The journey from Jepara (the city 'home to the Swedes) in Probolinggo and' a perfect example of "slow travel by bus" in Indonesia. Another ... You think. It 's the rule ... I got it. Use almost 13 hours to do 250km of road. Exhausting. The fact that you are on Java, the island more 'populated country, has done nothing but make things worse.
The bus without air conditioning, and 'cluttered and, as tradition has no fixed stopping points, but stops when someone wants to raise or lower it. And there are only passengers. For long stretches and is' in the company of groups of guys trying to pick up some money playing the guitar or selling soft drinks, peanuts and snacks. As the only foreigner on the bus I am overwhelmed dagli "hello mister!" degli indonesiani.
Arrivato a Probolinggo mi faccio scaricare di fronte ad un hotel, sulla strada principale, e mi sistemo in una camera economica.
Il giorno successivo prendo un taxi collettivo (pulmino) e salgo a 2000m fino ai bordi del cratere del vulcano Bromo. E' una delle principali attrattive turistiche di Java e ci sono parecchie guesthouse nel piccolo villaggio ai margini della caldera.
L'aria fredda e una sveglia puntata alle 3.30 mi costringono a letto presto. Quando lo squillo del cellulare mi rianima mi trovo alle prese con una spasmodica ricerca di vestiti caldi: camicia, maglione, cappellino di lana, persino la giacca invernale. Sembro in procinto di partire per una spedizione alpina.
Mi butto in strada alla ricerca di un passaggio per il punto panoramico dal quale ammirare l'alba, posto a 2600m di altezza. Di fronte alla guesthouse, c'e' un gran movimento di jeep e 4x4 ma i veicoli sono gia' tutti pieni. In lontananza addocchio un ragazzo indonesiano in sella ad una moto. Appena mi avvicino mi offre un passaggio. In moto? Ma รจ sicuro? chiedo. No problem mister, mi rassicura. Negozio la tariffa e salto su. La strada scende all'interno del cratere: e' buoio pesto, fa freddo e c'e' una nebbia che impedisce di vedere a piu' di 10m di distanza. La carreggiata e' una striscia di sabbia nera, vulcanica. Ci si muove in difficolta'. Il ragazzo deve mettere giu' i piedi un paio di volte e fermare la moto perche' le route si bloccano nella sabbia fine. I begin to doubt that we will succeed. Yesterday afternoon, with the eye, the crater seemed to me at least 2 or 3 miles wide. At one point the road starts to climb. We're leaving the caldera and we started to climb up one of the edges. The white cloud of water vapor and sulfur gives way to a serene sky illuminated by stars of last night. The facial skin has lost sensitivity 'and I have the forehead and eyebrows dewy drops of icy water. I try to nascodermi as much 'as possible behind the body of the driver, to minimize the impact of cold air.
After an endless series of switchbacks finally reach the parking lot of the viewpoint. I shot a coffee 'boiling and eating a packet of wafers that had hidden in his jacket. 5 and we are the next morning.
The balcony and 'full of people. Someone has' deceived by the equatorial latitudes and around in shorts and sandals, try not to show it, but is suffering terribly. At an altitude of 2600m it is cold all over the world, especially if it is not 'yet risen sun.
The first segment gives a nod to 5.30, gradually illuminating the caldera and the volcano's slopes. It 's a spectacular view. Inside the crater there are two volcanic cones, smaller, one active. The dense white smoke coming out from the top 'and' an unstoppable flow. In the distance, beyond the deep crater of Bromo, the perfect cone of another volcano rising over 3000m. Every ten minutes, with the precision of a Swiss watch, shoot the arrogants of black smoke, rising into the sky, take the form of a mushroom.
Landscape and 'surreal. The crater of Bromo and 'still covered by a thick white cloud that hides the black sand, occasionally the cloud, like a glass of water filled to the brim, overflowing, spilling over the village on the edge the crater. The tips of two small volcanoes in the center, springing from the white expanse, the thick fumarole sulfur rises vertically to the sky and a high volcano in the distance, from the steep slopes, watch the scene. Except for the green fields and forest surrounding the crater of Bromo could have the sensation of being landed on a planet in space. Black and gray are the predominant colors of this landscape.
are not lost in the universe, I'm just enjoying another aspect of the tumultuous, wild, lively and unpredictable land of Indonesia.
Rene '
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