gunung merapi
kaliraung is a hill station just north of yogya, and as i wound up the slopes on the back of scooter i experienced a sensation that i'd almost forgotten: being cold. not just not absurdly hot, not just not so sweaty you can't see, but actual, almost nipple hardening, chilliness. it's amazing how alien it felt after four months, and even more surprising how much i missed it (though i won't be thinking that in england in february).i went for a few hikes around the smaller hills before settling in early for my 3am start the next morning... a bit futile as it's the equivalent of islamic christmas at the moment. the air was thick with voices, fireworks, and prayers till past 2am. the reason for this obscene morning start time was my obsessive desire to get as high up a volcano as possible for a sunrise that could just as easily be obscured by cloud as picture postcard beautiful. we had a safety briefing at 3.30am: a misnomer, it was actually blatant scaremongering by our sadistic guide. apparently international volcanologists choose 6 volcanoes every few years as the most dangerous in the world: merapi's been on the list for the last 9 years. the last big eruption in 2004 killed 70 people. you're currently not allowed to climb up to the summit because the lava has cooled and formed a dome around the crater which is only letting smoke seep out. in august, a bunch of these volcanologist types (they sound cool, but they're basically science geeks) decided that the ominous rumbling near the top meant that lava was itching to get out: as it has no obvious outlet, it's staying in until the pressure grows to great, at which point any part of the top portion of the peak could explode, sending out a fair amount of red hot liquid magma in all directions.
as it was, the hike up was actually pretty serene, although frighteningly dark and slippery in places. the sight of merapi at sunrise was truly awesome: even though i wasn't able to see any red hot liquid magma (gutting), the dark brooding presence of the volcano, with smoke billowing out of the top, was a spectacular sight... one of the few things worth getting up that early for. a happy day all round, and i'm off to bromo to hike up another couple of volcanoes tomorrow. i want magma!
posted by bicrom @ 12:34 pm
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