Journey To Extraordinary ~ Comfort Foregone

by Ellie Bishop McKenzie

We awoke at 5:30 am and the plan was to leave the comfort of our hotel at 6:30. This would be the day I discovered that having 8 people in your group means lots of reasons to be late. Just like in CrossFit, someone always has to go to the bathroom at the last second! 

Athumani, our fearless Tanzanian guide, met us at the hotel with about 20 men. They gathered our belongings and piled them into and onto two large buses and we hit the road. We drove 3 hours to Kilimanjaro and stopped once at a local restaurant to get coffee and food. Susanna and I shared what may have honestly been the absolute best croissant I have ever had in my life. I have no idea why it was so good, but it was amazing! 

Once we got to the bottom of the mountain we sat and waited about an hour while our Team got everything ready to go – including our lunch. Our first lunch from Team Kilimanjaro was healthy and delicious! A small yogurt, tomato, cucumber, and avocado slices, a hard-boiled egg, a mini-banana, a handful of cashews, and a mini-muffin. Oh, and a real coconut with coconut juice AND a box of juice! The avocados were about the size of your head (huge!) and delicious! This would be the first of many delicious meals prepared by Team Kilimanjaro chef, William, whom we grew to love. We loved his food so much that we told him to send us his recipes so we could make him a cookbook that he could sell! Dr. Podeszwa liked him so much he donated his hiking boots to William at the end of the trip!

While waiting for our Team we also got to see the cute monkeys hanging out in the trees. Oh, and we experienced our first real African bathrooms. The bathroom was like a bathroom you would have at a public park in America with stalls, except that there was no toilet – just a hole in the ground. Now, these particular stalls were nicer than many bathrooms later in the trip – they actually had some plumbing and you could flush these toilets. However, there was still nothing to sit on – you had to know how to squat (THANK GOD FOR CROSSFIT!). This was another one of those moments where you realize you are in a third-world country and you are so incredibly grateful for American niceties like plumbing and toilet seats. However, it also made me aware of the fact that these people – of all ages – are ABLE to do this. It was a realization that with every “gift” of our modern culture there comes a bit of a sacrifice. Plumbing makes life easier, however, we lose the ability to move our bodies well. It certainly makes you think.

The comforts and conveniences of our modern world that set us apart from what we refer to as the “Third World” – cars, plumbing, computers, cell phones, ultra-processed foods, and more – have not been around for very long. My grandmother rode horses because she didn’t have a car until she was in her twenties. Today most of us in the “First World” live at 72 degrees, experiencing real weather only during the two minutes it takes us to get in and out of our cars. I hear people every day complaining about the weather and saying it’s too hot or cold to spend time outside. 

“But there is the catch: Because our ancestors dealt with so much discomfort, there were many things they didn’t have to deal with. Namely, the most pressing problems that modern cultures are facing right now… that are making our lives unhealthier and unhappier than ever before. Life span might be up, but healthspan is down.”

So while we are grateful to be in America with wonderful things like toilets, we now have to deal with the side effects of that comfort: long-term mental and physical health problems. 

We lack physical struggles (like squatting) and we have become detached from things that make us feel alive. Things such as physical exertion, being in nature, effort, and perseverance.

And so, we are now learning to add those back into our lives. We are going to a gym, going for walks and hikes, and yes, traveling around the world climbing mountains.

We finally left the campground and began our hike up through the jungles of Kilimanjaro. The plant life was lush and beautiful and the air was humid but cool. We were living our dreams in the conditions that humans were evolved to live in and experience. We were on our way! 

The path was pretty simple, and we hiked for about 5 hours. A great start to our first day. 

We arrived at our first camp, unloaded our packs, set up our tents, and sat outside and relaxed – along with several other campers from several other teams. Our dinner was served and all 8 of us sat inside our cute little dinner tent set up complete with a table cloth, utensils, condiments, and dinner candles, and enjoyed chef William’s divine culinary creations. We began with a popcorn and tea appetizer, followed by a pot of soup, then a dinner of fish and steamed vegetables. It was fabulous and well-earned!

After dinner, we walked outside to our first absolutely incredible night sky. 

I actually chose the timing of this trip for two reasons. The first was because I could hit the top of the mountain on my dad’s birthday and celebrate his life. The second was because it was a new moon, meaning no moon visible in the sky, so we could see the stars even better. Once again, our comforts of life – having homes and lighting so that we can see at night – have come at a cost – seeing our beautiful night skies.

We all sat outside in awe at how amazing it was. For those of us who are older, we remembered our childhood when this kind of sky was seen every night. It was beautiful and immense. We tried to stay outside and stargaze, but the cold and the hiking soon got to us and we had to crawl into our tiny tents to drift off to sleep.

Day 3 is next!

_{*From The Comfort Crisis, by Michael Easter}

For previous day, click here.

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