Beware the poison of gases!

Note: Slight Poison of gases (actually, just sulfur) rising from the non-visible caldera at the top of the volcano)

Internet is actually working at home (it hasn't been for the last few days, on and off) so I will try to blitz out the weekend:

5 AM departure Sunday. Oof. Got a text from out tour guide at 4:20 AM that he was already here! Double oof. Left for the three hour drive, making a few bathroom stops, before we arrived in Carita and had a coffee (instant with hot water, yum) and getting on the boat. Hit some traffic, as they are re-doing the highway with some intense heavy duty cement that will virtually never need to be repaired, though it is taking ofrever to put down.

The closer we got to Carita, the progressively worse the bathrooms. First, squat toilets with no toilet paper. I packed some, so fine. Then, squat in a closet in a quickie mart. Okay, a little bizarre, but I an deal. Finally, at the "coffee shop," aka warung on the side of the road/lean-to shack, the owner led Julia and I through the shack to the back.

"Where is the toilet?"
"Here."
"Di mana?" ("Where?")
"Di sini." ("Here." Points again at stone floor.)


Do you see a hole? Neither did we.

She motions that we should use the floor, and just use some water to, er, dilute whatever we produce. Julia went first, and I followed, squatting on the floor while a rooster in the yard and a fish in a bucket (probably that night's dinner) looked on. It was...an experience.



We boarded a small "fast boat" with two crew members and a captain, and sped off to Krakatau. The current active volcano is actually Anak Krakatau, or "Child of Krakatau," as the original one blew itself up in 1883 with the loudest bang ever recorded on earth (they heard it in Australia!)



View of a remnant of the original Krakatau from Child of Krakatau, which rose from the ocean in 1927 and has been growing ever since.

The island was an eerie gray color (it looked like the moon), with vegetation clustered at the bottom, thinning out and disappearing as you reached the area where ash settles from the top. It was a short hike up to the first level (as far as you can go safely), but took a little while due to the thick ash--your feet just sunk in like quicksand.

We spent a while hanging out at the top, taking some pictures, looking at the sulfur stains, and enjoying the gorgeous views of the Sunda Strait.

Next, we boarded the boat and went to one of the neighboring islets to enjoy a picnic lunch. We were told to beware meter-long lizards that emerge from the trees and try to steal your food, but fortunately (or unfortunately for our curiosity) we didn't see them.

After a quick swim and exploration around the black sand beach, we were off to snorkel just off the coast of the same island. The coral was a bit damaged, but we did see a few interesting specimens, such as some fluorescent purple-tipped corals and ones that looked like giant mushrooms. Hugh and I even spotted a blowfish, though he wouldn't expand his spikes for us! We also saw some blue and yellow pinstriped fish, a long fish that looked like a tube, and every color imaginable (Alexis, help me out with some names here!)

The day was beautiful, and though the ride back to Java took a while and was rather bumpy because the wind had kicked up some waves, we still had huge smiles on our faces.

And then, we were punished. Jakarta traffic is as bad as they say. It took us 6 hours to go the 142 km back home. We slept a little, but the stop and go was not conducive to naptime. With time though, we will laugh at that part, and only remember the beauty of the Sunda Strait. If you want to go, I highly recommend Thommy, our tour guide, at Krakatau holiday. He was very knowledgeable, they were so nice even though their day was so much longer than ours, and he has some really neat tour options. Get out of Jakarta and DO IT!

Monday, I was so tired I slept straight through the call to prayer (though Erin and I have determined it is actually quieter--maybe a speaker broke? No complaints!). After work, we attempted to find Trattoria, and Italian restaurant, but ended up back at Plaza Senayan for dinner and had a nice, though pricey (by Indonesian standards) dinner at Portico.

Tuesday, Erin and I went to the bookstore after work, she to pick up a language book, and me, to find the first book in the Buru Quarter, a series about a man living on Java in the later nineteenth century. The bookstore was small, but had an adorable coffeeshop inside and not a bad selection. Periplus is the name. We were going to get takeout from the Mexican restaurant in the same shopping center, but after the waiter offered us half-price happy hour margaritas (about 4 USD each), we decided to stay and gorged on fajitas, chips and salsa, and enchiladas. Not the best I've ever had, but not bad for Jakarta.

Internet was out when we got back, so I had to postpone this post until today, though I did finish reading my first Indonesian-authored book, They Say I'm a Monkey by Djenar Maesa Ayu. Extremely transparent with her metaphors of sex, adultery, and the hypocrisy of Jakartan society, her short stories are absolutely beautifully written, even after a round of translation. A quick read, and highly recommended.

My roommate Atik,who so kindly agreed to post a couple of letters for me, returned home to tell me that her office post service told her it would cost FORTY TWO DOLLARS for each letter to go to the states. Um, no. I will buy the recipients presents instead. She is going to try the Indonesian Post Office today to see if they are any better--I sure hope so! She is so sweet, as I would never have been able to figure it out on my own.

I finished the last season of Glee this AM while working out, and after work, Erin and I made a Total trip to get some groceries. She, feeling ambitious, bought some tempe to fry, and when we got home, heated up the oil, and was in the process of chopping some garlic to go along with it when the oil burst into flames--turns out, one burner gets REALLY hot, too hot for a thin wok. The kitchen filled with smoke, and Erin survived, but burned her hand. Hopefully she will be okay, and won't have a battle scar. Luckily I came prepared with everything, including her favorites, cortisone for the bug bites and neosporin for the burn. Poor Erin. The beginning and the end of her cooking foray. I made some pasta, and am looking forward to trying the ice cream I got later tonight...(Haagen Dazs is over $10 for a PINT so I am going to try "Wall's").

Caught up! Though still lacking a Cambodia post, I know. Maybe tomorrow...