Java. Indonesia

Mount Bromo, Indonesia

Val here. Well, Val climbed a mountain! Arieh and I left wonderful Bali the day after seeing Avidan and Eitan off at Denpasar airport. We took a LONG bus ride leaving Ubud at 5:30 A. M. and arriving in Probolinggo on Java at 2:00 P. M. We were delivered into the hands of he whom we shall call THE ORGANIZER. He proceeded to arrange a visit to the live volcano, Mount Bromo. Once we got to the town (Cemerru?) overlooking the mountain, we rise at 3:30 in the morning and take a four-wheel drive jeep up to the viewpoint to see the sunrise, then go down to the base of Bromo and climb the 253 steps to the top. After breakfast we would get a bus to Solo, our next destination.

To save a little money we ignored THE ORGANIZER'S recommendation that a shuttle would take ONE hour and chose the cheap THREE hour (impossible it would last three hours you think) public transport. What a savings! It would only cost $2.00 instead of $5.00. We climbed onto the public bus and had a comfortable pleasant ride for about 5 minutes at which time we began to climb a very narrow road. Villagers came on carrying rice, grasses, boxes of unknown treasures. Then we took a side road. How the overloaded minibus could climb such a narrow rocky steep mountain road with its load of 28 passengers instead of 16 was a wonder. To our amazemement more and more locals got on - hanging out the side door and up on top of the bus! It did, indeed, take three hours - in part thanks to a detour to a lonely village on the montain to deliver a woman and her 10 huge bags of rice and other grains and staples. I must admit I was kind of getting into the fun of it - the villagers were laughing and talking - probably discussing how far it was to the bottom of the mountain should the minibus tumble over the side of the mountain.. My only problem was I had to pee. Oh -- it was a long time but we finally made it to our rather dingy hotel. But oh the view!!! You can see puffs of smoke coming out of this moonscape mountain! (picture)

We had a Saudi friend join us for dinner. Most interesting fellow - loves Indonesia and seems to know the language fairly well! And quite "liberal" as well (even though he tried to "daven" 5 times a day.

We woke up, as planned at 3:30 in the morning and at 4:00 we were on our way in a rather rundown jeep with a quiet driver. We went down the hill, over the sea of sand at the base of Bromo, and then up to the viewpoint. What a surprise - two volcanoes - Bromo and Semeru. Semeru is the bigger volcano only visible from the viewpoint. It spews huge puffs of black smoke every so often. How stunning to see this ashy barren landscape bulging with ashen volcanoes, smoking and dormant! We then drove (with some difficulty - the jeep wasn't turning all that well) down the mountain to the sea of sands to the bottom of Bromo. I knew immediately that I couldn't climb the steep hill AND the stairs - so I braved a ride on a horse (see the photo) - lead by its owner up to the
bottom of the stairs and then climbed the 253 steps to the top of Mount Bromo! (pphoto) This one was an easy climb, unlike Mount Batur and we got to the top to peer into the smokefilled crater and hear the rumbling of the vent. Quite an extraordinary experience until the wind changed and the sulphur smoke choked us! We had about 15 good minutes, though, before the wind changed ato take photos and admire nature's wonders.

When we returned to the bottom we were not surprised our jeep would not start! Eventually our driver's friend picked us up in his jeep and all was well to return to the hotel and then back in a REAL shuttle (one hour) to Probollingo. Very efficient we were. We then went on an eight hour ride to Solo, where we are at this moment. More soon.