Volcano Love
If I made a list of my favorite things ever, volcanoes would be very close to the top. They are just so awesome. I overuse the word awesome, so let me elaborate. Volcanos make some of the largest explosions on earth. They can actually create mountains. I realize I'm stating the obvious here, but I'm enamored by the sheer power that one little spot on our planet's surface can make. Volcanos are fearfully unpredictable, yet marvelous to look at and humbling to tread upon. They inspire me.
Indonesia just happens to be covered in them. Lucky me.
Before leaving our serene little spot in Bukit Lawang, we caught wind that the town of Berastagi, four hours away by van, happened to be situated between two active volcanoes. I'll give you one guess as to where we headed next.
The town of Berastagi itself is nothing short of a shit hole. It's muddy, ugly, and smells like a cesspool. To put the icing on the cake, on our walk to the base of Mount Sibayak, I saw a man masturbating on the side of the road. Ew.
Thankfully, our view from the top of the volcano was much more pleasant. The crater was surrounded by fumaroles and the smell of sulfur tickled our nostrils. We enjoyed a Snicker bar at the top, one of my favorite hike snacks/rewards, then headed back down to the icky place.
The next morning, I woke up around seven and went to the roof to take a picture of the other, much more active volcano, Mount Sinabung. It wasn't more than a minute after arriving that the volcano started erupting! I was in awe. A huge plume of smoke and ash rolled down the side, then simply grew and grew until the wind stretched it across the otherwise clear sky. Stunning.
Our hosts told us this is not uncommon. Lately the volcano had been erupting daily, and if the winds were right, the town would get covered in ash. I didn't think much of it at the time, but the previous day, when Dana and I got back into town, the military was handing out free dust masks in the street.
After we made ourselves a nice egg and veggie breakfast, we managed to spend the entire day on various forms of public transportation that would take us to our next volcano destination: Lake Toba.
Remember how much I'm in love with volcanoes? Well, enormous Lake Toba is actually the caldera of a super volanco. Whaaa??? I know. Try to contain yourselves. Check out the wikipedia page for all the fascinating info about it.
When our final leg of the day's trip, a ferry, brought us to Samosir Island, we basically dropped our bags at the first decent looking guesthouse we could find and set off to fill our empty bellies.
On our way out, we were greeted by this violent act of nature. Sorry buddy, sometime you eat dinner, sometimes you are dinner. A quick reminder that being a part of the race that sits on a throne on the very top of the food chain is something to appreciate.
We didn't have a set plan for how long we would stay, but by day two, Dana and I both decided we could be content in a place like this for a month. We found another place to sleep with a cozy little room right on the water for eight dollars a night. We befriended Carolina, the woman running the shop down the street where we got our gin, juice, and cookies.
We spent our days lounging by the cool, fresh water, enjoying the scenery and clouds.
Other days we explored the island by moped, taking in the unique culutre and history.
Although almost all of Sumatra (and Indonesia, for that matter) is Muslim, the area around Lake Toba in central Sumatra is predominately Catholic. This became apparent on our way from Berastagi as we started passing more and more churches and less mosques.
Stone chairs of judgement. For beheading.
This barefoot blind man led us up to a waterfall.
As I took this picture, I realized I was standing in a waterfall pond on an island in a volcano lake on an island in the ocean. I silently fistpumped to myself. It's the little things that make travel special for me.
We had a bit of excitement on our second day touring by moped, and not the good kind. The roads around the island can be steep, windy, and full of gravel. At one point, we were headed downhill and encountered all three. Luckily, we weren't going to fast, but if you brake on gravel, you will slide. Unfortunately, I didn't have a choice; there was a sharp curve as well as oncoming traffic and I had to squeeze the brakes.
The bike slide out from under us and before I could even think, I was sprawed out, spectacularly sliding down the hill on my chest, spread eagle style. Mid-skid, I turned my head and looked back to see that Dana was in the middle of a graceful summersault next to me, practically cartwheeling over her helmet. We both stood quickly as soon as we came to a stop, confirmed that neither one was injured, waved embarassingly at the horrified onlookers, and picked up the thankfully undamaged bike to continue into town.
Worst part- I blew out my favorite flip flops!
Now we both have matching scars and good story.
The day before we left, we met up with some of our island friends to experience the "banana." Although it looks silly, it was ridiculously fun (and followed by vodka soaked watermelon).
To get to our next destination, we took a fairy, got ripped off again by the driver to the airport (getting really used to this), slept in the airport, caught an early flight to central Java, took a tram into Yogyakarta, wandered around until we found a hostel, then took a public bus finally go see Borobodur.
Awesome volcano view from the plane.
Borobodur is an enormous Buddhist temple; actually its the largest in the world! It's located just outside the city Yogyakarta and surrouned by serene, rolling green hills.
On our way out we spotted this little fella showing off his shadow as the sun went down.
Borobodur was beautiful stopover on our volcanic excursion. From Yogyakarta, we boarded a train heading east for a tiny town located on the side of a volcano where we could hike to get a view of the magnificent Mount Bromo.
Of course there was a transportation fiasco once we got off the train. There always is. We had to find a small public bus that would take us to the place where the bigger buses departed for the Mount Bromo. Luckily, we were in the same situation with four other backpackers, one of whom spoke quite a bit of Bahasa (Indonesian language). However, we are white, and standard procedure of hungry Muslims (it's Ramadan, remember) trying to overcharge us enuses. After a few hours of waiting, haggling, and finally riding in a cramped van along a bumpy road, we arrive in Cemoro and find a resonably priced bed near the trail head.
We all got up at 2:45am to start our trek to the sunrise viewpoint. The stars and our headlamps lit our path and in less than an hour, we arrived at a small pavilion. We drank ginger coffee and huddled to stay warm as we waited for the first glimpse of sunshine to touch the peak of Mount Bromo in the distance.
The morning was foggy, but slowly, the clouds moved through and the valley below opened up, showing us a breathtaking landform that looked like it belonged on another planet.
I think Dana and her adorable dimples were enjoying the morning. :)
We marveled at the scene in front of us for a few hours and soon, the other people began to leave. The view only seemed to get better though, and everytime someone mentioned to head back down, more clouds dispersed, as if the volcanoes were saying, "Wait, look! I have more!"
Eventually, the six of us grabbed a group pic, high fived for an epic morning, and headed back down the trail.
Another reason volcanoes are superduper cool is that the ash and lava emitted are chockerbock with minerals and good stuff, surrounding the area with extremely fertile soil, great for farming.
We tried taking another trail across the valley for more hiking trails, but of course, some guys vroomed up to us on motorbikes demanding we buy expensive tickets to go further. Annoying. We ended up turning back, catching a bus, then a train to the very eastern tip of Java.
Dana and I said goodbye to our new travel buddies and caught a ferry back to Bali. We spent our last four days laying on a beach in the tiny town of Pemuteran, backed by a few more of Indonesia's magnificent volcanoes that appear to be floating in the sky.
