Leaving Solo on the way to Bali

So, I decided it would be a good way to see more of Java by taking a "mini-bus" from Solo to Mt. Bromo stay there for a night see the volcano and continue on to Bali on a bus that boards the ferry and then on to Denpasar. I would be arriving two days before mom arrives to meet me so I could do some diving without feeling like I was abandoning her the first day she was in Bali.
I get on this mini-bus which is actually just a big van with really uncomfortable seats and crappy air conditioning and as we are leaving Solo we get into an accident with some motorcycles. Our bus braked fast and with the traffic as it is in Solo a motorcycle failed to stop quickly enough ramming another one into us and another one into them. It was really scary and I was especially worried about all the people that were injured. None looked too bad. One girl seemed to be in a lot of pain and thankfully we crashed right infront of a hospital. We waited there for about 45 minutes while the driver took care of some paperwork in the hospital and apparently he had to pay for the girl who had broken her leg. People don't have insurance here like we do so this is common practice. We were lucky to have a volleyball game going on outside the hospital which was quite entertaining especially when a large woman who was very excited about her team winning a match tripped and bounced when she fell. Anyway, on my bus was Max the only other single person, from Malaysia and 3 couples from France and Italy/Holland. All were really nice but since Max and I were the singles we ended up sitting together in the front and chatting a bit. The ride was quite scary even after the accident because driving in Java is insane by American standards. It is mostly 2 lane highways that are constantly being driven on oncoming traffic and coming way too close for comfort especially when you are sitting in the front seat. I found myself closing my eyes and saying "pio, pio" in my head way to frequently. On our first stop, which Max and I called, the Euro Cafe, I met Inge (pronounced Inga), an friend of Max's from Holland, who was also heading up to Bromo on another mini-bus as was everyone at the cafe apparently. Our next stop was in the twilight zone. At Probolinggo where we were met by a one eyed man and a midget to sort out our tickets which we had all purchased from different travel agencies. And it was super disorganized and they were trying to make people pay more for trips on Jeeps instead of trekking which many had already paid for. Luckily I had my pamplet with me detailing what I got and lent it to others so we wouldn't get ripped off. At this point they move us around from buses to drop us off at the hostels on Mt. Bromo for the night. It is now about 9pm and we thought we would be arriving at 7 or 8. As we climb the mountain for our night's stay we see in the darkness of the night a red hot fire and begin to scream "lava! lava!" to our driver who spoke no english and little indonesian (only spoke javanese) we get off to take pictures and find out with the help of Max who speaks indonesian and went through a catalog of words to find out what that was that is was a burning tree. It was quite amazing though, burning in this ravine looking like fireworks and a high powered fire torch. We continue on our trip and arrive at the hotel to find it isn't what was advertised but we are finally done with the mini-bus and are grateful nonetheless. I am starving at this point and the hotel where i am has no food or english speaking help. So, I head down the hill (pretty steep) to the other place that has a cafe for some food when I realize I left my only sweater in the mini-bus and its freezing up here and its going to be even colder when we get up at 4am to see the sunrise over Bromo at the top of the highest mountain in Java....SHIT!....I ask the one guy who speaks english at the cafe if they can get in touch with the people who just dropped off and they do. They tell me he will bring it back but knowing how the indonesian time works that may take a long time. I arrive to find Inge already at the cafe and Max meets us shortly after. After dinner I head back up to the hotel. I decide to run up the hill because I have no sweater and as I am running I am looking at this sky full of stars like I have never before seen in my life. I stop dead in my tracks and look. I can see every star i think. The milky way and andromeda galaxies. I can feel the roundness of the earth. The feeling of awe is indescribable. I don't feel cold anymore just life.
I head back to the room take a shower (woohoo for hot water!) and try to go to sleep with two really thick, hard, itchy wool blankets. Its midnight and they will wake us at 3:30 to head up to the viewpoint. Itchy! Can't sleep! Around 1am the driver arrives with my sweater. AWESOME! Put it on....go to sleep.