Volcanos, Buses, and Beaches

Oh man! Our time feels like it’s slipping through an hourglass! This week has been another epic journey for us. It’s going to be a shocker trying to find adventure in our routine Provo life; but we’ll find a way, even if we have to dig a little deeper.

Anyway we got our start to the week with a refreshing 12 hour drive from Yogyakarta to Gunming Bromo (a crazy awesome volcano). We had to drive to the top of a giant old extinct volcano and we arrived late at night. I was, to say the least, very hungry, very tired, but mostly ticked off that it was cold. It reminded me of the random snowstorm we had in Oct. of last year when our heat wouldn’t work and Alex did everything he could to warm me up. Same story, we both slept in one of the two tiny twin beds to keep warm. We rented jackets and wore them to sleep and we both tried to fit under the shabby thin blanket. Mom and Dad, you raised me into a pansy warm weather girl!!! No, seriously, I think I’m mentally allergic to the cold or something.

So Guning Bromo, wow it’s really cool. Definitely worth google imaging. It is a huge old crater within who’s crater there are three other volcanos. We had to walk through a giant sand desert (the remains of the old crater) to get to Bromo. Bromo is the main steamy volcano crater. Next to it is an old volcano that looks like a bunt cake and behind it is an old sandy crater of a really ancient volcano. We walked to the volcano but not without me tripping all over myself and down a little ledge. No injures, just an “oh crap!” The crater was absolutely AMAZING!!! There was no lava but there is a big steady stream of smoke coming out of it. Love to wake up to the smell of sulfur! The sunrise at the top was beautiful, but even cooler was the hour long trek we took around the rim. Seeing it from all the different perspectives was amazing. Plus we felt especially adventurous as parts of the rim have totally collapsed and we had to hike through the silt (kinda sketchy); of course we were the only ones dumb enough to do it too which is always an extra little thrill. Again, being out there felt like we’d come to another planet! It’s indescribably beautiful and foreign to anything we’ve ever seen. So fascinating. After we were so fatigued from practically no dinner the night before and no breakfast and lots of treking. We thought we’d have to trudge our way back, but fortunately we found a little moto driver on his little, and I mean little, moto. The three of us crammed on and the driver was almost completely off the seat to the front while Alex was hanging off the back; I was the lucky duck in the middle. Driving around back down the big old volcano which now looks like a normal mountain was BEAUTIFUL!!! It reminded us both so much of the mountain towns in Peru.

After our second volcano adventure we were back on a 12 hour bus to…PARADISE! Kuta, beautiful, busy, noisy, breezy, oceany, Kuta!!! Basically the Hawaii of South East Asia. Kuta is the most visited beach on Bali and it’s awesome. We arrived at 1am and got so lucky to find a place after an hour of hearing FULL FULL FULL. This place is packed!!! It’s high season for tourism in Indonesia and we were blown away by the crazyness.

Basically we’ve spent the rest of this week on the beach. We’ve done a ton of body surfing, one day of surfing (tried a short board for the first time- so awesome! definitely different from a long board), boogie boarding, people watching, topless old lady boob avoiding, and walking on the beach. We’ve practically eaten every day at this restaurant called Bali-Brazil cuz it’s the cheapest we’ve found and they have FANTASTICALLY DELICIOUS chocolate ice cream shakes for cheap!!! People put these strange little grass/flower offering things out on the sidewalk every morning. They tell us it’s some sort of Hindu tradition. The waves and the beach are the most awesome we’ve encountered in our LIVES! Thus the extended stay, so so so cool.

I love having water logged brains, sun charred skin, salty lips, and a sandy swim suit. You know how when you grow up with something you love so much, and it’s something associated with so much happiness, it’s like nothing can beat that. That’s how I feel about summer days at the beach. It’s been so SWEET to get to experience that again after so many summers away from my beloved California sands. All we’re missing is the people we care about most that make it what it is. LOVE YOU GUYS!

Tomorrow we’re going to probably the tiniest branch EVER for church. So glad there is one! Then who knows??? One more week, shish kabob, time flies when you’re having fun.