Didn't Quite Go As Planned

Not every day goes as planned.  Like yesterday.  Oh...yesterday.

We have been wanting to go see a place called Kawah Putih.  It is another volcano about two hours from where we live.  It has a gorgeous turquoise lake and is supposed to be just a stunning place to visit.  We have been putting it off and we finally decided that yesterday was the day.  Christmas break is coming to an end and needed to do it while we still had the chance.

So we left around 8:30 in the morning and everything was going very well. We decided to have our driver drive us so that Jason could sit in back with the kids. That helped SO much (you know how I feel about driving long distances with kids in the car!)  I sat in the front, read, and only had to intervene with the hooligans in the back a few times.

The drive was beautiful...love all the mountains, rice paddies, and small town.  We started climbing up the mountain through lots of twisty, turny roads.  That is when I learned something very important...

My almost two year old gets very, VERY carsick.

I have never seen so much vomit come out of one person. Never.  And of course, we did not have a change of clothes.  So we stopped at a hotel/restaurant, and did the best we could to get her cleaned up.  But her clothes were no longer an option so we got a spare diaper (her old one was dry -- yea Katie -- but had vomit all over it) and she sat on my lap for the last bit of the trip.  And for those of you who don't live overseas, just get over the shock of her not being in her car seat for a little bit. It will make your life, and mine, easier. We do care greatly for the safety of our children.   The good part of all this was that I got this sweet picture.

A few minutes later we arrived.  They wanted to charge us tourist prices but once again my standby sentence, "Kami tinggal di Indonesia" (we live in Indonesia) got their attention.  After a few questions like, "Berapa lama sudah di Indonesia?" (How long have you been in Indo?) and a few answers, "Hampir dua tahun" (almost two years) our price miraculously dropped to less than half and we were in.

We stepped out of the car and realized we should have taken the comments of, "Oh it's really cold there" more seriously.  But people talk about it being "cold" here a lot and while I AM a wimp when it comes to weather, I don't think that 65 degrees can really be considered COLD. But we stopped out and realized a few sweatshirts and long pants might have been a good idea.

We walked into the park and we got a few glimpses of the gorgeous turquoise (see photo at the beginning of the post) but the boys saw a trail and it was decided that we would hike first. Our two little boys, who just a week ago complained non-stop about a 3 mile walk along a nice paved trail, saw an adventurous trail through the woods and took off without looking back.  To their credit, it was a beautiful trail.

I did get them to stop long enough to attempt a photo.  But they were too busy telling me they were "SUPER HIKERS!"

There was a problem with the hike though -- I was wearing flip flops.  I didn't realize that there was a walk around the volcano and I wasn't quite prepared for the sort-of trail that was there.  We walked for about twenty minutes and then made the family decision that we would turn around and plan for the hike another time.  That turned out the be a VERY good decision because not long after we turned around it started to rain. And rain it did.  By the time we got back to the start of the trail we were SOAKED.  Dripping wet and freezing cold. Katie had been wearing Jason's jacket inside the child backpack and when I peeled that off of her she was cold, wet, and shivering. I sent Jason to go buy an overpriced sweatshirt so I would have something to put on this girl.  Jason then went in search of warm food while the kids sat in the car dripping wet (cars in Indo don't have heat!) munching on Oreos.  She looks cute two inches from my camera lens ;)

The rain didn't let up and we made the decision to go home...without ever seeing the crater.  Another day, I guess.

The ride home was wet and cold to say the least.  It took 30 minutes in a hot shower for me to start to warm up.  At least I was rewarded with a date night and baked potato soup from Tony Roma's.  The day wasn't all bad.

 

Comments

[Bretta]

Sometimes the most interesting stories and best memories happen from the "didn't quite go as planned" days! Hoping this brings you lots of laughter down the road someday :o)

[Holly Beck]

This will be a great memory!! The kids will forget so many other trips, but this one will certainly stand out!
Holly

[Amy]

we've been there too. like our trip to the famous macchu pichu in cusco peru. same story. over priced tourist package turns reasonable resident price under questioning. under dressed and vomitous. pretty much sums it up. it WAS beautiful though.

thanks for sharing your day :)
I shared mine today at my blog... talked about river jungle trips, not for the faint of heart ;)

amy in peru
http://apilgrimsproject.blogspot.com

oh, and tony roma's?! you're SO lucky!

[Angyla]

What a day!! But that photo of Katelynn in the mirror is beyond adorable!