Her palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
There’s sweat on her sweater already; mud and grass on her jacket-ii
She’s nervous, but on the surface, she looks calm and ready
Those were my exact feelings starting to climb up the Pyrethrum fields leading to the Stone walls where the Sabyinyo volcano hiking track starts.
November 16th 2024, I woke up at 3am which is not a time normal people wake up!
But alas, I was ready to be on a journey to conquer my demons on the Sabyinyo Volcano.
When it was time for briefing all the groups ready to partake into suicidal activities that is HIKING because that is what it is, the guide let us know the track is notoriously cursed because there is a point where you can’t bypass someone and not fall into gorge. Hearing that I was lowkey relieved that there was a part of the trajectory I won’t need to move past maybe that is cowardly of me. But I am a firm believer of stopping when it is time to stop.
The first part consisting of climbing up Pyrethrum fields was just child’s play compared to the atrocities that were coming. The notoriously cursed track starts with a stone wall which has on the other side buffalo, buffalo poop, igisura(plant), bamboos, slippery, muddy, less than a meter width hiking tracks. Whenever I hike, there is a time I feel like I’m gonna die(literally) and I can estimate it is within like an hour or so of hiking continuously. This time around I was also hungry, I understand why an angel told Elijah to eat and rest, the oldest hacks to replenishing forces. 1 Kings 19:7-15 New Century Version (NCV), the angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat. If you don’t, the journey will be too hard for you.” So Elijah got up and ate and drank. The food made him strong enough to walk for forty days and nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God. With that being said, I drank my smoothie and felt a bit encouraged considering the fact I still had hours to walk.
Rain on my back, freezing temperatures, tired legs, a similar looking environment for more than 2 hours and slippery paths was all it took me to give up. I mean give up getting to the top. Shout to Olivier, my porter. I’m sure maybe I will never see him again although he told me that he’s coming to Kigali in January 2025(You can tell I have unresolved procrastination issues) . This guy basically carried me down the unforgiving Sabyinyo slippery slopes; I say this because my legs had given up on me.
A lot happened in the Sabyinyo trails but the moral of the story is try to live more and switch your body to survival mode for once (I chose climbing a volcano with existent buffaloes residing in close proximities) VERY BAD IDEA. Someone I know likes to quote these lyrics “I can’t keep living like this but I hope nothing changes”
First published on my blog, Chronicles of a Kigali Introvert.
