earlier this week, a friend asked me if i wanted to hike merapi. my first thought was “no”. i probably should have stuck with it. but… it was a small group of girls going. and they were planning to go slow and take it easy. and i figured if i didn’t do it now, i never would. and i live on the most active volcanic island in the world, so why not climb its most active volcano? you know, while i’m in the neighborhood…
so we left salatiga at about 10:30 friday night, getting to the base of merapi at nearly midnight. our guide, pak superman (no joke), met us. he served us all tea and invited us to sit for a bit before leaving. unfortunately, he had a stomachache, so he sent us with 3 other guides, including his son. we set off at about half past midnight.
the first part of our hike was just making it to base camp. this entailed what seemed like an endless walk up a paved road through town. i was ready to give up at that point. after about 30 minutes of walking up the steep hill, we hit camp, and the road turned to narrow dirt trail. luckily, the moon was nearly full, so we didn’t have to use our flashlights much to see.
(the moon was still up over merbabu when the sun rose)
our group of 7 was quickly divided up into those who were going fast and those who were going slow. in front, there were 3 of us with two guides, and farther down the mountain, the remaining 4 hikers with the other guide. we would stop often and wait for them to catch up. it was great at first, because i could use up all my energy going quickly for a short amount of time, then take a short break while waiting for the others. sadly, my body didn’t agree.
we hadn’t even made it a quarter of the way before my heart started beating erratically and i was getting dizzy. one of the guides caught on pretty quickly that i was not ok. he asked me what was wrong with me, and i told him, “jantung saya sakit.” i have heart problems. he nodded and made a silent decision that i was under his protection. there is no way i would have made it up the mountain without him.
he made a point of staying directly in front of me, no matter where i was. and whenever we would hit a particularly steep part, he would grab my hand and help me up. there were quite honestly a few parts where he straight up pulled me up that mountain. and for about the last hour of the hike, when i basically just wanted to die, i don’t think he let go of my hand a single time. when i needed a break, he would stop and make me sit down. when i wanted to give up, he would tell me i could do it and he would pull me on a little further. and i never had to say a word to him.
so we went along like that. one girl had gotten sick and stopped about halfway up with another hiker and one guide. pita was with me and my guide. and the other three were somewhere ahead of us with our third guide. occasionally we would come across a group of campers with a fire and we would warm ourselves up and eat a piece of fruit or bread. we could never stop for too long though, because the tigers might get us. just kidding. we would get really really really cold though if we sat still for too long. even around a fire.
we hiked like that for four and a half hours. in the dark. in the cold. oh, and all our guides were smoking at least part of the way. fantastic.
the way merapi is shaped, at the top of the mountain, there is a plateau that faces east. but then beyond that is the true peak of the volcano. it’s about an hour hike from the plateau to the top, and the hike can be quite dangerous, as it’s all just a terribly steep pile of volcanic gravel, more or less.
(the peak, from the plateau)
it was just starting to get light out when pita, our guide, and i made it to the plateau. it was also VERY windy and VERY cold. so we decided to stay there rather than hiking to the top. we slid (on the gravel) partway down the backside of the mountain so that we wouldn’t be in the wind so much, and we waited for the sun to rise. luckily, we only had to wait about 15 minutes. by then though, my body was so cold that i felt like i was on fire. my eyes were stinging, my ears were burning, and my fingers and toes were numb. and i had five shirts on! i tried to take some pictures, but we only saw about 15 minutes of the sunrise before we were ready to head back down.
people always say the climb down is the worst part. i beg to differ. granted, there’s no fun in climbing down… but it’s infinitely better than hauling your body step after step up a rocky incline beyond the point at which your entire being screams that it can take no more. the walk down took about three hours, but at least we had light to see. and i have to say, it’s a good thing we climbed in the dark, because if i had seen some of the rocky walls and steep pathways that were in front of me going up, i would have quit long before i reached the top.
(try walking up this for 5 hours in the dark!)
the parts of the trail that aren’t rock or stone are dirt. loose dirt with rocks mixed in. that made coming down that steep of an incline terribly tricky. everybody slid and fell (and slid some more) at least once. one girl with not-so-good shoes slid out nearly 20 times! base camp was quite the sight for sore eyes by the time we reached it! but the worst was yet to come…
after resting at base camp for about 15 minutes, we tackled the road into town. i’d say this road is about a kilometer long, straight down a steep hill. true, it’s not loose dirt and gravel. but by that point, it felt even more difficult than that. i found that walking backwards worked really well and saved my poor quivering legs from even more undue trauma.
at about 9:00, we finally made it to the very bottom and collapsed into some chairs on pak superman’s porch. he was feeling better and made us some delicious banana pancakes for breakfast!
(indonesian banana pancakes – with chocolate syrup!)
the rest of our group, who had gone to the very peak, made it down the mountain about an hour later. our car was supposed to pick us up at 10:30, so it seemed like good timing.
and then 11:00 came. and we were still there. and then 11:30 came. and we were still there. tiffany called the car company and found out that the driver was going to be late (duh) and that he would be there sebentar (in a minute). then 12:00 came. and we were out of water. and we were out of food. and it was getting really hot out. and we were all too weak to walk anywhere. so we called again. and were told that our car would be there sebentar. mmhmm. sure. needless to say, we were all in a very pleasant mood.
i had to pee. and then i decided that the walk down the mountain was nothing compared to having to squat over a toilet AFTER the walk down the mountain. i have never in my life wished so badly to be a man.
our driver finally showed up at 12:30. we got home at 1:30. i slept until 7:30. i ate dinner and went back to bed at 10:00. i woke up this morning at 8:30. and i can’t lift my legs. there is not a part of my body that doesn’t hurt. it hurts even to touch anything.
and the worst part is that i don’t really even feel any sense of satisfaction or victory in climbing that mountain. maybe when i’m old, it’ll be a cool story to tell my grandkids. maybe by then i’ll be done wishing i had just stayed in bed that night.
merapi, you win.
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