the Barranco camp, the variety of the vegetation
was also increasing. It was a pretty sight.

Barranco camp was the most beautiful camp so far. I walked around and tried to take in all that stunning beauty. At one end of the camp, there was a huge flat rocky surface with a straight drop. From that point you could see the green valley below you, the mountain on both sides of the valley, the river that in the distance seemed to be joining the white clouds. I sat there and got totally absorbed in my surroundings. I was looking all around me and once again I could not believe I was there. I felt truly happy at that point. I felt honoured to have had the opportunity to experience all this.

The beautiful Barranco camp

Back in the camp, apart from my group, I came across a number of people who were suffering from altitude sickness. There were two guys just outside my tent who looked miserable. One of them had a bad headache and had put a wet towel on his head.

Barranco camp - That is the straight drop. Can you notice
someone standing up there?

Tonight I told Wilibard about the headache that I had in the morning and he told me off for not having told him at that time! I felt like a little girl having done something naughty! :) Back in the tent, my mind reviewed today's events. Even though the day had started badly, but the rest of the day I had felt just superb. In fact it was interesting to have experienced that light altitude sickness, because now I could understand more what the other were going through. Tomorrow we had to climb that wall overlooking the camp. I was already getting excited. I only hoped that that nasty headache would not return in the morning....