San Cristobal, Galapagos

San Cristobal (or, more specifically, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno) is the capital of the Galapagos Islands Province of Ecuador.  I just had the pleasure of a visit from family (Bruce & Bobbi Currie and their friends' son, Roger) - We had a great time, and enjoyed the island - I think they were impressed with most things, except the sea lion stench that pervades the downtown area!

Dubbed "The Capital of Paradise", San Cristobal is a happy middle ground between the overly quiet, tranquil Isabela Island and the overly touristed, commercial Santa Cruz.  I think it qualifies for the adjective 'quaint', if such a thing exists in South America!

And not only quaint, but unique!  I'm sure there is no other place on earth where sea lions share the streets, marine iguanas lounge on the jetty and boobies dive-bomb the shores as freely and easily as they do here.

Only a short boat ride away are some of the most incredible encounters you can imagine...  talcum-powder soft white sand beaches abutting jet-black lava rock, swimming with schools of sharks, frolicking with baby sealions and floating in sea-turtle soup.

The natural surroundings are incredible... and the town itself is pretty nice too.  All that's missing is an ice cream shop, like seriously real, homemade italian gelatto type ice cream... hmmm....

Fishing with Kaca Molo in Rauki

Rauki village has a pretty decent house reef.  After the snorkeling activity with the students, they were taken home for lunch, and I decided to stay in the water for a bit and swim back to the ship later.  I met up with this youngster looking for fish with his traditional 'kaca molo' (dive glasses)...

These 'coke-bottle' glasses have frames carved from wood, with coke bottle bottoms set in... They leak like crazy and are not very comfortable, but they seem to work for the locals!

Daisey Chains

Although there are many differences in the lives that these kids in the remote areas of Raja Ampat live compared with Canadian kids, in fact, up until a certain age, where social and technological influence becomes a mitigating factor, there are so many similarities as well...

... Like daisy chains...

I don't know how many hours I spent sitting or roving through a field weaving daisy chains to make myself into a princess... 

Since is a princess, too.

Your going to feed your... ghosts!?!

One of the stories people get the biggest kick out of from my repertoire of funny language learning stories, is the mixup with the ghosts... In fact, on a recent trip back to Bunaken last month, I found out that the family that this occurred with still recounts the tale to all family and friends as well as any travelers passing through!

It was one of our first visits to Bunaken Island and the village of Alung Banua, where we would come to feel like family in short order...  And needless to say, we were still very much in the steep part of the learning curve of the Indonesian language.  Every day, early morning, Vera's father, a lovely man and respected leader in the community, would head off to the kebun (the farm/garden).  When we would all meet up in the afternoon after our days' activities, we would sit and relax in the cool shade of their luscious green garden and try to converse.  Vera's father, although not fluent, certainly had a decent English vocabulary, and was very patient and kind in aiding our attempts at learning Indonesian, so we stumbled along through stories and conversations, not getting much past the contents of our days...  When I was asking about what he did when he went to the farm, he would tell me about the crops, and the animals... And he said he would "kasih makan kambing"... 'kasih makan' I knew (he would 'feed')... but kambing was a completely new word for me... we played a little charades, and I still didn't get it... couldn't figure out which farm animal he might be referring to... then he said, in his timid English... 'ghosts'...   

Ummmm.... OK?

So, I tried not to blanche visibly... and carried on the conversation... asking him if he visited the ghosts every day... what did they 'eat' (since he had ostensibly been feeding them)... could anyone visit them, or was it only him that could see them... had they been there forever....  

I was getting more and more confused... and thinking that either this senior was not as on-the-ball as I had taken him to be originally or, he had some mystical connection to the next world... (you never know really - I wasn't willing to make any assumptions... what with the language and cultural barrier and all)...

When Vera came out with some fresh young coconut to quench our thirst, I couldn't stand it any more... I thought I must be going nuts, sitting having a conversation about this man and his ghosts that he visited daily, like there was nothing more normal in the world... I mean, if it were ghosts, you would think he would recognize the rarity in the situation, right!?!  So I asked her if she happened to know the English word for kambing... 

She said "Of course, you know, GOATS"!

I cracked up laughing and proceeded to try to explain to them the misunderstanding... and once we finally found the Indonesian word for ghost (hantu), we were all practically rolling around on the floor, tears streaming down our faces in laughter trying to imagine the two completely different conversations that were happening at the same time about the ghosts/goats!!!

Sagu for sale

Sagu, the traditional staple in Papua, was not in short supply in Kabare village, North Waigeo back in the month of September.

I really appreciate the way they package the sagu for sale... all natural wrappers of banana leaves and rattan here!

Natural Products

The gifts from the forest aren't always in the form of food... Here in Papua, the forest provides everything... from food, to the containers in which to cook and keep it, to homes, etc!  Pandan is one particular tree from which each part of the plant is used - coconut as well!

When we were in the village of Beneraf the ladies there showed me how to make "tali hutan" (forest string), which is made from the fibres of the forest as well!

Clothing is traditionally made from bark cloth... straight from the tree, it's much softer than woven fabrics from tali hutan.

Food, clothing, furniture, homes, art, decorations... everything in Papua comes straight from the source:  nature!

Raja Ampat Festival

Raja Ampat has been holding a Festival Bahari (Marine Festival) for several years now.  Usually it is in May, to coincide with the 'Birthday' of the Regency on May 9th, but this year it was postponed and happened in October.

