We left the hotel at 4 a.m., still dark. We traveled for more than one hour through the Sand Sea, at the base of the big caldera that encompasses several volcanoes. Our final destination was Gunung Penanjakam view point at 2770 m of altitude. Thoroughly numbed by freezing temperatures we waited the slow appearance of the dawn. Little by little we began seeing shapes; the Sand Sea still shrouded in fog, the perfect Batok cone, the ever steaming Bromo and, in the background, like a conductor, the highest peak of all, Semeru, regularly spewing glowing ashes: the perfect volcanic landscape.