When I first heard about Crater Ijen, or Kawah Ijen as Indonesians call it, I was going from the volcano Mount Bromo to Probolinggo, and then I was going to head to Banyuwangi, the nearest city to Kawah Ijen. Before going to Banyuwangi, I only knew that there was a volcano close to the town, but I did not know what was I going to see over there.
The first thing that the people I met in Mount Bromo told me, was that there were sulfur mines in the crater, that did not surprise me, since I had been in Japan during the previous months to my trip in Indonesia, and that was pretty common to see, although not the mines.
But what astonished me the most was when they told me that you could see blue flames at night, coming out of the sulfur mines. That really blew my mind! I was imagining the blue fire I had seen tons of times when I cooked at home with gas or when I prepared a barbecue with my friends, but I could not imagine to see that in a bigger scale. However, there were other facts that would make my hike to Kawah Ijen a deeper experience.
Continue reading Kawah Ijen and it’s unexpected wonder the sulfur mines
