February 2, 2006: Lunch and the fresh vegetable dilemma

I've taken a bit of a hiatus from working on this blog, but I'm not one to leave things half finished. It's been over a year since our Kilimanjaro trip began to take shape, but it seems like a longer time has passed. In any case, continuing our trek to Shira Plateau...

Along the midway point of our hike, our first lunch was served. Our guides had set up a table with a blue table cloth and served us a lunch of sandwiches (cheese and vegetables if I remember correctly), biscuits, and fruit, as well as bottled fruit juice and tea.

The cook and waiter (yes, the tentman in charge of setting up camp doubled as a waiter) had done a great job making our meals feel like something special. At least as good as anyone could do under the circumstances. Speaking for myself only, anytime I'm camping, it doesn't take a lot to make me happy in terms of food... I can eat anything. However, we were faced with one dilemma. The cook had prepared the sandwiches using slices of fresh tomatos and bell peppers. We inquired as to how these vegetables were prepared and were told they were washed using boiled water that had also been sterilized by a portable UV irradiator. There was certainly no reason for us not to believe that they had in fact done this. One of the reasons Ajay had choosen Zara Travel for our trip was based on their good reputation and track record. They didn't earn this reputation by cutting corners and leaving a wake of sick customers. However, we had all done enough traveling to realize that we alone were responsible for avoiding the things that might make us ill, such as eating potentially contaminated vegetables and fruit. We were torn between being ultra-cautious and not eating the sandwiches versus possibly offending our cook who had really worked hard to do something special for us. After investing so much time and money to finally make it this far, the last thing any of us wanted was to fail to reach the summit due to a nasty case of gastroenteritis. In the end, I believe Jeremiah and Ajay chose to avoid the veggies, while Jen and I rolled the dice and went for it and ate the sandwiches. Part of my decision was made because I typically have an iron stomach compared to others. The other part of my decision was made because the sandwiches looked and tasted good. To make a long story short, none of us got sick in the end.