Barastagi

Eric and I caught the Ferry out of Tuk Tuk on the third day and caught a private car full of locals a few hours to the north to a town called Barastagi, along the side of an active volcano. This was to be our last day traveling together. We arrived comfortably early to town and quickly arranged a tour guide to take us up the volcano. However, being a little last minute, all the regular tour guides were booked. The resourceful man at the tourist information center conscripted his local buddy, a former guide and current schoolteacher to take us up. He was a stout, pot bellied man who at first spoke very little english, but became chattier and chattier as he warmed up to us.

We started up the volcano at a brisk pace, excited to be in the jungle once again. (We are not easily swayed, Eric and I!) My soreness from the 25mile trip two days before seemed to have disappeared. This jungle had a quality that I might imagine from a story book, with twisty vines dangling from the trees and slippery slick trails winding through masses of undergrowth. The tour guide blazed ahead for about ten minutes, and then collapsed on the side of a trail, puffing and wheezing. "Slowly, slowly." he said. Poor guy. In his enthusiasm, he started too quickly and wore himself out. We agreed with him and waited politely for him to catch his breath, distracting ourselves with the sights of the jungle. The guide eventually stood up and walked a few minutes further, pausing to rest again. The slope was steep, he was wearing tiva sandals that kept sliding on the mud. At some points the poor guy was stopping to huff and puff every ten steps or so. Eric and I moderated our pace appropriately and started to chat and play more, looking at bugs and flowers and birds. The path grew more and more narrow and uncomfortable. With many and many branches to climb over and under. We had been told that this was the easy trail, and could not imagine what the more difficult one must have looked like. this was tough going. There were long sections of walking where you had to remain in a crouched position while walking. We finally emerged at a rocky and very stinky summit. There was a loud hissing noise as pockets of hot steam heavily laden with sulfur shot in to the air in many different locations. The rotten egg smell was so overpowering, that as we approached one of the vents, I felt so dizzy and sick I though I might faint. This can't be good for you! We explored this alien landscape and I imagined the old episodes of Star trek, thinking they must have filmed here. The neon yellow sulfur oozed out of the vents and the tour guide collected a bottle full of the noxious stuff, saying it was good for rubbing on your skin at the hot springs. Particularly good for mosquito bites or sores. We took a few pictures and I was happy to leave strongest the bad smells behind, although the trip down had a faint lingering smell of Sulphur.

At the bottom of the mountain, we all went together to the hotsprings. There seemed to be an entire city of hot springs resorts, although they all looked pretty run down and dirty. We chose one and went in to enjoy the baths. There were multitudes of little pools of varying degrees, stinking of sulfur and bubbling with a milky colored liquid. The three of us went swimming, and although I was pretty sure I was going to give myself cancer or something, I too rubbed down with the neon yellow paste (not to be outdone by my two comrades) The sulphur made our skin turn pasty white in color. And indeed, Eric looked really really CLEAN after washing his face with the stuff.

Our tour guide then invited us to join him that night for a traditional wedding. We attended, ate good food, met locals, and sat in a pavilion on an enormous carpet full of guests. We were given traditional Caro people names that indicated who we were able to marry (just in case) My name was Tarragon, and Eric's was Genting. Our hosts were hospitable and generous with us, and it was a great time!

The next day we returned to Medan and flew out our seperate ways, I back to China, and Eric on to Thailand to meet another friend for a few days more before returning to Ithaca, NY