A Day close to Hell!

I assume my general condition and older age had finally caught up with my intentions and desires, or maybe it could also have something to do with my lack of sleeping, only four hours last night and two hours the previous night or maybe because I had been terribly sick last night and had emptied myself from the content of my digestive system in any thinkable and possible way. But the fact was, that I had an extreemly hard time climbing the approximately 3km up to the top.

A young Sulphur miner stopped in front of me, looked, smiled and said “merokok” which means “to smoke” in Indonesia. A bit confused I realized, that he wanted one of my cigarettes! Imagine this, he walks up to the top of the 3000 meter Ijen volcano, with two baskets tied to the end of a long stick, so that he can carry the weight of the 70-80 kg load of Sulphur blocks evenly over his shoulders back from the top. Once on the top he would climb the steep and narrow path, 200 meter down to the shores of the Worlds most acidic lake, where he would dig out big blocks of pristine yellow Sulphur, which he loads into his baskets, in the toxic gassed of carbon oxide and Sulphur gasses, then he places the baskets on his shoulders and start climbing the steep path back up to the top of the volcano and all the 5 km back down where the baskets are unloaded. And now he’s asking me for a cigarette! Ok! I of course gave him one and it was lit up right away. He could a few words English and I a few words Bahasa, so we manage to have a small conversation, and he had the baskets on his shoulders all the time and no signs of sweat which I on the other hand had plenty of all over. I found out that he had 78 kg on his shoulders, it had been weighted at a weight station further up the trail. He would be paid 600 Rupia or 0.1 USD per kg, but after new Year he would earn a little more 700Rupia per kg, so he was happy. As he stated, he was still young and would normally make the trip 3 times a day, 7 days a week. The money was not sufficient to provide for his family, his wife, also had to work. When our small conversation came to an end he said “photo”, and yes of course I would be delighted to take a photo of this hard working young man. The photo was taken and he diss appeared down the steep trail in his flip-flops, and like a snail leaving a trail of sweat I slowly manipulated my heavy body in the other direction. After Half an hour or so I reached the “base camp” or should I say the weighting station, the place where all the Sulphur for some odd reason must be weighted before the workers head down the trail. They get paid downstairs where the Sulphur are weighted again before payments are made and the Sulphur loaded into a big container and transported to unknown destination. The views were impeccable with the lush green jungle covering the sloops and distant mountain tops which all belong to the calf aura system of which Ijen is a small part. The smell of Sulphur was evident but still bearable, as it was only the smell. After a longer break and chit chat with some of the others who had moved themselves up the sloops, I continued with a somewhat greater enthusiasm. More small rests more steep sloops, more miners running past me in both directions, more small talk and cigarettes and the I was there, on the very rim of the crater. The fumes and clouds of sulpoteous clouds came rolling up from below right across the narrow path I obviously had to take in order to reach the point where the trail led down to the bottom of the vulcano. From where I fist entered the rim, the lake was beautiful green in color, and the sides of the volcano was sired with large grooves carved out by the frequent rainfalls, and the smoke pulsing out of the holes below set against the sky made a very dramatic scenery. I tied my handkerchief over my nose and mouth to have some comfort that I would not be harmed by the toxic gasses, it is unknown if this has any bearing in reality, I actually have my doubts!