KILI

I made it. It was the hardest thing I have ever done, both mentally and physically, but I made it to Uhuru Peak, the highest point in Africa.
Let me elaborate just a little bit on "hardest thing ever". We climbed about 4000 meters in four days. Day one is easy: a 9 km hike through rain forest. We saw black monkeys. And the huts are little triangular buildings that accommodate 4 people each, and it reminded me of the rockies. Day two is a little harder: 12 km, most of it through brushland, with fewer and fewer trees the farther you go. The huts the second night, called Horombo, are identical to the first, called Mandara. Then, the fun begins. The third day is when the fun begins. The hike is about 9 km, but most of it is through alpine desert, completely devoid of life. And halfway through you reach the saddle, the area between Uhuru and Mawenzi (the two peaks of Kili), which is cold and windblown, and almost entirely uphill until you reach kibo, a ragged assortment of huts at the base of the summit. You eat as much as possible when you arrive, around 4 or 5 pm, then sleep until 11 pm, if you can at that altitude (ie, if you don't have a headache). Then, at 11pm, you wak up, have tea and biscuits, and begin the ascent into hell. You climb for 11 km, up almost vertical trails paved with dust, almost entirely unable to breath because of the lack of air pressure. Ever step I took was the hardest I had ever taken. 10 minutes in I wanted to stop.
8 hours later, I reached Gillman's point, the first spot you reach on the caldera rim (kili is a volcano). Then you walk steadily uphill to reach Uhuru, pushing yourself harder than you ever have before.
How ever, once I made it I had the best feeling I have ever had. Adrenaline rushed to my head and for thirty minutes I was pain free, energetic, and happier than you can imagine. And then the adrenaline ran out.
I have never been in more pain. Kibo might as well have been the moon, and Horombo, the middle huts, and the place I had to walk down to that day, might as well have been Mars. I was spent. At Gillman's on the way down, I vomited everywhere. You know the sweet relief that you feel when you vomit? I had no relief. I threw up everything I had in my stomach, dry heaved and waited for the relief. Instead, I was made painfully aware of my headache. Everytime my heart beat (probably way to often to be healthy- 150? 160? 200?) my brain screamed to get out of my head. I've never had a worse headache. And then I started to descend. Every step down made the headache a little better, but my legs got a little weaker. It was like jelly. I was totally, completely, utterly spent. Did I mention I was tired? When I finally made it to Kibo, I couldn't stop shaking. My guide untied my shoes and I crashed into bed. Btw, Val made it to the top with me and Courtney turned around between 4 and 5 am, due to altitude sickness. Everyone of us threw up on the mountain.
The rest of the descent is a blur. But the climb was incredibly rewarding and incredibly difficult. I'm still tired, and I've been down for two days now.
I am currently in Arusha, at Kundayo Serviced Apartments. We leave for the field tomorrow, and I have no idea when I will blog again.

Mpaka baadae,
Caleb

Yes! I managed to blog again, and before I got up Kili (or at least before I try to get up Kili). Again, no promises about when I will be back, so for now just enjoy the update.

So, just to bring you up to speed, right now I am sitting in The Coffee Shop, in Moshi, in the shadow of Kili. AT least I would be in the shadow of Kili, if it wasn't shrouded in clouds. Since I left you at Pugu hills (with a post written a few days ago, describing an event a few (4? 5?) weeks ago) I have done a whole heck of a lot. I have been to Bagamoyo, Zanzibar, Arusha, and now Moshi. I have watched rap music videos in The Safari Lodge, in Zanzibar's Stone Town, from the 1980's (it's like a jungle out there, it makes you wonder how I keep from going under, courtesy of a man I think is known as DJ Grandmaster Flash). I have eaten countless meals, consisting of both incredibly cheap Tanzanian food, expensive Indian and Ethiopian, and lots in between (including a bunch of fresh seafood on Zanzibar; barracuda anyone?), cheap being under 1000 Tsh and expensive being 15000 Tsh. I have learned A TON of kiswahili, enough for me to speak it functionally to natives, however broken the conversations may be. I have learned about Human Evolution from Audax Mabulla, an archaeologist that worked at Olduvai with Louis and Mary Leakey (google them if you don't understand why that statement is amazing). I have learned more about ecology, with emphasis on the Maasai Step (Northern TZ), than I ever have before, from a man that is strikingly similar to Yoda, but who cracks jokes at all of our expenses all the time. Think big ears, a similar voice, and 'he he' laugh and jokes about me sleeping.

So now that I glossed over a month of amazing experiences in a paragraph, let me assure you that my time so far has been amazing. From huge things like a trip to Zanzibar, to daily victories like ordering my meals or having a conversation entirely in kiswahili, I enjoy life here immensely and learn loads everyday, both in and out of class (if you recall, I was excited for my experiential learning, and I have NOT been disappointed). I have adjusted to a routine that is very different from my usual life. Lots of walking, very little electronics, lots of class, and lots of socializing. And I go to bed early and wake up early. I never realized how much time I had in the day. Its wonderful, and I love it here.

However, that is not to say that I have not had my share of difficulties. As I noted last time, some incidents have shaken me. And dealing with ACM has been less that easy and produced very little results. You might even say that I am having a great time despite ACM's behavior and activities. I'm not writing this out of frustration or anger; I did that a week ago, in an email to my father, which I will not reproduce here. I am not bothered by it on a daily basis and I don't really worry about it, because I don't want my time in Africa to be spoiled by people who are out of touch with the program, making decisions that directly affect me and which are often not in my best interest. However, in a summary of my time here, I think it necessary to include ACM's faults along with my wonderful experience so far. Again, I am not writing with anger, or even resentment, and attempting to write, as much as I can in my position, without bias.

