Just a quick note to wish everyone a very happy holiday season... I hope it was a memorable one.
It was another tough one for us, being away from family and friends, home and snow (!?), for the second Christmas in a row (unheard of for our family!)! But of course, because of good new friends here, it was special and memorable in its own way! But I still don't think I'll ever get used to a green/hot Christmas!
So what did we do??? Well, after getting back from the wonderful diving trip, I met up with Martin in Manado (he had gone back ahead of time), and we spend the few days before Christmas just enjoying having our own space (our house, even though it has now become an office as well, was vacated for the holidays), and visiting with friends, and people-watching in the malls (which were over-crowded, stuffed, and crazy... and surely no longer adhering to building codes!).
We had a 'Latino-style' Christmas -- on Christmas eve we gathered together at the home of the soccer coach, with his family, and the other Latin soccer players living in Manado (above). We had a nice meal and drinks (a yummy Chilean specialty called "Cola de Mono" (yes, that's the tail of the monkey!)), and gift opening. I was spoiled with a guitar from Martin, which means I'll have a chance to continue to learn (since I didn't bring the guitar that my brother gave me for Christmas two years ago to Indonesia with me!)! I'll definitely have time once the boat arrives and we're at sea for three weeks each month!
"Cola de Mono"
6 cups milk
1 cup sugar
2 cinnamon sticks or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup instant coffee
2 cups tequila
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Bring the milk, sugar and cinnamon to a boil.
2. Dissolve the coffee in the hot milk mixture.
3. Put in the fridge to cool.
4. Once cold, add the tequila.
5. Pour into capped bottles and return to the fridge.
6. Serve very cold.
7. This keeps in the fridge for 2 weeks
We came immediately back to Sorong on the 26th in order to leave that same day on a boat headed to Ayau (the farthest group of islands in Raja Ampat), where we attended 'Christmas Together' and ran a 3-day education program.
What a neat few days. The Ayau people celebrate 'Christmas Together' on the 27th or 28th of December each year... all the people from the 5 villages spread around the group of islands gather in a different village each year for their celebrations. This means a trip as long as 12 hours by dugout canoe in favourable conditions for some! Their celebrations are fairly simple... they parade doing 'Suling Tambur' (drum and pipe bands) day and night non-stop for days! It's not a parade in our understanding of the word, either... because everyone participates, and there are virtually no spectators; the people who aren't playing a drum or flute are dancing (not marching) along behind! Each village has its own band (and sometimes more than one!), so there were about 8 different groups marching in the streets (that sounds funny... there are only TWO streets in the village of Yenkawir, and of course, they're sand). The instruments are mostly made from natural materials, of course, and the drums are absolutely wonderful... each one unique! They use tarps, pig, goat or shark skin wrapped taught over wooden bases they have carved themselves.
They usually also have a special church service and a 'feast' (which usually includes seaturtle!). This year, the people of Ayau have committed to not eating sea turtle, in an attempt to help conservation efforts... they have not been consuming it (apparently) for almost a year! CI made sandals for all the residents of the islands (about 2000 people) with the message 'thank you for not consuming turtle' in the local language, indonesian, and english, and we took them as christmas presents to the big celebration! Folks were thrilled!
After the 'Christmas Together' celebration on the 27th, we ran a conservation education program for 21/2 days in one of the villages with kids. The program included activities about corals and coral reefs (including a snorkeling trip), coastal ecosystems ecology and, of course, sea turtles! It was a lot of fun as well, and although our new 'education assistants' are still pretty rough, it looks like they're 'coming along'!
Needless to say, the kids had a blast!
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