I do believe about struggle before we can achieve something good. Just like when we must climb the mountain in order to watch sunset, sunrise, or the whole city. Put ourselves in the best position so that we can enjoy the most beautiful scene. It’s wonderful if we could make it.
I was in college, young, and energetic. One of my lecturers has delivered important information. We must create a group, choose the favorite area, survey, and in the end we write it into booklet. It means story and pictures. Excitement and enthusiasm have crawled all over.
The cities are in East Java, Indonesia. My friends and I gathered in Malang terminal, we went to Probolinggo, it spent three hours. We continued our trip for four hours to Situbondo, and another three hours more to Bondowoso. At that time I imagined modern and comfortable buses, it were not. The vehicle was rusty and no air conditioner. We felt dirty as the sweat kept dropping.
We stayed in Bondowoso. My friend’s house was built modestly but nice. I loved the rustic environment, the hospitality, and the language, as they spoke Madurese. We slept late at night and planned the journey properly, because we only had a little budget. We wanted to manage it well.
We still slept soundly although the chicken already crowed many times. But at seven o’clock we have taken shower and ate traditional food for the breakfast. Rice, fried chicken, spinach, sauce with dried shrimp paste, soybean cake, tofu, fried eggplant, all of them were cooked by using Indonesia spices. Perfect!
We brought our backpack, paid some Rupiahs for public transportation that we call it angkot. We headed into terminal again. I expected the bus and I was totally wrong. I still walked to the shops, looked for the famous snack, tapé (fermented cassava). I tasted it until my friends called that our ride has come, the cow truck. Unrealized I opened my mouth for minutes.
Over to Sempol district, I stood up for two hours, hold the edge strongly as it moved very fast, in other word speeding. I was afraid. It seems that I would fall down everytime I turned my head to the right or left in order to make sure whether my friends were safe. Meanwhile other merchants sat down on the truck. They covered their stuff carefully. When it stopped, some of them got out. Then it kept moving from one village to another. We were the last passengers. We passed tea farm, rice fields, hills, and forests.
Before we entered the coffee plantations which is called Jampit, the road was getting worst, steep, full of damages, rocky, and dangerous. I was nervous very much when the driver’s friend screamed to change the transmission gear many times. I was scared to death. It was descent road. The truck ran slowly and stagnant. After a half an hour, we could reach the place. My legs were shaking. Queasy, dizzy, tired, and had a little heart attack. We opened the small house. It belonged to a nurse, she rented it. The weather started to be so cold. We decided to clean the room, the bed, and cooked instant noodles. At 7 pm we have closed our eyes, too tired.
We wore the sweater and thin jacket in the next morning. What I thought before was absolutely right. We walked together and there were many amazing spots. First, we visited the coffee factory and it’s owned by PTPN VII, under the government property. They produced Arabica type. Hotel is also available here.
Then wow, we could see the lily garden and other beautiful flowers too, strawberry and paprika farm, and Blawan waterfalls where the water falls down directly to the ground likes Niagara. Everything was maintained correctly and neatly.
Some shots have been kept in the camera. I wrote it in small book while all of my friends lied down on the white sand at Pasir Putih tourist area, Situbondo. We took a break for a while and had fun in the beach. We collected our money, very small amount, booked one hotel room, and that one bed was used to sleep for eight people. We dreamed about the remarkable cow truck!
J W Rome
