Conversation 145 - Indonesia

Todd: So, Phil, what country would you like to talk about now?
Phil: I am going to talk about Indonesia. And specific, I am going to talk about Mt. Bromo. It's the highest point in Java. One of the biggest island, well the most highly populated island in Indonesia. Ah, last fall, around November, I made it to Bromo and, there's a very high mountain there, over 3,000 meters tall, called Mt. Semaru and I decided to hike this with my girlfriend, Sara. Let me tell you, it's quite a hike, 17 kilometers from the base camp, through a park, very beautiful park, lots of trees, good swimming hole really really nice area, especially in Indonesia, it's so developed, there's a lot of pollution there. It was really nice to see some nature there, but when you get to the park, we started out around 2 o'clock in the morning, camped for the
afternoon, because the best time to go to Semaru is at sunrise. So we started off around 2 o'clock with a few Indonesian fellows and about an hour into the trip one of those boys hurt their ankle so our friends were stopped but we didn't want to end our hike so we continued up the mountain, it's still pitch black, we have one flash light between the two of us, and the path starts to get very narrow, and as you approach the actual volcano, you start to see all these markers of where people have fallen off and died, so it's a little unnerving and you make sure you stay on the path and then you hit the volcano, and it's all primus stone, all ash, and you're walking at about a 45 degree incline. It took us about 4, 3 to 4, hours to walk all the way up this mountain, and
our oxygen was getting short. It's hard to get your footing because it's all ash, so you fall down, you're gasping for breath, you walk another 20 meters, you fall down, you gasp for breath more and more. Finally, we got to the top, and as it turned out, it was a really cloudy day and we couldn't see anything.
Phil: Ooh! That's too bad. Sounds like a good trip though.
Todd: Yeah, it was an experience.