words from the world

End of our Balinese adventure, most of the family goes back to France to enjoy the last days of summer on the French Riviera. I move on to Java with my parents. A short journey by bemo up to Gilimanuk before getting on the ferry which links the island of Java in 45 minutes. Transition from an island to another, radical change of culture.
Our first stage will be the Kawah Ijen, a volcano whose crater shelters an emerald-hued lake. This volcano was made famous by Nicolas Hulot and the Kraft couple for its mind-boggling colours and the sensation that the man is not welcome in the heart of this mountain.

The Kawah Ijen is the main extraction area of the Indonesian sulphur. The deposit of this yellowish substance is located inside the crater itself. Wrapped by a stifling sulphurous cloud, we walk downhill to meet it. On the way, no machine, just few men carrying 2 baskets they balance on one of their shoulders. An appalling work that begins a little bit further downhill, near the emerald lake. Pipes provide steam which liquefies the sulphur. The orangy juice finishes to solidify in a yellow and compact slab. A worker breaks off the ground to get some transportable fragments he loads into the basket. A mere dirty piece of linen covers his nose and mouth by way of respiratory protection. Around the sulphurous mound, a suffocating, whitish vapour gives an otherworldly feeling. Each porter loads his parcel and starts a slow ascent of the crater then a walking downhill. The suffering distorts their faces, the disastrous effects of the day-after-day inhaled gas can be heard in the hoarse cough of these courageous workers. More than 2 hours to bring back the booty down of the volcano. Each hero carries a minimum of 80 kilos, twice a day. The kilo is sold 400 Rupiah which represents a one-Euro gain for 35 kilos brought down! The modern times of hard labour. Scant consolation, the scenery is a visual pleasure. Supernatural colours. A dense and mythical smoke which, as a jewel case, hides the beauty of its bowels. An inhospitable land where the man hasn't his place but the economical realities drive the neediest to enlist in the volcanic adventure. And with 80 kilos on a deformed shoulder by so many journeys, they are genuine heroes in my opinion. And each time I'll eat some granulated sugar, I'll think about these smiling faces the life hasn't blessed because among its uses, the sulphur serves to refine the sugar.