While Lehman Brother's was in the process of declaring bankruptcy last Monday, I was in the process of bankrupting my precious supply of strength and patience.

Climbing Karisimbi, a volcano in Rwandan's Virunga range, sapped my strength. Karisimbi, Africa's third tallest mountain, ascends to 14,787 feet.

Our little troupe began our accent Monday, camped at 11,ooo feet Monday night, summited Tuesday morning and descended Tuesday morning/afternoon. By sundown, we were off the mountain driving back to Ruhengeri. My muscles, or lack thereof, didn't fully recover until today.

The fourth American in our posse, whom I guess I should call the first, exhausted my patience. It was for her sake the entire excursion had been arranged. I shall call her AB. ITom is more generous than I. He just says AB and I have opposite personalities. She has a bit of a hard time relaxing and tries to control every little detail in a country where you have to be open for mishap and surprise. My analysis is much harsher. I was continually embarrassed by the manner in which she spoke of our guide and our porters in their hearing. It was really because of them any of us made it through the thick brush to the summit. AB's just one of those people that makes me want to be contrary. She really means well, but her execution is not very considerate. My patience ran a tad short. Thankfully, the other members of our party provided escape.

We had quite a party - 18 in all. Our troupe consisted of 4 muzungos - the infamous AB, two friends from DC - Yan Lee and Susy Tukenan and myself. We had an aptly named guide, Patience, and five porters - Immanuel, Augustus, Andrew, John and Beatrice. Four porters carred our bags. One carried theirs. Finally, there were 8 soldiers - 2 for every muzungo. Rwanda is one of the safest places in Africa. Why do we need soldiers, we asked? Patience explained that Rwanda was safe because the government made certain that it remained so. The soldiers were there to protect us from wild beasts and thieves. Also, it was part of their training. They carried heavy packs and constructed a shelter out of brush. They built their fire from scratch. Four went ahead and four behind. We couldn't take photos of them. They couldn't fraternize with the muzungos (which was a tad of a shame as one of them was tall, dark [obviously] and handsome).

I learned a new word in Kinyarwanda - beyondo, or mud. We were up to our ankles in mud. Literally. Yan, unfortunately, experienced altitude sickness first hand when we arrived at our camp, around 11,000 feet. Thanks to the little camping stove Matt made us out of a Coke can and an Ovaltine bottle, we were able to boil water for a little bit of heat. She did not try to make it to the summit with AB, Susy and I. Susy's little body was amazing. She came straight from DC swamp level and made it to the summit - on a muddy rugged trail that was quite vertical.

Tuesday morning, after Susy, AB and I were already panting, Patience insisted that we stop, rest and have some chocolate. After he could tell, we'd had time to collect ourselves, Patience told us the real trek was about to begin. We spent the next 600 meters scrambling through mud and climbing trees. We only made it up because our respective porter's held our hands - Immanual with Susy, Andrew with AB and I with Augustus. They practically pulled us all up the last 1000 meters. I only made back down, but clinging to Augustus, stepping where he directed and jumping into his arms, again and again.

If you'd like to see all 104 pictures from the trip with commentary, please visit the following link.