Well we are happy to say that people are starting to feel better.   People will walk slowly to the first camp, but at least they appear to be on the mend.

Today was a big day because we started to climb Kilimanjaro.  We have trained a long time for this day and this is the main focus for our trip to Africa.  We said goodbye to Dan and Craig who will continue to build the school for three more days.  

We walked for ½ hour to the Rongai Gate.   It was raining very hard.  This location is at the base of the mountain and is in the rainforest and we sure had a lot of rain.  It is important to keep our gear dry because it gets very cold up the mountain.  Wet boots and clothes are not only uncomfortable but it becomes dangerous because of the chance of getting frostbite and hypothermia.

We met all of the African climbing team at the Gate.  The African team has 8 high mountain guides, 5 cooks and 118 porters.  It is a very big support team.

Our climb on our first day lasted about three hours.   We were happy to see the camp which is located at 8,500 feet.  The group did well.

We can see both the peaks of Kibo and Mawenzi which are the two biggest volcano vents from the mountain of Kilimanjaro.  We will climb to the base of Mawenzi before heading to the peak of Kili which is on the top of Kibo.

We are heading to bed early today because we are tired after our first climbing day.