“Mister, it has erupted!!” – in the land of volcanoes, Sumatra, Indonezija

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Samo mesto Berastagi ni v bistvu nič posebnega –  sploh če odmislim tisti impozantni spomenik v obliki zeljnate glave, ki so ga postavili v spomin na zlate (beri zelene) čase, ko so lokalci prav mastno služili z njegovo prodajo v tujino. No, leta zeljnatih glav so na žalost mimo in Berastagi je danes znan predvsem po tropskem sadju, ki ga je tu res v izobilju in preveč aktivnem vulkanu Sinabung, ki leži le nekaj kilometrov stran.
Že ob prijavi v res lepo prenočišče “Nachelle homestay” nam je bilo jasno, da bodo preživeti dnevi v Berastagiju nekaj posbenega. “It errupted 7 times today early in the morning” je vzneseno razlagal lastnik hotela, ljubitelj vulkanov in vsega povezanega z njimi. “You can watch from the room or roof terrace” se je mogoče slišalo fajn, a družini, ki živi pod bolj miroljubnimi gorami po eni strani tudi precej noro. 🙂 A ko smo prejeli vse informacije, smo šli. Malo bližje, da smo na lastne oči videli in spoznali to mogočno, 2460 metrov visoko zver. Priznati moram, da ni bila vožnja prav nič prijetna. Kljub vsem informacijam in pomirjajočim besedam vulkanologa, mi je tisti “kaj pa če” še vedno neprestano odmeval v glavi. A z razgledne točke na varni razdalji mi je bil vulkan v njegovi spalni izvedbi prav simpatičen, mogoče že kar privlačen. Res so nekaj posebnega ti vulkani. In ko smo v trdi temi še vedno stali tam in buljili vanj in potem zaslišali malo glasnejši pok in oblak dima, ki se je počasi dvigal proti zvezdam – no ja, takrat sem bil vesel, da so okoli našega doma le apatične Julijske Alpe. 🙂
No, naslednji dan je bil na vrsti še vzopon na speči vulkan Sibayak, ki pa je le bleda senca njegovega soseda. A vseeno vreden ogleda.
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The Berastagi town is nothing special – especially if you ignore that impressive cabbage monument, that was build in memory of the golden (green) years, when many locals got rich selling it abroad. 🙂 Well, those years are over and these days Berastagi is known primarily for the tropical fruit and too active volcano Sinabung located only few kilometers away.
We already knew at the check-in at a very nice “Nachelle homestay”, that days spent in Berastagi will be something special. “It erupted seven times today early in the morning” told us the owner of the hotel. “You can watch from the room or roof terrace” was the next thing he explained to us. It sounded amazing but also crazy – especially if you are living in an area with not so active mountains. 🙂 But when we received all the information, we went. A little closer, to check this magnificent, 2,460-meter-high beast. I have to admit that it was not a pleasant ride. Despite all the information and calming words, there were words “what if” constantly echoing in my head. From the lookout point at a safe distance from the volcano, Sinabung was really majestic. Sleeping there in all its glory. And when we were still there after the sunset and heard a loud bang and saw a cloud of smoke slowly moving towards the stars – well, then I was very happy that I live under boring, sleepy Julian Alps. 🙂 🙂
Next day we visited also the sleeping Sibayak volcano. The hike was amazing, but you can not really compare it with the mighty Sinabung.
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