Gunung Bromo is a volcano that is constantly steaming. We hired a jeep from the hotel because that was the only way to get up there. We got up at 3AM and put on our jackets that we rented for $4 (which we didn't really need, but it was the coldest place we've been in since I left Japan). We piled up in the jeep with two Indonesians and two other foreigners. We started chatting with the other two foreigners and right away, we asked them how they got up here? Their minibus experience wasn't nearly as horrible as ours. Elly, from London but raised in Connecticut, said she waited for only about an hour and a half, and Estibaliz from Germany, born in Madrid, but currently working in Jakarta for Nokia, got the bus right when it was full, so she left right away.
Elly, Liz, Me, Josie
It was about a 30-minute drive on a road with so many potholes, yet Josie and Elly were still able to knock out. It was a convoy of about 200 jeeps all taking people up to the viewing spot. We got off the jeep and hiked up a road for about 10 minutes, which was of course full of touts selling food, jackets, beanies. Even though I was already wearing a thick jacket, they still persisted to sell me another one.
There were about 500 people or so at the top and we still had about 30 minutes before the sun came up, so we just waited ... and squeezed out way to the front. People started climbing over the fence to get an even better view, so Josie went too.
When the sunlight finally broke through the cloud-filled sky to the left, it was breath-taking. The dark bluish, purple sky had opened up just barely to let in a crack of bright orange and deep red. All the cameras started going off, but in frot of us, the silhouette of the volcano started letting off it's colors and the steam separated itself from the clouds. It was an amazing site. It was a VOLCANO!
After about 1000 pictures, we set off back toward the jeep for the second part of the tour, a hike up to the rim of Gunung Bromo. We stopped a few times along the way to take more pictures and then reached the base. There were horses everywhere. For $3, then $2, and finally $1, you can have a local take you up on a horse. We opted not to.
The hike took about 20 minutes with about 100 to 150 concrete steps fir the last leg. It wasn't very difficult, just the terrain was weird walking in volcanic ash. It was a surreal experience walking up to the crater of a volcano. Apparently, a few years ago, some people were killed because Bromo had spewed some stuff out and hit them. I wasn't too worried about that because I was 1 of 1000 people, so my chances of gettin hit, although not impossible, weren't high enough for me.
Looking into the mouth of the volcano was really cool. It was this deep crater with smoke and steam bubbling out from the middle and mixing in with the fog and clouds. Most people hung out near the top of the stairs, but you're also able to walk along the crater to the other side where there weren't any people. Our schedule didn't give us time to do that, but Elly did walk about a fifth of the way out.
Along with the hundreds of people watching, there was also sooo much trash that people had thrown into the crater. I understad better now how bad of an effect people can have on our environment. I'm not passing judgement, it's just normal to toss trash anywhere in Indonesia, but the lack of respect for nature is just a really bad eyesore. That's what takes away from the exoticness, the spirituality, the amazingness of these places ... people. But taking away all the litter, it was great!
There was a chance that it would have been really foggy and cloudy and that would have ruined the whole thing, but we were lucky enough to have amazing sunlight from the viewpoint, and then cloudy weather for the hike. I think it was karma on my side.
When we got back to the hotel, it was about 9ish, so the four of us had breakfast together and realized that we'd just done so much, and it wasn't even 10 AM yet. We reserved our minibus (blah!) and then went back for a nap because, again, we had a long day (and possible night) ahead of us.
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