It’s been a long time since I made a stupid call. And it hurt. I was going to go on a trip to the volcano with the last people that went, but I was pretty sick and didn’t want to go on a 5-6hr hike and stay overnight with a head and face full of snot. So I backed out looking forward to the opportunity to go with the Careforce team. It was set. I was going. Then as the team was arriving I was in the middle of another horrible cold. But I was determined! I was taking antibiotics to try to get this thing kicked before the volcano weekend loomed! It didn’t seem to be abating, but I still had faith (? there turns out to be a fine line between faith and stupidity…) The day arrived – I had borrowed a proper pack from David and Inggun (a couple who were, at that time, considering where in Indonesia they would like to stay and work amongst the people. They will be coming back here in a week or so!! Yay!!) and in it I had a sleeping bag and an inflatable mattress, spare clothes, a small pillow and food. People laughed at me cos I had a big bag, but I made the executive decision that I would rather have a bigger ergonomic bag, than a smaller uncomfortable one. I’m not sure now if I made the right choice, but it’s one I made.
We drove about 2 hours to the place at the bottom of the mountain and then started our walk in. Already I was feeling it. My nose was running and my sinuses were hurting as well as feeling the heat a whole lot more than usual and carrying a big pack. But, I’m a second-half girl – usually it takes me between half and 1 hour to really get going so I didn’t think much about it. Until 1 hour in we were climbing up an almost vertical piece of mountainside. Then it really kicked in! This was the moment I realised I had made a dumb call and was feeling like a right fool. Here I am. Reasonably fit, not unaccustomed to exercise and activity, struggling 1 hour into a 5.5hr walk. I was dizzy, my ears were ringing, my nose wouldn’t stop running and my heart was beating faster than I ever remember and I feel like rubbish. Thankfully Brett offered to swap bags with me for a bit and this made things more bearable. But I really think it was the grace of God that saved me. At lunch time – about 1.5hours into the walk we ate our dry noodles and I took a panadol, and spared a moment to confess my stubbornness and pride and asked God to help me get through this walk – we couldn’t turn back. Immediately after lunch the dizziness passed, my ears stopped ringing and my heart and breath returned to normal. I took my bag back from Brett and carried on. My nose was still running, but all the other symptoms cleared away and stayed away for the rest of the journey. My ears were not popping though and that was painful as we climbed in altitude, but when I would ask God to clear them, I would be halfway through asking Him to pop them when they would pop! Not just once, but at least 7 times throughout the journey. It’s a funny thought, because of all the areas of God coming in and touching my life, I never thought I would feel so close by him popping my ears!!
Finally we reached the top of the mountain and set up camp at the bottom of the volcano. It would still be about 1.5 hours up to the tip of the cone, but we would do that early in the morning the next day. After 5.5 hours of hiking with a pack (something I’ve never done before!) we were so exhausted! We explored the area a bit, checked out the sinking sand/mud stuff in the pools that had gathered when it rained. We had some dinner then prepared for bed. But just as we were getting into bed it started to rain. Which wouldn’t be a problem if the tent wasn’t leaky! It started running into our tent! And coming up under the floor! All us girls were freaking out at the prospect of sleeping in pools of water… We ran into the boys’ tent, but there were already 10 ppl there in about a 8man tent, and if you know tent sizes, an 8 man tent is probably comfortable for 6 men!! And I think the non-Australian boys were very surprised when I poked my head in and said we’re coming in!! ha ha! I do have to mention that they were drinking beer. Not for any other reason than WHY would you bring beer on a hike1?! Maybe it’s normal. I don’t know. But it’s definitely one of the more amusing moments I’ve had here. Finally the rain stopped and we went back to our swimming pool to sleep. It was at this moment that I was so grateful that I lugged an air bed and sleeping bag and pillow up the mountain because now, in our wet tent, I was going to be able to sleep dry because I was raised off the ground! Thank you David and Inggun! They had also lent me a waterproof jacket that I slept in in case it rained again. About 3 hours after I fell asleep (and that’s a VERY loose term…) there was that awful sensation that no girl wants after she’s warm in bed… Because it was raining when I went to bed, there was no nightly toilet routine and there was no way I was going to be able to sleep through til morning on this bladder. So I tried to get out without too much fuss, but lost my balance on the way out and freaked Kelly out to the max when I put my hand on her!! Man, it was funny for me – not so much for her, but good in the end cos she was keen for a toilet too! So armed with tissue paper and a torch we prepared to go bush – except that there weren’t any leaves on the bushes so cover was scarce – and the terrain was so flat there was no hiding! Some of the Indonesian guys were still awake and outside and all I could think of was if they walk this way there’s no way they could miss my lilly white rear end shining in the moonlight, ha ha! You really have to look on the bright side for moments like this!
