Hello everyone!
Bali has truly been a paradise! What beautiful weather, people, culture, food, and scenery! We have been busy exploring t his beautiful island - we have cycled 25 km down a volcano and saw the rural side of Bali and it was SOOO interesting and beautiful. Then we CLIMBED tje volcano of Mt. Batur at 2:30 am so we could see the sunrise. I was quite leary of the climb as you all know I have an ISSUE with one of my feet, BUT, we thought it should be ok as it was supposed to be only about 2.5 hours... Well, they did not mention it might be COLD, but we remembered Shauna nd MIssie saying they froze, so at 10:00 after the Fire Dance show we thought nwe would check it our smaller volcano was also cold. Turns out is was and so there we were shooping at 10:00 pm for warm clothing we would use once... Did not find much, so the guy at our hotel who forgot to tell us, lent us his two jackets (mine wwas his motorbike jacket!). Suffice it to say that the climb was somewhat beyond my fitness level as I started breathing hard by the first HALF hour!!! I thought I was going to be in trouble for sure, but the terrain got a little better and we could enjoy the startlingly clear stars. Then as I was starting to get cocky about my abilities we started climbing and I had to clutch Terry's hand for the next hour.... The steps were HUGE as we had to climb volcanic rocks that were easily two feet high for EACH step... of course, I needed to stay ahead of the group after us, so I pushed dear competitive body... by hour two I was panting and asking how much further... just a bit... the guide said. Well, by now poor Terry was absolutely TOWING me up, we were both solidly drenched with sweat, coats were off, but we could see the top the mountain looming above us. 'Only a bit longer now,' said the guide. He tried to make me feel better by telling us that a lady climbs the volcano EVERYDAY with her supplies to sell coffee to the climbers!!! This was beyond my comprehension... The climb was quite vertical at this point. The guide grabbed my hand at this point and literally hauled me up the last 20 minutes. We were determined to make it to the top by sunrise. As it turned out we were only passed by one group! and made it in two hours with plenty of time to spare!! Just about dead, but I made it! Terry did very well considering how much he 'he gave me a hand'! It was quite cold at the top with the wind, but our guide made us coffee and served us breakfast with boiled eggs and banana jam sandwiches! We were thrilled to see the sun rise above the clouds, our pictures show how happy we are to have made it!! Then Terry and the guide decide that we should try the two hour crater walk before descending the 1712 meter volcano... The guide said it was a gentler climb down that way )probably thought he would have to carry me otherwise!!) so I said Sure why not? We saw the rest of a glorious sunrise, saw some monkeys if you can believe it, then the guys went to the bathroom behind the montaintop hut (and of course Martha and I could not- we climbed with two young Welsh people who were used to hiking!!...) and we began the long hike down. In all fairness I have to say this was much better and other than watching with eagle eyes for SOLID rocks compared to the SLIPPERY lava rocks and skiing down the volcanic ash, it was not too bad... We reached the bottom of the mountain by 8:30, tired, muscles screaming, NEEDING a bathroom, BUT TRIMUPHANT!
We had a delicious breakfast, then went straing to bed. That night we decided to get a special massage for aching muscles. It featured 'special' spices and herbs to heal hurt muscles. For 12.00 each we had 1.5 hour LOVELY massage in the most beautiful spa. We actually could walk the next day, so perhaps it worked! We only looked slightly crippled when we walked!
Anyway, we are going to snorkle of the east coast and see if we can scuba dive in a shipwreck.. I am not sure I can due to my stupid ear canals. We will see how it goes! Talk to you later! Love to all, Jan and Terry.
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