DAY THREE

Going down that treacherous path was one of the easiests things of the entire Semeru experience: the same way it makes you go down half of step in each step you take going up, it makes you slide down two steps for every one you take. It was like surfing the rocky trail.

Fell down a couple of times, but when you fall it is in slow motion almost. The view from there during the day is even more impressive. You can basically see the round shape of the earth on the horizon. Patri was very fast - he actually started at 00h, one hour later than me, and he got to he summit at basically the same time as me.

So he would go very fast downhill. The track I struggled with going up for 4 hours I finished now going down in 40 minutes. When we got to the hard ground again, my left knee started hurting a lot, so we had to slow down a little.

Anyway, we got to Kalimati, the camping site, in total of 1h, basically. I wanted to eat, drink and sleep - that's all I wanted. Went to the tent, thinking that I would be the only one there, but I was wrong - my guide, host and one of the guys of the group of 4 were there, Ikbal.

The guide obviously didn't climb up, but Ikbal got some problems and my host accompanied him back to the tent. So they didn't make it up to the summit. After telling very roughly my experience, I remembered my cookies - bless them. I ate the whole pack. They all left to go to a water resources and I slept. I was awaken two hours later by a strong smell and when I opened my eyes I saw they were cooking inside te tent. They were frying garlic in oil, so you couldn't almost breath inside. I had to leave the tent, but it was so cold.

Photo by: Leisuretime

Iqbal (chef helper) & Dimas (Chef) still cook

I found the others from the group, they had already come back. I found out that 2 of the doctors also came back to the tent half-way. Suddenly I see Edi, I say hi, but there is not a lot more that I can say to him - language barrier. He asked for pictures, which I gladly took with him, with my camera also. I stayed for a while outside the tent, waiting for them to finish cooking, and then we ate. Afterwards, we would go back to Ranu Kumbolo to camp another night.

    Me & EDI

    Photo By: Rita Andrade

I suggested doing the whole track back today - we had enough time.  We said goodbye to all the porters, with a special hug from dearest Edi, and started walking. This time I was going slow - my knee was giving me a lot of trouble by that time. But I did not stop, I continued walking until I reached Ranu Kumbolo, because I knew that if I stop I would have a harder time continuing.

Group of Porter and sayonara

Photo By: Rita Andrade

While waiting for the rest, I spoke with some other hikers that were going to the summit the next day. They were students from Jakarta. After a while, my group arrived and I was informed that, because it took a lot of time to put up and down, we would not be putting up our big tent: instead we would sleep in the old, degrated house where the porters and some hikers slept. He suggested I joined the group of 4 guys that were with us in their tent, and one of them would go and sleep in the old house. That was exactly what I did, no questions asked.

I went and joined the porters in one of the completely destroied room of one of the two houses, they had a fire inside. I was getting warm and complained about my knee. The porters were all very nice, always laughing a lot and trying to teach me some words. They offered me bread and some caramel cake from a wedding in Ranu Pani. 

Group of Porter & Ranger on Ranu Kumbolo

Photo by: Rita Andrade

Later, when I was feeling warmer, I went to the tent, where the 3 guys were cooking. They offered me some tea, which I accepted, and some food. They were speaking in indonesian, but I interrupted them and started talking in english. Turns out they spoke really good english, they were just afraid of talking to me. I asked somethings about Bali and pretty soon we were preparing ourselves to sleep. The night was ok, cold and unconfortable, but ok.  

DAY FOUR

I woke up at 6h and went to the cabin, where my host and guide were also awake. I took care of myself, got everything ready and went for breakfast with them. They gave me what they call cereal - it comes it a package and you mix it with water, quite good. Pretty soon we were on the road, but this time we went through a different trail!

Before say good bye with Ranu kumbolo

Photo by: Rita Andrade

Adios Semeru ♥

Photo by: Leisuretime

Instead of climbing up and down 4 mountains, we would only climb one. It shoud take less time, my guide said. Also, we had a porter helping up with our backpacks - he was carrying both of their backpacks, but I decided to carry my own.

The porter was a 17 year old boy. We started our hike back to Ranu Pani with the most gorgeous view of a savana in the middle of the mountains. The sun was shining right above us, so it was really hot, specially being in the middle of all those dry plants!

Dimas & Young Porter

Photo by: Leisuretime

We started going up, but this time my stamina was low - I went slow and steady, did not want to be exhausted again! We went up, but our porter continued on the road in the savana. Stoping in every shade, we went in a very slow rythm. Further ahead we caught up with the porter and rested a bit more. The way up was hard, specially because I had already given so much in the last days, my body was really tired.

But suddenly, while climbing, my guide tells me to look back. And when I do, I see the summit of Semeru, far away in the middle of two smaller mountains. I was proud. I had been there. That was a great moment for me - the realization of what I did.

Photo by: Rita Andrade

We continued up, and after 1h30 hours we had climbed the mountain and were ready to go down and reach the village of Ranu Pani. When we got up, there were 3 scooters there: HA! So this is the porters secret - they climb this by scooter, leave it there and then go down. Sounds much easier now to be a porter! Our porter got on the scooter, with all our backpacks, and went down.

Photo by: Rita Andrade

We were walking - bad news for my left knee. It would be a 7km descent and I knew I could not stop, otherwise my knee would hurt even more. So I did it, never stoping, and we were back in Ranu Pani in 1h.

When we got there, we passed through the most gorgeous landscapes of cropped fields, beautiful houses and just plain breath-taking nature. We arrived at the guides house, where a family that he employes lives, and finally I washed myself! Clean face, hands and feet are underestimated.

After that, we had a great meal prepared by the lady of the house - delicious fish! We were waiting for the jeep when I was told that, well, since the farmers were also going to the same place as we did, we could go with them! Let's do this then! 

What I didn't know was that we were going in a pick-up full of freshly cropped leek!! They asked if I wanted to go in the front seat, but hell no - I wanted to ride in the back, sitted on top of the vegetables!! So that's what happen - me and my host rode on the back of the pick-up truck, sitting confortably in leek. And the ride was absolutely relaxing

Photo by: Leisuretime

This journey wrote and courtesy by Rita Andrade. Obrigado♥

⇐THE SUMMIT