After our little stop we went to check out what the guys were up to and they had cooked some rice, so, being a little peckish after a restless sleep we ate some of the rice, which was a strange mix of being revolting, but given the circumstances and our other options, or maybe just because it was warm, it was strangely comforting. After our tummies were fed we tried to get a bit more sleep before the 4am wake up call. This was a bit of an adventure because we were scrambling up rocks and silty paths in the dark, but if we didn’t use a torch the moon was bright enough to lead the way. After being so blindingly hot the day before, it was lovely to walk in the dark and not even break a sweat. As we got up to the top of the volcano it was just black sandy, silty stuff. Right up at the cone was the same and we had to lie down on our stomachs to disperse our weight so the edge wouldn’t crumble and we fall in to the abyss.
It was amazing and frightening at the same time! The roaring was like a huge furnace mixed with incredibly loud thunder! Inside the smoke that was ballooning out of the fire vent was lightning! All night we had seen flashing outside our tent, but I had no idea it was coming from the smoke cloud of the volcano. It was definitely something that I never imagined I would see. When we would watch volcano documentaries at school I would wonder what kind of idiots would go to these places and mess with Murphy’s law – and now I was one of them. The sunrise was stunning but in a totally unecpected way, because the landscape was so barren – it’s hard to imagine that barrenness is beautiful, and my picture doesn’t even come close, I know, but I still think it’s beautiful. You can never be bored looking at the myriad of landscapes that God chose to give us.
The hike back was so much easier. Except for the badly bruised shoulders! I ended up swapping bags with on of the fit young lads who came with us and even then my shoulders were continuously aching. But with the knowledge that halfway was well behind us it was a lot easier for me. I still needed to ask God to pop my ears, but He is faithful and continued to do so. Our problem, though, was running out of water early on the return trip. We packed what the list said, and I had a bit more than the others, but the Aussies struggled on the water front. About 2/3 of the way through the return trip we managed to ask some hunters to pick us some young coconuts so we could drink the insides. The flesh was a welcome change to 2 minute noodles too! When we finally reached the town we left our car in we went to bathe in a river. It was such a cool place where all the women were doing their washing and chatting. I’m really sorry I don’t have a photo of it! When Brett got in he said it was hot, but I thought he meant it was hot but not cold, as in the same temperature of water in lakes and oceans here in Indonesia. But when I put my foot it – it was really hot! Like, almost hotter than a comfortable bath temperature. But I was so wet and sticky that I didn’t care and got in! And it’s the weirdest sensation to have your body temp so hot and getting into hot water, but after a few seconds, it was really nice! The heat didn’t bother me at all, and when we got out it was so much cooler!
So all in all, I made it, in once piece and now that a couple of weeks have passed I have to remind myself how much it hurt, because the pain has faded and now all that remains are the good memories and I’m afraid that if I don’t remind myself of the pain, then I might be tempted to go again sometime…
My friend Itha and one of my students, Vitro, lying down to peer into the volcano.
The absolutely amazing sunrise over the top of the cano.
Hello big cloud of smoke!! There were the occasional sparks of fire too!
The barren, yet strangely beautiful landscape in the surrounding area.
Looking in with major zoom, that is lava. Wow!
Sorry for the long one. This one’s a lot shorter! David Hall, and Emily and Peter Krumsieg visited us for a long weekend and I have to say that they are seriously cool people! I had so much fun hanging out with them and skipping school planning to go to the waterfall which was absolutely beautiful! Give me a waterfall over the beach any day! Swimming in fresh water is unbeatable! The pictures totally don’t do it justice… This was a piece of cake after the previous weekend’s hike from hell up the volcano – 2 hours of flat walking = heaven! After we got back we stopped off to get some traditional food from a region called Makassar. It’s a soupy kind of meal where you can choose from liver, heart, lung or standard beef, mmmm. Needless to say I ordered the standard beef. It was surprisingly nice. Not amazing. But definitely stomach able. So my last 2 weeks have been pretty amazing – definitely still loving life here – the children are learning quickly and the people who visit here are so much fun to be around. Thanks for your prayers and love! It’s less than 8 weeks until Christmas so I will see you all in Melbourne then!
I loved this section of just grass with the mountains in the background and the perfect sky!
Peter is jumping off the waterfall. He's 2.05m tall! All the Indonesians looked like kids compared to him.
The Indonesian guy, Enda, is over 20 years old but looks like a kid, ha ha ha!
One of my friends, Yulisa
The tall one on the left is unnaturally tall for an Indonesian, ha! The other two are amongst the taller half of the population.
