Cheplaskei
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Route
Rock with two packs.
Cheplaskei
In the morning, I woke up feeling terrible—feverish, with a headache and stomach issues. Not ideal for our last 50km into Eldoret. We planned to finish the day at the Shoe 4 Africa Hospital. I took an extended morning chai, and when I started running, my back felt even more sensitive than the day before. There was no way I’d be able to wear my backpack today. Not only that, but I also felt remarkably weak. It was hard even to walk fast.
Rocky offered for the second day in a row to carry my pack, and this time I accepted. He told me he used to carry two or even three backpacks to the top of Kilimanjaro at a time for clients. He also once had a client on the Kilimanjaro Stage Run whom he carried as a backpack through the dark jungle after they fell behind. At least with my SIM card, I could turn on a podcast. I walked and listened until my phone died.
In a matter of minutes, the sun beating down on us transitioned to heavy rain. Rocky kept walking fast, and I struggled to keep up with him. In my feverish state, I started feeling very cold. Finally, when I saw a shed, I yelled at Rocky to stop. I wanted to take cover. It took all my energy to shout loud enough for him to hear.
When I finally got his attention, I told him I wanted to wait for the rain to end. He wanted to keep going. I insisted I wasn’t well and wanted to stop. He exclaimed cheerfully, “But I feel great! Let’s keep going.” I almost smacked him but couldn’t help laughing, imagining him telling a Kilimanjaro client on the verge of collapse, “But I feel great!!”
After checking my map, I saw we were near an intersection that might have a tea shop. Desperate for hot chai, I waded back into the storm. We met some people who directed us a bit further down the road, and when we arrived, the hotel was closed. But Rocky talked his way into the home next door, and soon we were warming up over a charcoal stove. I was very happy. The family gave us bread and chai, too. By the time we left, they said they wanted to walk to Eldoret with us. Their kindness saved me. I felt leagues better by the time we started walking again.
The weather oscillated between light rain and blazing sun for the rest of the afternoon, which sent me back and forth between feeling frigid cold and light-headed sweats. Around 5pm, we pulled up to a small town, and I told Rocky I needed to rest. I walked into a Mama’s chip stand and sat on one of the two chairs inside. I bought a banana, and Rocky got chips (French fries).
As we sat, I remarked that it was getting late. Rocky said, “No problem! We’ll just keep walking. We can get to the hospital at 10:30!” I erupted, “Are you crazy? What are we gonna do at the hospital at 10:30 at night!? I need to show up healthy. I’m supporting these kids, not one of the patients!” Rocky’s unbounded optimism is a nice complement to my conservatism, but I couldn’t stomach it in this situation. He didn’t put up a fight.
I lost track of time, and we started walking again after 6pm, right as it was getting dark. The destination we agreed on was a paved road about 5km away and 15km from the Shoe 4 Africa Hospital. The rest stop had rejuvenated me, and we were able to reach the paved road before 8pm, wearing headlamps. Unlike the day before, we were not met with a town on the paved road, just farms. We talked to some locals, and they told us there were guesthouses 2km down the road. Normally, that’s nothing, but today that was terrible news.
Rocky got the phone number for a motorcycle taxi and called. The guy never showed up. We tried waving down every single motorbike that passed us, but none stopped. Very strange, considering motorbikes are usually the ones harassing me to take a ride. With each bike that passed, Rocky would stop and loudly yell. Eventually, I snapped at him, “Let’s keep moving! We can just walk!!” He obliged, and we picked up the speed. I’ve been wowed by his patience on this trip. We showed up in a town before 9pm.
By a huge stroke of luck, we found a nice, quiet, cheap guesthouse right away. We found out that none of the motorbike taxis stopped for us because there are lots of hijackings on the road we were walking along. I took a hot shower, and we went to get some food. Only one restaurant was still open. I got bread and beans. Absolutely exhausted from the day, I fell asleep hard after dinner. The hospital would have to wait one more day.