Hey Everyone!
Next in Indo was a 3day/2night trek up to the summit of Mt. Rinjani, 3726m high(12,224 feet).
Mount or Gunung Rinjani is the 3rd largest Volcano in Indonesia,and last erupted in 2009. The mountain rises up over the volcano itself, creating a ring around it. The center of the ring also holds Segara Anak, a crater lake, hot springs, and one big waterfall. The volcano is considered a sacred place and many people from around Lombok, Sasak and Balinese alike, make the trip up to the lake to leave offerings in the water, or bathe off disease in the hot springs. The hike itself is beautiful, but challenging.
Before beginning the trek, we spent one night in a village called Senaru, a main entry point to the hike. We took a walk into the Senaru Falls, and spent the evening teaching a local boy, Ju, a few of our card games. Ju, 17 years old, works at the guesthouse we stayed at but also works as a porter. He explained that he would like to become a guide, but needs to "get better english" first. The night before the hike, he took us for a walk into a smaller village to buy some local rice wine to share with our porters and guide. The women spoke zero English and seemed quite nervous around us, making little to no eye-contact. The wine came in a 1.5 L water bottle, and despite the ant or two that made their way in, was quite tasty.
The morning of the hike we woke up for breakfast around 700am, met up with our fellow hikers, and set off for the trail. We hiked from about 8am until 1130am, mostly uphill, and then stopped for lunch. We had 4 porters(1 for every 2 hikers) who carried everything(except for our clothing, everyone had their own backpack for that) in 2 woven baskets on either side of a bamboo stick. Food, pots and cutlery, sleeping bags and tents. Each porter carries about 30kg on their shoulder, and the crazy part is, they do the entire hike in either flip-flops or bare feet! Their shoulders actually had a permanent indent where the bamboo stick sits.
Lunch was amazing. Hot noodle and veggie soup with a boiled egg, rice, tea and biscuits, cut up pineapple and bananas. 5 star! We relaxed after lunch for a bit, and then set off again. We hiked for another 3 1/2 hours(uphill of course) until we arrived at our first camp. Andy helped our porters set up tents while me and the other girls changed into warmer clothes..in other words, every possible layer we had with us! It was freezing! The wind is what really got us. But of course, being cold didnt stop us from enjoying the AMMAAZING view and sunset (pictures on Facebook). Our wonderful porters made us yet another delicious meal, Nasi Gori (fried rice with veggies) and fried chicken(the porters actually boiled the chicken at the first stop we made of the day, wrapped it up, and then fried it for dinner). We spent the evening huddling around the fire with tea and biscuits. We also busted out the rice wine, which our guide Saf and the porters were happy to drink. One in particular was quite a fan of the drink, and after finishing about half of the bottle, we pronounced him drunk, and the other porters called him Mr. Brum(rice wine) for the rest of the trip.
After a slightly cold and uncomfortable sleep-okay that's giving it more credit than deserved, it was a terrible sleep- we had a banana pancake and tea for breakfast and set off again. We hiked for a half-hour to the "Rim", which overlooks the crater, and then 3 hours down to the lake where we stopped for lunch(a mix of rice, tempeh-similar to tofu, made out of soybeans- and veggies. Fruit and tea as well). After wading in the water, eating, and resting our legs in the sun we began again, this time uphill for 3 hours. We stopped for the night at Base camp, an area of volcanic sand and rock, with monkeys swinging from tree to tree, waiting for you to drop a handful of rice. The wind was again, freezing, so we bundled up wih every layer we had and drank hot tea non-stop to keep warm. I'm sure many people were cursing the salesman for not informing them of both the cold weather, and the difficulty of the hike. Countless people start the hike with no clue of what they are getting themselves into.
We had an early bedtime of 7:00pm as we were due to wakeup at 2:00am the next day! Another cold few hours of off and on sleep and Saf was calling us for breakfast "Mr. Andy, Chelsie Olivia, time to get up please"(Andy's other nickname was "boss"). We had some more tea and biscuits and started off for the summit. 3 hours we hiked in the bone-chilling wind. The entire trail up is made up of volcanic sand, so you sunk back with every step you took. It was mentally, the most challenging hike Andrew and I have ever done. It was hard physically as well, but trying to stay positive at 3am, on the dark and windy side of a mountain proved very difficult. Thankfully we all made it to the top, just in time for the sunrise. It was so cold at the top, all I could do was bundle up in a little ball, hands too numb to take pictures, using Andrew as a shield/blanket(we did get pictures, but most credit goes to Andrew!). After the sun rose, we made our way down, bouncing in the sand like we were on mars. It took us about an hour and a half to get back to camp. It was strange seeing the trail down in the daylight. We still can't believe what we had to hike up in the complete darkness. What a sense of accomplishment we had though!
We had a long day ahead of us, as we were making the entire trip down back to the village. 6 more hours of hiking and we were back. We walked down the mountain, through grasslands, forests, rice fields, until finally reaching the village, where a van was waiting to pick us up. Exhausted doesn't begin to explain how we felt. We were stinky,sweaty, and full of dirt. I fell asleep almost instantly after getting into the van.
Hiking Mt. Rinjani was a challenging and rewarding experience. We watched the clouds swallow the hillside, the sun rise and fall over the mountain, monkeys fight over leftovers, and the flashlights of several hikers bobbing in the dark, minds fighting bodies, pushing their way up to the summit at 3am. Everyone there for one reason or another, but all looking to reach the same point.
Worth it? Hell. Yes.
A&C
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