So here it goes. I don't know if this will get my blog pulled from the ACM website. I hope not. I will not be slandering anyone, will stick to the facts, and will avoid exaggeration. But I don't know how well ACM will take my criticism. This year, ACM has changed the program substantially. From the little I have gleaned, UDSM as an institution is receiving significantly more money, while individual professors at the university are receiving less. What that means in practical terms is that faculty members that have been substantially involved in the program in the past are now not. In the most extreme case, one professor that used to run one of the two field sites is now barely involved, teaching only one class and joining us for only one week in the field (as opposed to six weeks). Which brings me to my next point, the situation of our program director and the field stay. First I'd like to say that our director, Dr. Roberts is overworked and (I would guess) underpaid. He does the job that two full time employees do for the ACM program, even though he got here only a month (about) before us. He is expected to arrange everything, from Zanzibar to class schedules, take us to the hospital at any hour, day or night, and act as an advisor for 21 research projects, ranging from biology to archeology to ecology to anthropology. So he is an advisor, mentor, emergency contact, and secretary for 21 people: way more than any one person can handle effectively. As you can imagine, this means that our advising is scanty and out schedule hectic, but in no way is that the fault of Dr. Roberts. To provide an example, each student is expected to begin their research in about two weeks. However, we have no idea what we need to do. I personally am ok, because I have taken research methods before, but if I was one of my colleagues who has not, I would be at a loss. Especially if I was an anthropologist, responsible for informed consent forms, interviews, surveys, and so on. Thus the central focus of the program is in real trouble. As for the camp, I'll help you with some math. Last year, I believe that there were four translators, and at least two advisors, all for 14 people. This year, there is one advisor, one assistant and (based on the fact that we have been told, “Those will be the only people in the field”) all for 21 people Now for the math: 14 students/five adults helping with research = a 3:1 student to adult ratio during last years program. Compare that to this year: 21 students/2 adults = a 10.5 to 1 student to adult ratio. Incidentally, ACM advertised that at maximum capacity there would be 20 students on the program, so I am not sure how 21 students were accepted. But, ignoring that, we about three times larger a student to faculty ratio, which again, puts the success of our projects in extreme jeopardy.

Some projects are in much worse shape, however. The archeology projects are very dubious as of now. In the past, as I mentioned, we had an archaeologist running one of the field camps, capable of advising archaeological greenhorns (which all interested students here are). As I also mentioned, this year we have Bruce and his assistant. Neither of them are capable of teaching us how to execute archeology, as Bruce is a cultural anthropologist and his assistant is a zoology grad student. The catch is, in order to do archeology, you need an advisor present, both for practical reasons (could you do archeology alone without prior experience?) and official ones, as the Tanzanian government is protective of its archaeological remains. So, for all intents and purposes, unless something changes, there will be no archeology in the field. While this may not seem like a big deal to the outside observer, this program focuses on early human origins (I would quote the brochure and website if I had internet access at the moment), specifically prehistoric archeology focusing on our biological evolution. Yet archeology is kaput. Quite a big deal indeed, in my opinion. Especially because I know of at least one colleague who applied with the sole intention of doing archeology. In fact, the only reason she is still at her college back home is that she could do an archaeological study here: she can only complete her major through an off campus program, and she chose this one, given that archeology is its cornerstone. So again, eighty-sixing archeology is quite a big deal.

Finally, there have been a few little things that bothered me. For example, we were required to pay for all our own food during the dorm stay part of the program. It wasn't a huge deal, because we could spend under $4 per day on food, but I know that students have gotten a stipend in the past, and I shelled out $15000 for the program; it was just the principle of the thing. And there was not a trip to Ngorongoro scheduled, until myself and a few other students emailed ACM. It was added, and apparently left out due to an oversight. Again, not a huge deal, but still a little irritating.

To sum up, I feel like I paid a lot of money to ACM to guarantee that I had as smooth a trip as possible and learned as much as possible, broadening my knowledge and horizon in the process. And though I am having a wonderful time, when I think about it, I think that ACM's decisions have been a little haphazard and I feel like I don't know where all my money has gone.

One last thing. More than one student and more than one parent has expressed their discontent to ACM, from the archaeological issue to the apparent failure of our insurance coverage (something that I have yet to experience and thus didn't mention). In the face of this 'expression', my colleagues, their parents, and myself received an email from ACM saying that they know about the problems and are working their hardest to fix them. And to be fair, this is a learning experience for everyone, given that they are in the first year of a new agreement with UDSM (as I mentioned previously). And while I appreciate the intent of the message from ACM and realize that they are probably trying their hardest, I am still not happy that I am part of the guinea pig program, and I think that the email avoided several specifics. ACM is certainly trying, and I expect that several problems will be addressed; however, I would like to know exactly what ACM is going to fix and how they are going to do it.

For now, I am going to enjoy my day. I just had the best coffee I have ever tasted, delicious tomato and lentil soup, and a mango tart (kahawa, nyanya (and lentil soup) and keki ya embe in kiswahili; or just chakula vizuri sana: very delicious food), all for under $5. And I am in Moshi, an incredibly chill town with a temperature stuck in the 70s. So, despite what my last blog post and this one might suggest, I am having a wonderful time (Don't worry Mom and Des!). I just want to include the good with the bad, to paint a whole picture.

Next time I write, I will have conquered the roof of Africa and will be posting a picture of the curve of the earth. How cool is that?

I hope to have pictures up, either with this post or on Picasso. I'll post the info if I do it on Picasso.

Kwa Heri,

Caleb