Uup avout 5:30, brushed my teety and they came about 5:50. Jumped into the bemo with my small day pack (left my big pack with most of my stuff at the hotel) and we were on our way to Senaru. Stopped to get a spare tire, stopped at a local market in a small town for pictures and for a few items (water, fruit for the trek) and had spice rice wrapped in a banana leaf for breakfast (traditional Indonesian breakfast).
The other guy on the trek, Vincent, is from Holland. He was working in Bali, on a dredging ship, and finished the contract, so was travelling for a week before going home.
Got to Senaru about 8:15, guides hired a porter, and we started on our trek. The porter didn't speak that much english, just basic stuff, and carried the lions share of the stuff, all the food, 12 large (1.5 litre) bottles of water (that'd be HEAVY!), two tents, all the cooking gear, etc. He tied it all to a bamboo stick, balanced at either end, and slung across his shoulder.
We hiked for about 3.5 hours, got to base camp 2 for lunch. The guide and porter started a fire and made a great lunch of noodles, with tea to drink.
Talked to a girl from Belgium who was just coming down. She remarked the view was incredible.
Left camp about 1:30, for a 2+ hour hike to base camp 3, where we stopped for supper and spent the night.
Our guides are SLOW!! Our porter, carrying most of the stuff, just flies! He's easily the fastest one of the group. Vincent and I started going "normal" speed for us, but slowed our pace for our guides, but still we're way faster than them. We had to wait about an hour for them to arrive at base camp 3. A few monkeys on the way up, hanging around the base camp areas.
Camp 3 is at about 2100 metres altitude and quite cool. We got to base camp 3 about 3:45.
The guides (when they finally arrived) made a campfire, made supper, which was milk coffee, omelette, rice and noodles and vegetables, very delicious.
There was no wind here, so we decided not to set up the tents and just sleep under the shelters, the two guides and the porter slept on a raised wooden shelter (with a roof), Vincent and I slept on a ground level, concrete shelter (with a roof). We did have matresses to sleep on as well.
The guides and the porter went to bed after supper, about 6:30. Vincent and I stayed up until about 7:45. The stars were soooo, soooo bright! Incredible.
About midnight, I heard Vincent: "Todd.....Todd....you there." I answered, mumbling something. "There's a snake crawling up and down my, on my sleeping bag." I didn't say too much, what could I say, and what could I do about it. "Oh my god, it's big, at least 1 metre long. I can't move. Can you move slowly away and grab the flashlight and shine it over here?" All I did was curl up in my sleeping bag more, and close off the entrance so the snake wouldn't slip into my sleeping bag.
After a couple of minutes: "Todd......you still there?" "Ya, I'm here. Is the snake still there?" "Ya, I can here it crawling near my head. I think it's trying to get into my bag." I looked over, and he wasn't moving, scared stiff, I could see his silhouette in the dim moonlight. I said to him, "Are you scared?" "Ya, I'm terrified. I think it's in my bag. It's big, at least a metre long. Can you roll slowly away and grab the flashlight and shine it over here?" So I did. I didn't see nothing. "It's in my bag. I can hear it. Ok, I'm going to slowly roll away." I was confused, because I thought the snake was in his sleeping bag, but he rolled away, then I realized he meant the snake was in his backpack, which was sitting open right beside his head. He kicked over the bag, hoping to scare the snake out, but nothing came out. There was no snake in it. He figured it must have gone away.
AFter the whole ordeal, there was no way he was going to sleep in the concrete pad, at ground level. He moved over the raised platform the guides were at, and slept there for the night. I continued to sleep where I was, not too afraid of a big snake, although I did sleep with sleeping bag closed off, just in case.
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