So yesterday, after I got back to the hotel (and slathering myself in insect repellant so toxic that it could strip the paint off a Buick), I wandered down to reception to see what there might be to do. Well, there was a bar. Problem solved. I had actually brought along my kindle to catch up on a bit of reading, but instead I got chatting to the only other person there, who, as it turns out, will also be on the same trek with me.
I haven't met any of the others yet, but so far, its me and Perrrrr (it's actually Per, but I got it wrong the first time I said it and was so firmly corrected that I now buzz that "r" for about a minute, just to make sure). He's a Swedish engineer who was raised in Zimbabwe, so not only does he speak English and Swedish, but three African languages as well, which is all kinds of useful around here so he promptly became my new BFF. Speaking the local lingo makes the waiters much nicer to you (which is true everywhere but Paris), so we pretty much just stayed put and drank the bar dry. As you do.
Tonight I meet the rest of our group - I think there are about six of us altogether and I'm hoping for an interesting group. Perrrrr is good company and of course I'm awesome, so if we get a nice mix, that will make this thing much more fun. Gentle readers, I hate to love you and leave you, but this will be my last chance to post on here for about a week. But stay tuned - I'll update as soon as I can, and if the most un-outdoorsy person in the world doesn't end up with about a million stories after climbing freakin' Kilimanjaro? Well, I'll eat my hat (and my balaclava, because yes, I now own one of those as well)...
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