Hitchhiking in Indonesia: Mount Bromo
11th of February, 2025.
I ask to drop off my backpack in a place called Cafe Lava. The workers there are amazingly kind and help me so much!
I manage to find the sneaky free entrance, which at this point probably doesn’t really matter anymore, as I already dodged the entrance fee. On MapsMe you can find it easily, and it might not really look like anything at first, as the trail itself is just soil, but keep on going. It can get tricky sometimes, with mud and inclination, so I really recommend boots and not snickers or open shoes. In about 10 minutes you are down to the Sea of Sand.
The views are already great from here, so take your time for photos. Weather can be very unpredictable, towards temperature and precipitation. I do the walk and the climb with my long-sleeve shirt only but mostly everybody else has either a wind breaker or heavy jackets. I think the first one is ideal and enough.
The walk to the bottom of the stairs is about 40 minutes I would say. Less, perhaps. The steps are tough. People offer for you to ride a horse up. Please don’t do it! Poor animals! It’s really just fine, so take your time and go slowly. At certain moments, you might experience some smoke, with a strong smell, but it’s not constant, and it’ll pass, don’t worry!
When I get to the top, I am a bit disappointed as I can’t see shit because of the thick smoke. I’m so sad! Luckily, I’m saved by two young Chinese men, who also think I saved them. Why? They were just about to leave, worried about the noises that the volcano was making, as they thought something would happen. And I was about to leave too, but because I thought there was nothing to see. But they told me that the clouds of smoke would come and go, every five minutes, and then you could see the caldera.
Wow! It’s something so extraordinary! I am deeply touched by the power of it! It is so gorgeous, almost surreal! I never thought I would want to hug a volcano! Laugh. But that is my actual feeling. It’s so cute and pretty, at the same time that is so strong and powerful. Oh! It overwhelms my heart! Plus, we could also see come blue flames! I don’t care what people say about Idjen, I loved the blue flames of Bromo, even though they were smaller and less visible. They were still gorgeous for me!
They Chinese guys and I walk around and take some photos. Everywhere is so pretty. And I slightly feel like in The Lord of The Rings. They also tell me that we got lucky with the weather because it’s been raining for the past few days, only today it stopped. Yay!
We don’t want to leave! I think we spent about 45 minutes here, and it’s really hard to leave our beloved Mount Bromo. But we have too! There must to be some kind of magnetic attraction, or something. Laugh. We say our goodbyes and finally go back down.
As I sit down to eat some crackers, I then feel again as I’m in The Lord of the Rings. Why? Apart from the scenery, the crackers which I have remind me of the Lembas Bread, the bread of the Elves. Not because they will keep me for a day, but only because I have nothing else to eat.
There’s a bridge visible from the Sea of Sand, and I’m curious about it. It looks pretty from far, and it connects two hills with a view for the volcano valley, so I decide to go there and check. You can go there either by the road, meaning you will have to go back from where you came, and turn left on the road; or you can cross the Sea of Sand towards it, and go up a path just like you used to come down here. But! Be aware! It gets really muddy at certain point. Perhaps there’s a way to go around and avoid it, but I want to take the short cut, so I go with the mud. Not so much though, as I try to go around the mud a little bit, and have to go through the high grass for that, and it’s not fun. The mud doesn’t last forever, so after some 20 metres I can return to the path. Before reaching the hills, I cross paths with a very senior man, and he’s carrying two big baskets over his shoulders. He manage to ask me where am I from. How cute!
This path is slightly worse than the other. And there was some landslide in between. It’s kind of fun trying to go over it. I ended up in a plantation, and then just got back to the road.
The bridge is actually a huge tourist attraction, which is still not opened. Ha! I laughed out loud. And it is a glass bridge. Nothing to do with this beautiful and scenic spot, and a volcano!, but what to do?
Instead of walking back I hitchhike, and a lovely woman gives me a lift until the street of Cafe Lava. After I retrieve my stuff and am walking down the road, she passes by me again and smile.
10 Years Around the World 