Behind the Eyes of INDIGO
Early journey

The night went well as planned. All activities also run like a schedule that has been determined.

That morning all participants and LDK organizers had gathered in the field for breakfast while waiting for the vehicle that would bring them all to come.

At exactly half-hour 8 am a medium-sized bus arrived in front of the school gate. All participants were asked to go up one by one as well as the committee.

"Alia let's go up quickly" cried Fahmi.

"Let's take this for a minute"

Alia is still busy taking stock of snacks to be brought and also mineral water, she was assisted by other organizers as well.

After everything was done Alia rushed to get into the bus while Fahmi left for a motorcycle because he had to arrive first to return to meet the handler who had been in yesterday.

After a journey of approximately 90 minutes the bus stopped at an outdoor land near residential residents. The entrance to the hill climb was a bit inward and the road was narrow so everyone had to get off the bus and start walking.

Alia and the other participants wait for Fahmi in front of the climbing entrance. Soon Fahmi comes along with a grandfather who is old enough, he is escorted by his young grandson.

"Fahmi, he..."

"Yes Al, he's the one who's gonna take us up the mountain"

Alia fell silent while looking at the grandfather, she felt unsure that the grandfather was the handler meant by Fahmi. Seeing the appearance of being so old, and walking alone having to wear a wooden stick, was such an old geezer still strong enough to walk up a very high hill for hours?. That was the question that still crossed Alia's mind.

After Fahmi discussed with everyone, the old grandfather told all the participants and the committee to walk first.

Alia looked towards her watch and the time showed at 9am.

"Okay the journey begins!" alia.

Everyone started walking while Alia and Fahmi walked at the very back. Alia said everything she thought about the old man.

"So actually I was still curious as to the conditions, what the hell is that?"

"Yah so the father asked us to make tumpeng, a pair of chicken kampung equally make that salamatan after going down the mountain" explained Fahmi.

"It's weird!"

"Yes but I just love tumpeng with one chicken village only, and do not make a salvation because the budget of activities is not enough"

Alia fell silent, she remembered her Mama's story about the mountain they were visiting. Ms. Mia once told Alia about the mountain, where many people deliberately came and made a pilgrimage to the firecrackers on the top of the small mountain. It was the petilasan of a syech who was quite famous in the land of Java, especially central Java.

But the goals of people who come there are mostly less commendable goals, such as asking for wealth, position and success in an instant way. The first step they usually do is to go to a charmer who will guide them to the firecracker, and after going down the mountain the person must hold a salvation so that the goal can be quickly achieved.

"What does that mean?"

"Our purpose here is only for outdoor just a walk, but how the conditions are so"

"I thought about Al, too, but how else has it gone"

"You've been here before, haven't you, what was your grandfather's handler, too?"

Fahmi shook his head, because it was not the grandfather who guided him when he came first, and the handlers who used to also not give such strange conditions because their intention came just to take a walk and enjoy the natural scenery.

"Well, why did you go to that grandpa?"

"It used to be my friend who ngajak, so my friend also came to his handler, when I asked his home address I was loved but I asked the residents near here in his birthday is indeed the father"

Alia finally told him everything she knew about the condition and the mountain. Alia was really afraid that the grandfather thought that they had all come for a certain purpose.

"Udahlah Al, pray only God there will be nothing"

About 45 minutes they had walked, and saw a resting place for the climbers, all the participants were sitting and resting while Alia and Fahmi just arrived.

Fahmi told me that on the climb there were four resting posts, Alia sat down and took a bottle of mineral water and gulped it down slowly. The participants were still busy taking pictures and soon the old man passed by without stopping even for a moment. The old man continued walking alone with a wooden stick that became the handle.

The journey from the entrance to the first post was still fairly easy and not too uphill, so Alia thought that the grandfather might still not be tired.

After enough rest they all continued on their way. Alia continued to look at the old man from behind, for some reason Alia's feelings became uneasy as she continued to look at the old man.

The journey from the first post to the second post is quite steep, the road is filled with rough rocks ranging from small to large, but there is still a flat road. But the flat road was quite challenging because it was only 1.5 meters wide consisting of limestone fragments, on the right was a very high cliff while to the left of a very steep ravine.

They did not feel they had arrived at the third resting post. There all the participants had begun to fatigue, mineral water supplies and snacks brought had begun to thin. They were all astonished that since the old geezer was already nowhere to be seen at all, he might have already walked far ahead.

"Crazy dad was the way fast too, even though he was old"

Fahmi chattered and sat on a large rock near the post.

Alia just smiled looking at Fahmi, she stood on the edge of the cliff which if one step forward, then she would fall into a very deep abyss.

Since from the entrance until now Alia had actually seen a lot of figures that followed, but he can still calm down because all of it is just a figure that he thinks is not too foreign or has often seen something like that.

After having enough rest at the 3rd post, they all went back on their way. The path from the third post to the 4th post was really quite unexpected. Alia was stunned and astonished when she saw the street in front of her. It was a road with hundreds or even thousands of stairs that looked very clean and nice like a staircase leading to a pendopo or sacred building that he often saw, hundreds of stairs are not natural but man-made, like stairs in general, it is made of cement and sand. The shape of the road was very uphill with stairs that only had a width of about one meter while the right and left were filled with large and tall trees, it makes the atmosphere on the road a little dark because it is covered in leaves, and the temperature is also cooler and fresher, but if seen in a distant view, it is also very cool, it looked like a hallway with hundreds of stairs.