July 12 - Blue Light, Civet Cats and Murals.

July 12 Day 148

                We got up at midnight for a 12:30 departure that became a 1 am one.  The drive was for about an hour and we picked up our guide along the way.  Johan told us that he was a sulfur miner for 20 years before becoming a guide and he had worked on his English ever since.

                We got to the parking lot at the base of Mt. Ijen and it was really cold so Meg bought a toque.  The first 30 minutes or so were very cold.  Johan had said it was going to be about 15 degrees but this had to be close to zero.  The path was well laid out and we were given flashlights and gas masks to show us the way. 

                The path was very steep and a few hundred people were walking up it with us.  All along the route guys with boxy rickshaws were advertising their taxi services but most people continued to walk.  We took a few breaks but continued to ascend for the 90 minutes or so it took to reach the rim.  This was all in the dark by flashlight with one guide for the two of us, as opposed to a group of about 70 Italians who only had one guide (what if the fumes got too bad, what could one guide do? asked Meg)

                Towards the top clouds of sulfur fumes made it hard to see so we put on our masks.  We also wore them during the 30 minutes or so we had to hike downwards from the rim to the edge of the crater lake.  This path was rocky and worn and many people had to take it very slowly, resulting in bottlenecks.  To add to the problems, people were coming up as the majority walked down and the narrowness of the path meant for some long waits while the other direction passed by. 

                Once we got to the bottom we had a fine view of the blue flame only visible in the dark.  This is the result of combustion of sulfur and can only be seen here, in Iceland and few other places.  The flame had a weird movement to it that was quite hypnotic. 

                After watching the flame for a few minutes our guide took us to where a sulfur miner was working.  We saw a few on the way down carrying yellow chunks on baskets.  This guy was cooking sulfur soap in a volcanic pool, pouring it into molds and selling it.  Meg bought one at a crazy price ($10) but she figured that she was supporting the miners.  The pack of cigarettes she picked up to give to miners in exchange for taking pictures of them were unneeded and she kept them until later.  Meg also wondered if the soap was safe and we looked online and found that it was safe and commonly used to treat acne.

                The climb out of the crater was a little easier than the climb down but Meg was finished climbing for the day and tired to the extreme.  The view from the rim was amazing, as we had been hiking in the dark and had no idea of our surroundings.  The crater had a blue lake with steam coming off of it and panoramic views down the side to the forests below.  We were above the clouds and could see some of them below us reflecting the colours of the sunrise.  It was a tough hike up in the dark to see the flame but a completely different one down, with amazing views from an exceptional place.

                Interestingly, the taxis had a lot more passengers going down the hill than up, many of them being older hikers as well as those with small children.  The hike down took as long as the one up as it was still super steep and we were both glad to finally reach the bottom.

                We woke up Johan from whee he was napping in the van and dropped our guide off in his village, giving him a good tip for his help.  Johan then offered us the free stops on the way back to town and we accepted them in spite of our exhaustion.

                The first stop was at a coffee plantation, but by the side of the road where some of the plants grew.  We tasted a sweet bean, nice but very little fruit and lots of bean.  We saw two kinds of plants and then looked across the road to a rubber plantation with perfectly spaced trees and collection cups similar to the ones we know from maple syrup farms.  Once difference from the maples are that the tree has a big gash of bark cut off of it to pool the rubber sap instead of a small spigot tapped into it.  The sap was white and very rubbery and neither of us had seen such a place before.

                The other stop was at a waterfall where we could walk down and check it out.  It was a very developed stop, with two stairways and a bathroom complex.  The waterfalls were very nice and a local family were enjoying them and took selfies with us by the water.  They had a strange planted area you had to walk through and a treehouse you could hang out in but it took the last of our energy to climb the steps out of it.

                Johan was having a coffee so we ordered one too as well as a pack of cookies.  We took the final trip back to the hostel and our Indonesian breakfast was waiting there for us in a palm leaf so we gobbled it up and then headed to bed to catch up on our missed sleep.  it was about 10:30 by this point and we felt that we had already completed a full day's worth of exploration.

                When we woke up that afternoon Johan was talking to a new arrival named Ogur.  We surprised him by speaking Turkish to him once we recognized his uniquely Turkish name.  He was on an 18+ month trip and had taken his motorcycle from Iran to Norway before heading east.  We also found out he had done a course in Nepal at Kopan like us, so the overlap seemed large.  When we mentioned to Johan that we wanted to take him up on his offer to take us to a cafe selling civet cat (luac) coffee and Ugur decided to tag along, so off we went.

                When we got there the parking lot was full and Johan remembered that it was bird competition day and so the parking lot was really full.  We parked off to the side and went in to the grounds, which were full of guys and birdcages.  The cafe itself had lots of room but we were fascinated by what was going on outside.

                Behind the cafe was a wooded frame with many birdcages hanging from it.  It was surrounded by men (no women participate in this sport for some reason) making noises at the cages while one guy threw blue and yellow sticks on the ground.  We were told that the birds were divided into separate categories and then were judged by how continuously they made noise.  The people making noise were encouraging the birds to chirp and the stick thrower was the referee, keeping track of the two birds facing off.  An odd sport that didn't hold spectator attention for two long once the mysteries were cleared up.

                Back in the cafe, our server made a big production of slowly pouring the water on the coffee after having us smell the grounds and observe the luac beans.  In a centrepiece were the luac turds, which looked like peanut clusters as they were mostly bean.  The story went that villagers in a poor town wanted to have coffee like the rich towns but couldn't afford the beans.  No one wanted the cat droppings so they were cheap and plentiful so they roasted and drank those.  A visitor had some of this coffee and pronounced it exceptional and it became the most expensive and cherished coffee in the world.  It saved the civet cat, which had the poor distinction of being delicious, from being hunted.  The half dozen or so in cages by the cafe looked pretty unhappy with their notoriety.

                The coffee itself really did taste different from others as it went to the back of the mouth and was really smooth with a nice, lingering taste.  Considering that it the most expensive in the world, we were only charged $3 a cup,which is less than many Canadian mugs of brew.

                We bought some beans to take back ($15 for 1 oz) and got stuff done at the hostel.  We regretted that we didn't have a few more days there as Johan had footage of a nearby national park where you could watch turtles lay eggs and babies run for the water year round.  The trip was 8 hours each way and usually involved an overnight, so we didn't have time.

                We went to dinner with Ogur and stopped off at the painted village on the way.  This time people noticed us as we checked out the murals ad soon a group were talking with us and inviting us to the central cafe.  We were wondering if we were being touted and the idea was to take some tourist money from us, but we were open to the experience and so was Ogur so off we went.  People had genuinely curious questions and we found locals named Imam and Obama.  They talked about life there and asked us lots of questions and the only money asked for was to cover the tea we had so it was quite innocent.

                After tea we went for a walk and they told us how we should pose and take pictures using the murals, but we soon tired of that.  They then asked us to come to their village office and do video testimonials about what a cool place their village was for tourists to visit.  Meg gave a donation to the council as we left but there was no hard sell and the whole experience was weird but ultimately positive.

                We walked to the buffet restaurant we had been to the day before but recommended it as Ogur was also a vegetarian and on Johan's advice had the excellent jackfruit curry.

                We walked back and Ogur went to bed early as he had the 12:30 start coming up.  We weren't far behind as we had a major commute ourselves the next day.

The blue light that we hiked so far to see.

The crater after sunrise.  We hiked down to the edge of the water.

Meg with one of the painted village murals.