15/7/11
After a 12 hour sleep which is some going in a tent on a roll mat we woke for another day of adventure. Feeling very stiff we tottered over to where the porters were cooking breakfast. Banana pancakes, fresh coffee and pineapple. Once we were fortified we set off on our climb back up to the crater rim. Oh my our legs were uncooperative and we propelled ourselves up the steep incline with the aid of a stick putting as much weight as possible through our arms.
After a gruelling three hours we reached the crater rim and whilst we were tired the views were again spectacular. We had ascended to a vantage point overlooking a lake in the centre of a mountain range with two active volcanoes in the middle of the lake. The water was clear blue, the lava flow from the last eruption 12 months ago formed a general slop into the lake and the volcanoes themselves were still letting off smoke.
After lunch of a three layered sandwich with egg, beef and salad followed by more coffee and pineapple we set off for a downhill trek to base camp three. We thought going up was hard but sound found that downhill also had a special section on the pain spectrum too.
Once at base camp three we relaxed, read books and awaited dinner. In amongst all this were monkeys. To begin with they observed from a respectful distance then moved to just two meters away from us. Here the leader of the pack was groomed and occasionally a lady monkey would take his fancy and he would have his wicked way. After an hour of the monkeys observing us and we them they began to get braver. They congregated around out camp and began a raiding party to steel our leftover food. The porters were wise to this and matched the monkeys calls with their own should and charged the monkeys. The result was one orange and some left over fruit to the monkeys and some entertainment for us.
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