We actually tried climbing a volcano near the town of Bukittinggi, the most active volcano inSumatra, where we hoped to catch sunrise from the top. We initially had our fearless foursome intact, but Monique had never hiked before and felt uncomfortable hiking in the dark and Ric felt obligated to stay with Monique. So, Niki and I weighed our pros and cons and decided to go for it. At 11:30pm, we hired a taxi to take us to the trailhead. Given that my command of the Indonesian language at this point was “Merapi (name of the volcano), Bukittinggi (name of the town where we came from), Teramakasi (thank you) and bagus (good), I had written down the name of the trailhead and figured we were good to go. On the way, our driver pulled over to the side of the road, as a shack was on fire. We ended up driving on to the volcano, but he had no clue where the trailhead was and our directions weren’t super clear. So, he stopped and asked some locals – at which point 3 men came out and one of them (who didn’t speak English) got in the cab. At that point, we decided it was safest to return to Bukittinggi. After some arguing and fierce talking on our end, our driver turned around. When we reached the fire again, it had grown incredibly, so after sitting for 15 minutes, we took a parallel road. We were watching the fire and a HUGE explosion went off – literally like something you see in the movies. It was just a really surreal night – sounds kind of mundane in print, but was just one of those bonding moments at the end of it all.

After leaving Bukittinggi, we took a 16 hour bus ride to Lake Toba, which at 505m deep, is thought to be the world’s deepest lake. Niki, Ric, Monique and all made the harrowing journey intact. Unfortunately, we bought tickets for the local economy bus, but were given a tourist bus instead. These 3 people that I’m traveling with are absolutely awesome in that we all want the most authentic experience as possible and would rather spend time with the locals than take a more impersonal bus. We were warned about our bus journey – apparently lots of people vomit as the roads twist and turn and the potholes are just unbelievable, but we were all fine.

Arriving in Lake Toba, we’ve mostly been relaxing on the Singapore-sized island in the middle of the lake. It’s been incredibly relaxing and I’ve mostly enjoyed the deep conversations we’ve been having, the card games we’ve been playing and the rapport that the 4 of us have established. Niki and I have hit it off so well that we’ve decided to travel together for the next month. I’m really excited, because we’re on the same page. When choosing which volcano to climb, we both want to climb the more challenging one, the one where solo hikers have perished, rather than the tried and true easier one. So, I feel very lucky to have found such a like-minded travel companion.

Here in Lake Toba we went paddling on the lake (5 of us in a kind of awkwardly large rowboat), and today we rented bikes and biked for about 25 miles or so along the coast of the island. It’s stunningly beautiful – rice paddies alongside the road that just immediately turn into a really steep hill. The island has both palm trees and evergreen trees, which is kind of cool. In general, riding along, nearly every single kid shouts “hello” with a big smile on their face. It’s such a warm and welcoming country and the people are just so friendly. The people in this region are the Batak people and have houses with sharp pointed roofs (I think you can kind of see it in the picture). To sum up, Lake Toba is beautiful and just really relaxing, which has been perfect.

*Sorry for 2 of the same picture… I should know how to fix that, but I don’t.