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Smoke rising from the crater of Bromo |
Our
Indonesian friends advertised Bromo with plenty of superlatives:
spectacular, stunning, a lifetime experience. In consequence, our
expectations were high when I set out with my friend Daria to explore
the volcanoes of East Java.
A
comfortable night bus (Rosalia Indah) brought us for 115'000 IDR (8
EUR) from Solo to Probolinggo. We arrived around 5am, a perfect time
to head to the bus terminal to continue the journey. Quickly we found
the minibuses to Cemoro Lawang, the village on the rim of the outer
crater. Unfortunately, we were the first ones to arrive that morning.
The price of 30'000 IDR (2 EUR) was not an issue. But the minibuses
leave only once at least 16 passengers are crammed in. As the trickle
of tourists wasn't that steady this morning, we finally left around
9am. During the first hour we crossed the usual cities, villages and
rice fields. It was the second hour that got more interesting. The
road climbed steeper and steeper, the lanes got more narrow with
every meter, but the traffic didn't slow down. We arrived safely and
happily in Cemoro Lawang at 11am.