A Fiery View...... Mt. Merapi, Indonesia

Walking up the steep cobbled paths throuth the pine forest you come upon a waterfall. Take a rest while you listen to the call of the woodpigeons- it's a long climb. You blink at how European the scenery looks, and the colonial-style cottages offering bed and breakfast. However, all doubts as to where you disappear as you reach the lookout at the summit of the hill. In the distance ahead is the Mt Merapi, exploding smoke and lava and thundering menacingly.

You are at Kaliurang, a quiet village 900m up the slopes of Mt. Merapi. The name Merapi means "giving fire" and the famous volcano rises a further 2011m. Its structure is different from the usual one for a volcano as it is topped by an enormous dome of lava rock instead of a crater. This means that when there's an erruption, the pressure from below usually forces the new hot lava out at the side, just below the dome. Due to this an enormous channel has been hollowed out on the south face and from time to time gigantic red hot boulders tumble down it, which can be clearly glowing at night.

There have been three major erruptions in1994, in 1997 and 1998. All were catastrophic for the local people as whole villages, including Kaliurang, had to be evacuvated to refugee camps. Some of the people were later resettled on the safer side of the mountain. It' s not only the lava that damages. After an erruption volcanic boulders are carried down the valleys at high speeds by streams and rivers. They cause heavy soil errosion and wreck dams, irrigation canals and bridges. Mt. Merapi still sends out frequent minor bursts of lava. The lava flows at about 350 km per hour so it is impossible to run away from. Its temperature is about 700 degrees Celcius, which is why it's now forbidden to climb the mountain and many of the slopes where lava could flow. In spite of this, the village life still goes on as it has for centuaries at Kaliurang. Women still wash their clothes in the steams and men till the fields.

The days are sunny but you may need to wear a pullover or jacket at night. The coolnes and the clean air are a relief from the humidity of Yogyakarta, which explains why so many people make the 30 min car journey up to Kaliurang for the weekend. Another reason that this place attract so many people is that it offers good views of the volcano, it's affordable and an easy walk to the free lookout at Jalan Astarrongo- a good spot to see red lava flow by moonlight. Alternately, for Rp. 450 you can climb up a choice of tracks at the quaintly named tourist jungle (Hutan Wisata), although you are sure to be persued by determined soft drink sellers and there are mischievous monkeys waiting at the main lookout. The view depends on the cloud cover. Even if the volcano is covered there are still plenty of walks to do.

There are many homestays at the place offering accomodation from basic to medium price. The homestay offers two guided walks, both about five hours long. They include a traditional Javanese meal served on banana leaf plates in a bamboo hut. These walks covers much of the territory offering magnificent views, forests, glimpes of village life and walking level is easy to medium. You only need to carry your own water and wear a hat. If inexperienced walkers want to take the trek, a second guide is usually included to make sure they keep up. One of the humbling things about such a trek is that after sweating your way to the top of a hill you often see an aged villager with an enormous load of firewood or cattle fodder steadily trotting up the other side. Not only that, she'll probably greet you politely as she goes past.
If you are tire of walking there's a small, triangular shaped swimming pool fed by a clean but freezing mountain spring. It's just above the market, by th Hutan Wisata and is only open at weekends. Take earplugs to protect yourself from the loudspeakers unless you are a fan of very loud Indonesian pop music. Kaliurang has a good fruit market and people come up from Yogyakarta specially to buy cheap bunches of bananas- the smaller the sweeter. Some of the varieties of the bananas spoil quickly, which is why they are not exported and we foreigners miss out the best ones.
The scenery at Kaliurang is outstanding, the people are courteous, the accomodation is clean and the food is good. It doesn't get any better than this in Indonesia. So do yourself a favour and spend and extre day or two in Kaliurang. It's a great place to relax and unwind....

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