Walking4Air

Possibly the reason why my mid-week hike was so rough for me last week was because my body suddenly failed on me. Last week Thursday I was hit with a fever that didn’t know if it was up or down and a nasty, dry cough that had me sounding like a barking dog and left me feeling like I had a vice gripping my lungs, squashing them till there was hardly any air left in them, leaving it hard to taken in normal amounts of air and if I tried it would send me into a coughing fit! Luckily, by Sunday most of the cough had gone only to be replaced with a head stuffed with a nice cold. So, 18 days to go, and I get sick ~ I suppose it’s better than spraining my ankle. Maybe this is the universe’s way of preparing my body for thin/almost no air on top of Kili. Who knows?! All I do know is that I don’t really have time to waste with silly germs and things like that so my only option is to get better and fast!

Despite my health issues the past few days, I am not one for lying in bed and feeling sorry for myself,  it was a pretty busy weekend. On Friday night, Dons and I went to meet David, someone we met while on our training hikes, to have a nice catch up/farewell dinner as David leaves to climb Kilimanjaro on Friday. The night was filled with excited chatter about our upcoming trips, what still needs to be done, how the rest of his group was feeling, (he’s climbing it with his three daughters and a son-in-law ~ how awesome is that!). We had a great night chatting about all things Kilimanjaro! David, who finished work officially on Friday last week, is now on leave and said that finally the excitement was really hitting him now and you could see it in his eyes ~ they just lit up like a little kid on Christmas Eve anticipating Santa’s arrival. 

I can’t wait for that feeling of complete and overwhelming excitement to hit me, I still have tons to do with my studies before I leave and a few more items to buy and of course I’m working right up until the day before I leave.

Because my lungs were not working at full capacity, I made the very hard decision to stay off the mountain this past weekend. I was hoping by Sunday I would be well enough to climb but sadly I knew if I did I would no doubt be feeling worse by the end of the day. On Saturday, I met up with Dons after her hike and we spent the rest of the day trawling shops for the last of the stuff we have to buy, we still don’t have everything but we are getting closer.

I’m not feeling terribly inspired to write but I guess that’s because my brain & body has been invaded by germs.  Hoping to be fully back on my feet by the end of the week so I can head out to the mountain, which might be a good idea considering it’s my 2nd last weekend in Cape Town before I fly out! But for now, I have a very busy and BIG week ahead of me, exciting stuff happening, oh and just another tick on my bucket list! :):) I may be sick but I’m all smiles here…!