From Yogyakarta to Mount Bromo (Aug 27-28)

As we prepared to set off on Wednesday morning, we met our new driver, Hari, who would eventually see us all the way to Bali. That day however, we spent twelve hours in the car with him on the Road to Mount Bromo. The ride was a little like torture for Tracy as she was still suffering from itchy bug bites, digestive issues and her dread of spending long hours in cars.
It gave us more time to get to know Hari however, and for him to get to know us. He was initially surprised that we could handle the spicier Indonesian food, but it worked to our advantage later as Hari would start bringing us to more authentic restaurants and not Westernized food venues.

On the drive, we also quickly learned that the area east of Yogya is a never ending assortment of villages each with their own traffic issues. We eventually made it to our hotel for the night though. Unfortunately, it was definitely the worst of our accomodations so far. While having all the necessities, we found the room to be a bit cool and damp, which made falling asleep difficult. Particularly with Tracy continually laughing at my description of the bed as she had chosen to sleep on top of the covers in her clothes.

Luckily, we didn't have to stay there long, and we were up and off by 4 am. First stop, was the top Pananjakan Volcano, which offers the best views of the Mount Bromo area at sunset. It took about an hour of four wheeling through a dormant caldera area in the dark before our driver stopped and told us to walk the remainder of the way. As we climbed we were joined by tourists from all over the world, and we took a moment to stop at one of the shacks to have a ginger coffee (Tyler) and a ginger team (Tracy), which were excellent by the way.

Once our glasses were empty, we were at the top in only a few minutes. There we, and about 70 other people, enjoyed the incredible sunrise. It was a remarkable site to see that incredible volcanic landscape come to life. There were at least three other calderas visible from our vantage point.

Once the sun was up though, we headed back down and caught a ride to the base of Mount Bromo. We decided to pass on the horses and hiked up instead (about 45 minutes). Once at the top, we once again were treated to some magnificant views, and we decided to hike the entire rim as adviced by a Dutch guy we met earlier in the day. About half way around the rim, we were joined by an older German gentleman who was spending a year or so travelling the world like his son had advised. It had warmed up significantly by this point, and the hike turned into a good little morning workout. Before heading back down though, Tracy tossed some flowers she had purchased into the caldera as an offering to the Bromo Gods.

Once we returned to the hotel, we had a typical Indonesian breakfast (coffee/tea, friend rice, fried noodles, fried eggs and fresh fruit) before setting off. It would be another four hours or so before we made it to our next hotel, Kalibaru cottages, where we would enjoy a nice dinner and a few Bintang beers while bats flew around the open air hotel lobby.