A Day at the Beach (Ha!)

Last Tuesday and Wednesday classes were canceled due to the Muslim holy day of Idul Adha, celebrating Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son (Ishmael) at God's command. So, we planned a couple of trips, the first to Sendang biru Beach, on the south coast of Java. A local travel agent arranged for a car and driver and a visit to a lovely island, a nature preserve, across the lagoon there. We rode through a lush green countryside of cane, rice, and corn fields and plantations of fruit trees. Our driver then crossed a mountain range. You Watauga County-ans, imagine NC 194 from Valle Crucis to Banner Elk, but three times the length and the road even narrower, and you'll get the picture.

We came right off the mountain to the beach, and one of the many colorfully painted boats took us to the island. We enjoyed the lovely view seaward as we sailed into the narrows and came to a deserted small beach. "Oh, great!" we thought, "just what we wanted."  But our guide had other ideas, and took us up a muddy trail into the jungle.  It was awful. We slipped and slid, got our sandals thoroughly mud-encrusted, and fell frequently. After a while Maria asked the guide in Indonesian, "How much further?" "Two and one-half kilometers," he replied. He probably told us there was an impressive waterfall and swimming pool ahead, but since the language barrier proved insurmountable, he resorted to "internet and computer."  We didn't want that! and told him we wanted to go back.  Later, we could laugh at how ridiculous it all was; but it was no fun being the Mud People for nearly an hour.

While we sat apart for rest and cleaning up, our guide cleaned our sandals (we should have been told to wear boots), and called for a boat, and we eventually went on to another, cleaner beach, virtually deserted, and with a lovely view of the lagoon and the mountains. And we rested: "At last, just what we wanted!" The place was beautiful; we sunbathed, read, and traded photo shots with some friendly teenagers from Malang who wandered by.

Two hours later the boat returned us to shore and our driver took us back to Malang. An exhausting day thanks to the hike, but not entirely wasted. The scenery was beautiful and the beach was just the balm we needed.