Toraja and Mamasa



In a last-ditch effort to see a little more of this country that I have lived in for two years, and still feel I've seen so little of, I took some holidays and headed to one of the top tourist destinations in Indonesia: Tana Toraja. Toraja trails only Bali in annual tourist traffic, but doesn't have the 'overrun by foreigners' feel that certain areas of Bali does. Of course, it helps that a good friend of mine is based in Makassar (the gateway to Toraja), and another friend based in Rantepao (Toraja)... I have to take advantage of all these CUSO cooperants/local tour guides spread all around the place while I still can! Who else would know that I would get such pleasure from taking a ride in a SiTor (TakSI TORaja)!?



I flew to Makassar with Express Air -- with Express it's direct, two-hour flight, and you'll never guess what they served as a meal!?! ...



In Makassar I met up with Cecilia (and her warm and wonderful adopted family), and we immediately departed for Toraja on an overnight bus. We arrived in Rantepao, Toraja at about 6 am, checked into the hotel, and went straight to sleep; because regardless of the fact that the buses have almost(*) fully reclining seats and air conditioning, there's really no way to get any shut-eye when you're constantly slipping down your seat which sits at a somewhat awkward 130 degree angle! Luckily Cecilia had forewarned me (in fact, instilled within me an absolute fear) that the climate control onboard leaves a bit to be desired, and I should be prepared to feel like an ice cube for the better part of the 12-hour journey. It wasn't so bad.

Of course, while planning the hiking part of our trip, I was also advised several times to bring lots of warm clothes. Psshaw... I have never been cold in Indonesia... in fact, I was questioning whether there exists such a thing as 'cold' here, except maybe in the remote mountains of Papua where there is said to be perpetual snow!

Well... I've been living on the coast in the hottest areas of the country, and apparently two years is enough for the human body to adapt its physiology to climate; the first night we spent in the village I was DAMN COLD! We huddled under piles of blankets (luckily, graciously provided by our hosts!), and in the morning stayed wrapped in our sarongs while we strolled through mist, and marveled at the fact that we could see our own breath! And we basically laughed... a lot!



Probably connected to the fact that we were being pretty silly! (In a way that didn't risk being culturally insensitive, and in fact had everyone around laughing with us...)



Because of our connections (Myrna's organization works with this village), we were invited to stay in a kampung (a small village) up in the mountains of Toraja to attend a traditional funeral ceremony. The culture, and especially the unique funerary traditions, is what Toraja is known for, and so, not being funeral season (July/August), I felt really lucky that we were going to get to witness the celebrations.



'Burials' are usually the placement of the deceased in a cave... these are the remains in one of the more famous sites around Toraja called Kete Kesu.



A traditional Torajan village with the rice storage buildings (Lumbung) facing the traditional homes (Tongkonan).



The wife with her dearly departed... don't you just love the funky coffin!?


We couldn't stay for the entire celebration (it's a week-long event!), even though we were welcomed, and even pressured to. We certainly learned a lot... and we got a taste of the proceedings - literally!



Tradition dictates that animal sacrifices (usually pigs and kerbau (water-buffalo)) are made throughout the festivities; it seems every time I made a new friend, he ended up as dinner...





This tradition feeds the hundreds of visitors that might come to any one funeral. At a high-profile funeral, there may be as many as 10 buffalo sacrificed... water-buffalo are highly-prized possessions, and may be worth between 8 and 25 million rupiah each (800 - 2500 dolars), depending on their age, markings and coloration (the blue-eyed, mottled black and white animals being most highly-valued). Water-buffalo have quite the life in Toraja... they used to work in the rice paddys, but since the advent of the tractor plough, they have been retired to live a life of luxury (until someone dies). Owners are even said to bathe their kerbau daily with shampoo (while they themselves may bathe less-frequently)!




Another thing Toraja is known for is COFFEE! Their Arabica coffee may just be one of the finest in the world... I will bring some home for you all to try!




So after a few wonderful days exploring Toraja, we set off for the real 'purpose' of the trip: to go hiking in Mamasa! If you look on a map, Toraja and Mamasa appear to be quite close geographically... but getting from one to the other is a guaranteed adventure, regardless which way you chose to attempt it! Cecilia and I decided to go to Mamasa by bus.



We got there... eventually! Only after a grueling, dusty, bumpy, agonizingly-slow 18-hour bus ride filled at times with sheer terror, white-knuckled grabbing the armrests imagining that at any moment we were going to lose our lives by falling of the side of the mountain into the jungle, never to be heard from again! We arrived in Mamasa in the middle of the night, ready for a real rest!


The next morning we woke up to a little valley town, with streets of MUD! It was still the rainy season in Mamasa, but we wouldn't let a little water deter us... since the town of Mamasa was less-than-inspiring (feeling very run-down, and obviously on a low), we set off to check out the surroundings. We visited traditional villages, where we despaired the loss of traditional building knowledge but enjoyed admiring the still-standing 300-year old rumah adat (traditional homes) while chatting with villagers. We were accompanied along part of our journey by a group of school-boys on their way home, and when we arrived at their village we enjoyed a lovely interaction with a sweet weaver currently reviving an old laborious style of weaving.



Traditional weaving in this area uses a 'body loom'.



The results are gorgeous.



This piece (prior to 'finishing') is 1-inch wide, pure silk woven with two different pattens on each side... a 'lost art'.


So many paths criss-cross the stunning Mamasan countryside one could be content exploring for days! Of course, it would be easy to get lost... no, we weren't lost (!?)... but we're certainly glad we speak the language! After getting back to Mamasa we headed right back out of town again - to the nearby hotsprings; soaking in the steamy darkness was the perfect end to a day of hiking!



The next day we did another small hike in the morning, packed up our gear and headed out on the trail... instead of taking the bus back to Toraja, we decided that we were going to take the 'short-cut' over the mountains. The trail was no longer the 'mountain pass' which we were hoping for... sadly, it has been transformed by a typical Indonesian road-construction project gone wrong; it seemed like there was a mud-slide around every corner!







The views were still spectacular, and much more rugged and untouched than Toraja. We hiked over 60 kilometers, spending the evenings with families along the way. It mostly felt like we were going either up or down... but I won't get into the tortures of long grueling hikes... let's focus on the positive (instead of the aching bones and muscles, the blistered feet that were in so much pain they needed lots of prompting to startup again after a rest...) The scenery and people were worth it!











I would love to give a frame-by-frame play of this incredible trip, but I've already gone well beyond the limit of most of your attention spans... so let me pick one of my favourite moments: bathtime!

On the morning of the second day it was waaaayyy too cold to bathe at the ungodly hour we started out... but we didn't have to face being stinky all day, we got lucky, and just as I was imagining coming across a cool clear little stream and a nice rocky pool... bam! that's what we got! We stripped down almost completely (to what most of us would probably consider a modest bathing suit, but still something I thought I would never consider doing in Indonesia for fear it would bring shame on my children's grandchildren!), grabbed our soap and jumped in for a bath... Of course, it turned out that it was market day, and the quiet little country path was actually quite well-traversed with Indonesians piled high in their trucks pointing and laughing at the foreigners taking a bath! Anyway, it was quite refreshing!