Our day started 2am (woke up by alarm at 1:50am as we had to check out). The drive up to the start was about 2 hrs. We arrived just few minutes before the gate open. We met with our local guide together with another group of 3 ladies from Malaysia.
The hike up was quite steep so we took rest in between. Something infuriating: there was human stroller to push you up for those who don’t want to do the hike. It was inhumane to see two or three men trying to pull some guy/woman who’s perfectly capable to walk but prefers to be pushed up.
Anyway, we got middle way when the sun came out painting the sky to a nice color.
I love my hiking buddy, strong, enthusiastic, and cute at the same time.
5:15am we got to the crater
the view was breathtaking, the air crispy
The lake is recognised as the largest highly acidic crater lake in the world. An active vent at the edge of the lake is a source of elemental sulfur and supports a mining operation. A nearby sulfur refinery pays the miners by the weight of sulfur transported. They have to transport 70-100 kgs per trip from the bottom to the top of the crater, 5 times a day!!! They get paid 20-30 USD per day. This is insane!! There’s no track on the way up so they have to balance between rocks, avoiding falling into the lake.
I tried to lift it and failed after several attempts. I can’t imagine working as a miner
not only the hike and the weight makes it challenging, the air coming out is unsafe to breath. The guide said the smoke affects their sights and throats, and no proper gas mask is provided.
Sofia felt really bad about the miners, asked the guide why the company doesn’t build a zipline to transport the sulfur. Well… because it’s so much cheaper to just pay the miners. Real life lesson.
We walked to the end of the crater, took more pics, and walked down.
because it was quite steep, it hurt Sofia’s knees. I was concerned about the way down too because I’m afraid of falling off and getting knee pains. None happened as I felt my quads muscles were holding me well. I even ran the last km following the body motion. I guess all the gym sessions paid off.
We got to the bottom of about 8000 feet mountain in an hour. Then we had 5 hrs drive to the airport to catch our flight.
It was an amazing trip, perfect kind of trip for me and Sofia as we both love nature, physical activity, and a lot of time quality time together. I foresee more hiking trips with her.
Yet, we were both exhausted by the time we got home. We went straight to bed after a quick shower. The next day, my quads were fried but still managed to do 10 miles on Sunday as I really missed running.
Our New Journey 
That is really beautiful! And what a fun learning lesson for both you and your daughter! I am always amazed at the strength of the people doing work like that; when I was in Nepal the guys who would carry the supplies on their back had loads that were taller than them and they must have weighed 100 pounds; they were huge! Yet these guys seem like it is nothing!
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What an amazing experience. I’m with Sofia- I feel bad for the miners. Please tell me that 20-30 USD goes a long way for them! But yes- it was a good learning experience for Sofia.
I absolutely love that last picture of the two of you!
I’m not sure how long it was from when you got home to Sunday, when you ran ten miles- but I know my quads would have been obliterated after that hike! Nice job getting a long run in on top of everything else.
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Beautiful end to the trip! Those views are just gorgeous. I’ve never done a solo trip really I don’t think with either of the boys. I think it sounds really fun, but at the same time, my boys are so close in age that there’s really never something that one can do but the other can’t, you know? And I’d feel bad leaving one out for no reason. But definitely seems like special memories and made sense in this case since Lizzy is younger. I wish you had a picture of the human stroller, lol. That sounds… interesting. I have seen those bike taxis in some cities where a guy on a bike pulls a cart of people behind the bike and I have always thought I would feel terrible getting into one of those and having someone pull me around!!!
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What a wonderful, wonderful trip. I admit, I learned a lot from your updates. The pictures are gorgeous. Right now I travel with both of my kids but when they are a bit older I aspire to take them on trips separately.
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Wow those pictures are gorgeous. And what a valuable learning experience for Sofia. I feel bad for those miners, too. 😦
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That’s a crazy job to carry the sulfur. Dang!
But I am appalled that they’re pulling visitors up the track that are capable of walking. Nobody (unless disabled) should get to enjoy this view if they didn’t hike up themselves. Sorry.
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