There are places in this world that are far too beautiful for words to describe. Mount Bromo is one of them.
Four hours after we set out to ride at dawn and climb steep hills in pitch darkness without anything to hold on to for dear life, we find ourselves standing witness to something truly divine.
“Views like this make you believe there really is a God”, my friend Gen muttered as we stood, captivated by the beauty in front of us.
When I learned from Sabrina early last year that Gen, along with their other friend Kristine, would be visiting her in Indonesia the following June, I couldn’t pass up the chance to meet up with them. The last time I saw both of them was when I was living in Hong Kong in 2017.
Sab and Gen are friends and classmates from elementary and high school, both from Bacolod. Their friendship draws many parallels to the closeness I share with my school friends, which is probably why we also became fast friends during our first year at UP. Moreover, even though they are from the Visayas and I am from Mindanao, we share the same language. There’s simply a feeling of homecoming evoked by conversing in your native tongue.
Sab, who lives in Yogyakarta studying for her master’s degree in Anthropology and speaks fluent Bahasa, naturally became our tour guide. From the airport in Surabaya, she arranged for a car to pick me up and then have them picked up from the train station on the other side of the city. Before they could even get into the car, we had already caused a disturbance with our raucous laughter. I knew I was in for a memorable weekend.
As we made our way to a small, sleepy town in Probolinggo, we continued catching up on each other’s lives. I was taken by surprise by Gen’s decision to shift careers in our 30s. She chose to quit her corporate job and train to become a nurse—a 180-degree turn that left me stunned but completely impressed. People who make bold decisions like this earn my admiration. I can’t help but applaud someone who’s ready to embrace the unknown to follow their passion or to find a more meaningful path.
One thing I couldn’t help but notice throughout our journey and our short time together was the ease and happiness with which my friends carry themselves. They haven’t lost their sense of wonder and adventure, and through them, I was reminded that I haven’t lost mine either. There’s a certain peace, confidence, and acceptance that comes with entering our mid-thirties living life on our own terms – ergo not necessarily finding ourselves in a conventional box.
The weekend I spent at and around Mount Bromo in June last year is still easily one of the trips that left the most positive impression on me in recent memory. It was one of those experiences that truly heals the soul.
