Camping Wanale

Never had I ever… camped on top of a mountain. 

That changed yesterday, when some Volunteers conducted a little shindig called Wellness Weekend. 

It started on Saturday morning with some yoga… but Kara and I slept through that, whoops. We did manage to join the group at a local coffeehouse called Casa, where we were all meeting up before the hike. 

Now, Kara and I have hiked Wanale before, way back in early February, when we had first gotten to site. We barely made it up the mountain that time, and as our jobs require a lot of standing but not an exorbitant amount of physical activity, I didn’t think we were really any more in-shape than the last time we’d hiked. 

A picture I took when we hiked Mount Wanale in February (during the dry season)

Exact same angle, a picture from this hike in May (wet season)

This time, we knew we’d be camping at the top of the mountain with the rest of our group… but as we had to carry whatever we’d need, we didn’t bring many blankets. 

Our friend Miles, who is a yoga instructor and about 100 times more in-shape than I ever hope to be, was super sweet and carried our rented tent up the mountain for us, so we at least had some guaranteed shelter!

We surprised ourselves and made it up the mountain with a lot more ease (and fewer muscle aches!) than the previous time! Unfortunately, we froze our butts off that night. We’d neglected to even bring socks. Let me tell you, even on the equator, even when it’s a small mountain, the top of a mountain at night is COLD. 

However, it was a beautiful trip and definitely worth becoming a popsicle. We thawed out during the breakfast fire, and had a great hike down the mountain—although we were still wrapped in our blankets for most of it. 

Miles, on the ground. Because apparently, as great as he is at hiking, he is not equally great at getting his jeans on without first taking his shoes off. 

We cooked dinner by placing cans of beans and tomatoes close to the fire, and then mixing them together to make "chili." Sounds weird, but after a day of hiking, it was delicious!

Sunset with Leo, Karaboo, and Mike

What I get when I say "Hey guys, look cute!" haha

Wayne made it into The Pineapple Club at the top of Wanale! (membership is obtained when one eats an entire pineapple in one sitting. The pineapple must be roughly the size of the eater's head)