Mission accomplished!

Well, you all know the punch line, we made it, all 5 of us. It was more difficult for some in the group (read: the men), but we all did very well. I'm feeling very emotional today, more so than when I actually made it to the peak, I think it has to do with saying goodbye to the wonderful guides, porters and other people I was climbing with. I really got along well with the other girl that was climbing with us, she is 27 and reminds me of my friend Katia. We were much lower maintenance than the boys, that's for sure! We had lots of laughs together (we reverted to kindergarten talk because you have to be so in touch with your bodily functions! The guides asked us about it at meal times anyways...), learned a bit more Swahili, saw some beautiful sights... Tears well up just writing about it!

We made it to the top one day early, because it made more sense to have a very long day and go directly than to have a medium long day, sleep in very high altitude, wake up more exhausted than when you went to sleep,and then try to hit the summit. And we were very lucky with the weather because we only got 2 days of rain in the entire 10 days, which were on the descent (the last day and a half). A couple left the day after us and couldn't make it to the top because of bad weather, they got the bad weather going up that we had going down. One guy (the one who traveled with me for a bit and who I'm doing the safari with) had some trouble, his oxygen level went down to 42% when we slept in the crater (it should usually be around 100%, and they start worrying around 65%), but they gave him a bit of oxygen and he was fine. So there's so much more to say, but my brain feels like mush and I'm curious to look at my messages so I will write more tomorrow. This afternoon I'm going to visit an orphanage that is run by a man that a guy from a previous "Climb for CARE" met. Just figured, if I'm going to be emotional, might as well go all the way! There are 35 kids who are orphaned by AIDS who live with him... So I guess I'll have lots more to tell tomorrow!

Love you all, thank you for everything, all your support and your love. I feel so lucky and blessed.