ryne Designs

by Stella Pierce Montecito Alumni Write Letters from Life’s Front

As schools around the country say: “Sometimes, next time never start to reopen and older stucomes.” As an antidote to this, I offer dents begin the migration back you the spirit of adventure in the to college life, I worry about the safeform of a letter from Ally Hodosy. ty of teachers and pupils alike. But a Please enjoy this story from a charmsmaller, less socially conscious voice ing and intrepid woman with a carpe in the back of my head quietly cheers diem attitude. for the small freedom of leaving home. Some of us may have spent these summer months mourning lost Dear Montecito, vacation time, but others – myself Growing up, my family traveled included – hark back to the simpler all the time. We were always booktimes of ye olden days when we ing trips, packing suitcases, and could walk around our hometown gearing up for the next adventure. without fear of catching the plague. My parents felt this was a valuable I feel as though I’ve been beaten over time for us to bond, and that travthe head with the irony. Hindsight eling together allowed us to learn is 2020; yesteryear will always be a about new cultures and grow. Now, “simpler” time. more than ever, I’ve had time to

This is all to say: it’s easy to find an think back on our trips and appreAlly Hodosy works at Kate Farms, the plantexcuse not to do something, whethciate all I’ve gained through travel. based formula company er it’s taking that jazzercise class There’s nothing like a little isolawith my family. Walking with eleor a trip to Palm Springs. Some of tion to remind you what’s importphants in the Serengeti. Exploring us even have the luxury to assume ant. Like many of us, I’ve had a mosques in Dubai. Flying over the we’ll have the same opportunities lot of time to reflect on my life Tahitian islands next to my little in the future, so we put it off until and remember some of my fondest sister and forever co-pilot. Even next time. But as my mom likes to memories from traveling the world a pasta fight on a balcony in the Netherlands. There were all the things that revealed a deeper respect for wildlife, history, other cultures, and of course some good old-fashioned, messy fun. In reflection of all this, I wanted to share the story of my favorite destination. It was the hardest thing I have ever done and potentially the hardest thing I ever will do. I had just graduated high school when I traveled to Tanzania for the first time. It was my grandfather’s greatest wish to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. My family couldn’t resist joining him on his journey to climb one of Africa’s greatest treasures. Mount Kilimanjaro, also known as Kili, is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest single freestanding mountain in the world. It stands at 19,341 feet and is just as scary as its name suggests. For nine nights and ten days, we did nothing but climb. We started the trek in the middle of the dense African rainforest, my favorite terrain of the climb. Here, we were surrounded by wildlife; our base camp looked as if it had practically been taken from the movie Tarzan. By the end of our second day, the rainforest had completely vanished. All the green and lush flora faded away as we entered the second climate zone of the mountain: Heather and Moorland. In this zone, temperatures can spike 14 MONTECITO JOURNAL “You know, with Hitler, the more I learn about that guy, the more I don’t care for him.” – Norm MacDonald to 95 degrees and drop to freezing at night. But climate zone three was the most challenging for me. In the alpine desert, we could have walked for miles on miles with no sense of how far we had gone. Surrounded by nothing but sand and rock, it looked like we were headed down the road to nowhere.

Five days into the climb, the altitude started to slow us down. Because of the lack of oxygen, it became hard to even think. In order to keep moving, we had to only concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other. I shared a tent with my 14-year-old cousin, Kieran, and by evening, he barely had enough energy to take his socks off. At the end of the sixth day, we started to enter the final climate zone of the mountain. It is called the Arctic Zone and is the home stretch to the summit. In this zone, temperatures dropped well below zero as we climbed through dense ice and snow, surrounded by glaciers on both sides of the trail.

On the day of the summit, we started our ascent at 3 am. The only thing I saw for the first three hours of our climb were the stars as I blindly followed the voice of our guides. When I reached the summit, I felt a great sense of pride. My family had conquered a mountain together – I tried to soak in every second of that moment.

The last two days on the way down were filled with endless celebrations. Our amazing guides and porters, who made my whole trip, taught us Tanzania’s greatest hits as we sang and danced until it was time to say our goodbyes and go our separate ways. By the end of the climb, I found it very hard to leave the friends I had made on this amazing journey. We became so close with our group and went through so much together that it was strange getting in our car and driving away at the end of the trail.

Luckily for me, my family still had another week to explore Tanzania and get a taste of life off the mountain. We went on multiple safaris across the Ngorongoro Crater, explored the Tanzanian countryside, met many Maasai villagers and farmers, and viewed countless side street soccer matches. It was the trip of a lifetime and an experience I will never forget. Out of every place I have ever had the pleasure of visiting, Tanzania will always be my favorite. I love the language, the people, the wildlife, and the unbeatable African sunsets. I loved it so much that I went back the next summer. To all the other travel junkies out there, I hope you too get to experience all of the amazing things Tanzania has to offer and that you love it as much as I do. •MJ 6 – 13 August 2020