Speachless, But Not at a Loss for Words

Indonesia-Java

March 8, 1996

Speechless, But Not at a Loss for Words

I'm speechless. I have developed laryngitis. The air-conditioning that felt so good at Hotel Baru three days ago probably wasn't. It's one thing not being able to communicate because I don't know the language, it's another not being able to talk. John is getting very good at interpreting charades.

I started feeling lousy while in the Baluran National Park and, after not sleeping for two nights because of the heat, we decided that we should get to a cooler climate. And preferably to a place where my vocal cords wouldn't be needed to constantly ward off the locals. But where was such a place in Java?

Up, that's where. 7600 feet up in the mountains of Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park. The daytime temperature here doesn't get above 22 degrees Celsius; the nights are a cool 10 degrees Celsius. I actually have to wear a fleece sweatshirt when the sun goes down. All the locals are bundled up in sarongs pulled tightly over their heads, shivering as if it were the dead of winter. We arrived in shorts and T-shirts and they couldn't believe we weren't freezing.

The ride to the Bromo crater rim from Probolinggo took one hour. At times I didn't think the van that we had chartered was going to make it up the steep road. But if the mini-van carrying the load in front of us could make it, we could too. That van was carrying so many people that they were literally spilling out the side. I counted at least four people hanging onto the door, one on top of the other, each with one leg extending into the road. It could have been a world record, but I'm sure somewhere in Java there is a van with even more.

The mountains all around here are beautiful. Their steep walls are terraced for vegetables. Rows and rows of cabbage and leeks rise higher and higher until they disappear into the hills. Men everywhere shoulder wicket baskets filled with every imaginable green.

Hopefully I'll feel better soon so we can hike into the great Bromo caldera that looms below our hotel. The sunrise coming over the crater mountains here is reputed to be the best in Java. In the meantime, I'll revel in this weather. "John, how about a nice hot cup of tea?"