When they dragged into camp, Addison was thrilled to see their tents already set up. Tom had warned them they might have to do that.
Drew stopped in the middle of the camp, clearly waiting for Mary Kate to catch up.
“Which one do you want, Mary Kate?” she called loudly, thinking it best to head off an awkward moment.
“Let’s take that one over there,” Mary Kate answered, pointing to a small yellow and blue tent on the edge of the campsite.
Addison noticed it was farthest from the latrine. But then again…it was farthest from the latrine. Like everyone else, she had to go.
The latrine was a tall wooden structure, about five feet square, with a wall separating the two sides. The door was actually just an entrance, the right half of the structure. If one were looking down from the top, it would have resembled a capital “G.” In the inside compartment, a hole was cut into the floor. Extreme care and concentration were required, as the hole was barely the size of a brick.
The porters had stacked the ten yellow Summit bags in the center of the campsite. Addison’s stood out because it still had the Kenya Airways tag. Already, it was smeared with volcanic silt, fine black dirt that clung like toner from a printer cartridge.
Besides their smaller tents, two larger ones were erected for Luke and the porters. With the flaps open, Addison could see very little in the way of creature comforts. Evidently, the young men who were carrying their equipment and bags were planning to rely on body heat from one another to get through the night. Already, the temperature had dropped substantially, thanks to both the altitude and waning sunlight.
Beside the renowned Big Tree, for which the camp was named, was a third large tent, this one with screens on all four sides where camp stools surrounded a long folding table. A couple of thermoses sat next to tin cups, and assorted flatware lay across a stack of tin plates.
“Hot tea, hot water.” The porter known as Gilbert scurried back to the tent he shared with Luke, where he tended something on a camp stove.
Addison poured herself a cup of hot tea to ward off the chill.
Moments later, Gilbert emerged with a five-gallon yellow container filled with warm water. Pouring some into a shallow pan, he rubbed his hands together to show everyone this was for hand washing. Then he laid a funnel atop the container. “To drink tomorrow.”
Kirby volunteered to collect the water bladders from inside the backpacks, lining them up in alphabetical order to remember which belonged to whom. Most of the models held two liters. All of the hikers crowded around with their spare water bottles, readying for the next day. Ann presented her clear, one-liter bottle first, holding the funnel as Kirby poured from the jug.
“There’s stuff in the water,” she said. “The brochure said the water was supposed to be pure.”
“We can filter that and drop in some iodine tablets,” Addison said, pulling a pouch from her Summit bag.
“I didn’t bring any iodine,” Ann grumbled. “And I didn’t bring any toilet paper either, because Tom said that would be provided too. But Gilbert just told me they didn’t have any.”
“You’re kidding me!” Rachel exclaimed.
“Actually, that would be ‘you’re shitting me,’” Kirby said, earning him a glare from his girlfriend, but raucous laughter from everyone else.
“I’ve got plenty of iodine tablets for everyone,” Addison said, “but you better be sure you aren’t allergic. That would be nasty.” Luckily, Cyn had prepared her for both of those needs, but she wasn’t about to offer her extra toilet paper. “And I brought some cheesecloth to catch the bugs.”
Starting over, Kirby poured bottle after bottle, all through the finely woven filter. To each liter, Addison added a tiny tablet that turned the water light orange. The group effort took almost a half hour, but everyone’s water supply was replenished and readied for the hike tomorrow.
Gilbert had started to bring food inside the dining tent. “Eat now.”
Three steaming dishes sat on the table, a bowl of boiled potatoes, another containing shell pasta and a third that resembled cabbage. Addison was the first to try the latter and declared it delicious.
“I can’t believe you guys are eating that green stuff,” Courtney said. “I read that you shouldn’t eat anything out of the ground.”
Drew scoffed. “Those potatoes you’re eating are out of the ground.”
“But they had a skin, which was peeled off. You guys go right ahead, but don’t come crying to me when you get the runs,” she said.
“And don’t you come crying to us when you get clogged up,” he countered jokingly.
“By the way, if there’s anyone who doesn’t want their dinner napkin, I’ll take it off your hands,” Rachel offered demurely.
“Yeah, right,” Neal said. “I have a feeling we’ll be using dollar bills on our butts before the end of the week.”
“And to think, just this morning, we were all being sweet and nice, asking where everybody was from,” Mary Kate said, her voice syrupy sweet. “Now it’s ten hours later and we’re talking about bodily functions at the dinner table.”
Addison chuckled to herself at Mary Kate’s prissy tone, though she suspected Mary Kate was anything but a prude. From her joke on the bus about the cookies, it was obvious she had a wicked sense of humor, and seemed more than capable of carrying out her payback threat.
Darkness fell soon after dinner, and the temperature plunged, driving everyone inside their tents for the night. Addison unscrewed the valve on her air mattress and it inflated automatically. “I don’t know about you, but I’m still a little jet- lagged.”
“Yeah, it’ll probably take a couple of days to even out.” Mary Kate dragged her Summit bag underneath the rain guard of their small tent. “How cold do you think it is?”
“Probably in the upper thirties, but to someone from Miami, it might as well be three.” Addison unzipped her sleeping bag and got it ready for easy access once she got undressed. “We probably should keep our backpacks in here. One of the blogs I read said people had things stolen from under their rain guard.”
“Who could blame them? It’s obvious the people here don’t have very much.”
Mary Kate was right. It would be bad to be ripped off, but whoever took it probably needed it worse. “Tom said we should consider leaving behind some of our things for the porters. I’ll probably leave this sleeping bag and daypack.”
“Wow, I hadn’t thought about giving them something big like that. I was going to leave a couple of shirts…maybe a jacket.”
Addison tugged off her pullover fleece and short-sleeved shirt and squeezed into a thermal top that hugged her skin. “I got most of my stuff second-hand. This is only about the third time in my life I’ve been in a tent.” It took a concerted effort not to peek as Mary Kate changed into her long johns.
“Could have fooled me. You look like you know what you’re doing. Nobody else thought to bring the water tablets.”
“Yeah, my friend I told you about, the one who got pregnant, she knew somebody who did this trip with Summit last year. She got the lowdown on everything.” Addison lowered her voice. “In fact, I’ll let you in on a little secret. I brought toilet paper too.”
“I’m so glad we’re best friends forever, Addison.”
“And how convenient that you’ve forgiven me for giving you a heart attack.”
“Totally forgotten.”
“I brought camp soap too, so we won’t make a mess of the water. I have a vested interest in having my tent mate practice good hygiene.”
Mary Kate laughed as she wriggled into her sleeping bag. “I knew we’d be cold up here, but I never dreamed I’d be sleeping in my long johns on our first night. I don’t even want to think how cold we’re going to be once we get to Barafu.” Barafu was the base camp for their ascent on Saturday night.
“Did you know Barafu is Swahili for ice?”
“I don’t think I wanted to know that.” Mary Kate was inside her bag zipping it up from the inside. “I have some things I can share, too.”
“Such as?”
“I brought three dozen energy bars, a box of baby wipes and a bottle of hand sanitizer.”
“I brought hand sanitizer too, but baby wipes, what a great idea. And anyone with extra food can definitely be my best friend.” Addison’s shivering slowed as her body heat warmed the air in her sleeping bag. She could hear Mary Kate’s deep, steady breathing, a sign that she had fallen asleep. They would have a lot more opportunities over the next few days to get to know each other, but for now, she was feeling lucky to have hooked up with a tent mate that was fun and easy to talk to. Not to mention cute.