Batur

By: Lauren Griffith

As I looked from the restaurant balcony, I could see the view of the volcano named Batur quite clearly.I couldn't believe that we were actually climbing this massive landmark.We drove right down to the base of the marvelous volcano.We walked through a flat land of ash and rock.Then we graduated into a greater incline.Lance and I forged ahead with the guide. We didn't take many breaks going up.In no time we were up on top of the enormous crater. We explored the vast area of land where the monkeys play, the clouds sway, and the wind beats against my face.About 20 minutes later Colin popped up, then Mom and the rest of the crew.Almost at that very second everyone got up to the top.Next, we heard a scream in the distance that said, "Help! Help me! I'm stuuuuuccccccckkkkkkk," her voice echoed through the crater.The voice seemed to be coming from up high on the crater somewhere in the clouds.Lance hearing this scream of terror went rushing up the very rugged and steep terrain with Colin and I following close behind. Lance was going to have us go back if it got much harder than it was.Lance got up there and helped her up on her feet.Anyone could have got out of that position she was in. She was just scared.Next, she carefully kept going down the trail.We all were expecting a dramatic rescue, but all Lance had to do was lend her a hand.Lance likes to think of it as him saving her life.We were all ready 1/3 of the way around the crater, saw the view, and thought it was too beautiful to turn around, so we kept on going!

I've never seen something so majestical and mysterious on top of that volcano! It was beautiful and truly amazing!There was even a part that was so thin that you could fall off both sides!As we turned the corner on the crater, we could see what we have accomplished so far.Looking down from up there made everything look so small.As we started our decent down, the steep incline, our guide accompanied us.He was sent up by Mom to go find us.On the way down, we were sliding downwards on the sand running as fast as we could.We got to level ground where everyone else was, including the girl that Lance helped.We saw tons of monkeys sitting on the rocks right in front of the crater.After that Jodie, Mom, and Mallory went down, Dad, Lance, Colin, and I decided to hike to another crater.Once there we were going to cook our eggs we brought.The whole way up we kept asking Lance if he had the eggs.It was the same response every time.That was, "Of course I do!"We got to the cooking area, Lance looked in his bag and they were not there!We soon found out that Jodie and my Mom took them out because they were not boiled.However, that was the whole point of bringing them. We were supposed to cook them in the steam coming out of the ground!For a while we dug holes and watched the steam roll out of the holes.We grabbed rocks from inside the holes, which were crackling with heat.

On the way down, we passed three other craters that were cool, but not as cool as the first.About half way down, we started hearing party music.We were thinking it was crazy since we were in the middle of farming fields and on a volcano!We soon figured out where the music was coming from, it was the New Moon Festival.Lance and I were the first to reach it!Since we didn't sit all day, we sat down and had a Coke.Later, Dad, Colin, and the guide accompanied us.We found out that the New Moon Festival was a bunch of hippies doing yoga to Disco music.One was even hitting on my Dad!After that we decided to leave and walked back to the car.We concluded the day, got in the car, and headed back to the villa.We thought about what a wonderful experience this was.I had climbed my first volcano, Batur!One of the most beautiful volcanoes in the world!