Pantai WTC (Waisai TerCinta - Beloved Waisai Beach) with Kalabia at anchor in background

The postponement had to do with the worrying poor health of the head of the Regency back in May (fortunately he is in better health now, and when I met him at the Festival, he seemed fit-as-a-fiddle), but in fact, this is better timing from several other aspects.  It is much more favourable weather and sea-faring conditions, and the Liveaboards which operate in Raja Ampat have just about completed their 6-month Komodo season and are generally heading back up at this time of year, so there is potential to attract international guests and attention from here as well.

This year the festival was bigger than previously, and seemed much better organized.

There were several activities including a Photography Competition, Traditional Food Fair, where I taste-tested 'Grub Kebobs', there were traditional dance troops from the villages which gave periodic performances throughout the festival and there was a 'Travel Mart'.  A Symposium on Environmentally-Friendly Diving was held one day, although my major comments at that were that it seemed a little futile to be discussing diver impact when the scale of the environmental damage that can occur in that respect is miniscule compared to some of the major issues threatening the reefs and marine conservation, like rapid unsustainable coastal development.

We took the opportunity, at the invitation of the local government, to participate by maintaining a Kalabia stand at the fair, and hosting a drawing competition for Raja Ampat children.  The Kalabia team was very proud that their stand was by far the most popular one at the fair, both for kids and adults!  And of course, the drawing competition was a great success... the top 12 winning entries will become part of the Kalabia 2012 Calendar, but they were more excited to receive their prize of a snorkel set each!

And we hung out and enjoyed the bad food, interesting dances and festival atmosphere!

Ange & Yesaiah @ WTC - a friend who leads a traditional music and dance troop as well as conservation programs in Sawinggrai village

 So it seems like the Festival was a decent success from most points of view.... BUT... there are still a couple issues regarding planning, and the MAJOR issue of waste management that the government needs to improve upon for coming years.  The Festival dates were announced only about two weeks prior to the event - so it doesn't give either participants or guests much chance for preparation!  But the bigger issue in my eyes is the non-existent waste management.  Part of the message of this festival is about how fabulous Raja Ampat is as a fabulous holiday destination... BUT although they at least had someone cleaning the festival area daily, they still don't have a long-term viable solution in place for waste-management in Waisai.  They are still going with the typical 'treatment rather than prophylaxis' (ie. bandaid) approach.  Someone from the Kalabia team was in Waisai for 2 weeks prior to the event canvassing for the inclusion of waste bins around the entire festival area... BUT in the end, the waste bin at the Kalabia stand was the only one visible in the entire area!  And the area just behind the festival grounds looks like this:

Kalabia August September October

I've had a chance to be out in Raja Ampat aboard the Kalabia several times over the last couple months.  Each time I'm out, I fall more in love with the area, and I'm more impressed with the ability of the education team to overcome the limitations presented to them working in the villages here!  Here are just a few of my favourite random shots from the last couple months in the field in Raja Ampat... Enjoy!

Sate Ulat Sago

Sate is basically the Indonesian word for kebab... meat on a stick.  The most common is chicken sate, delicious with a peanut sauce... but you can also get fish and other types of sate, including this one:  Sate Ulat Sago - Sago Palm Larvae!  Yup... Maggots on a stick... Grub Kebabs!

Sate Ulat Sago

I had tried this before at the Danau Sentani Cultural Festival, since it is a traditional Papuan food specialty... But since it made an appearance at the Traditional Food Fair at the Raja Ampat Festival as well, I had to try it again!

And actually, it was different... I remember it being kind of sweet and almost carmelized the first time... Well, this version was very oily, and tasted kinda like cheese....   not so delicious.

Obviously, ii's reaction was not one of pure taste bliss !  haha!

 Well, I guess I missed Hallowe'en again, but at least this year I got a little taste of spooky food!  And it sounds like it's not just here in Papua, but insect-eating is becoming a trend in SF as well... and I remember back when I was planting we made blackfly pie in the bush one year... 

Coral Mining

The education trip aboard the Kalabia in September was inspiring and devastating at the same time...

When we took the kids of Kabare snorkeling, it was difficult for us to find an area of decent reef - an area that had not been ripped up.  Once we did find a spot, it was dominated by fragile, branching-type corals... not the massif corals that make up the foundation of healthy reefs, and also, as it turns out, good solid foundations for houses.

The scale of the coral mining was unprecedented... scary.  And even scarier was the AWARENESS and apathy.  Just a few hundred metres away from where we took the kids snorkeling were piles of coral ready for loading to bring to shore... When we asked the people that came in the boat to pick it up if they were aware of the impacts of coral mining, their answer lead us to believe that they were at least partially aware of how devastating it could be for the community if the reefs were completely ruined.  They said those were the last ones, and that the community had decided to stop the coral mining, but yet they continued.

In each of the villages we visited in North Waigeo, the streets were lined with piles of coral that had been pulled up from the reefs and were set to become roads, streets, foundations and walls...

In part I blame the Indonesian government poverty index which holds as one of their indicators the type of houses families live in - wooden houses are for the poor and cement houses are for the rich it says.  The ironic thing, in my opinion, is that from a safety and comfort standpoint, these houses aren't the best or most practical for the local element... Wooden homes are much cooler and allow for some air circulation in this over-heated environment.  I remember during the Jogja earthquake, going around afterward as part of the medical mission, and seeing entire communities of flattened brick and cement homes, with the only shelters left standing being that of the cattle, because they were made out of flexible bamboo which withstood the earthquake!?

Hopefully this new generation of Raja Ampat youth, with the influence of our program, will not only have a better understanding of the devastation coral mining causes, but also care enough about it to stop the practice!  This goes for all the issues facing conservation as far as I'm concerned... including the unsustainable development practices and lack of facilities I've blogged about before in these past blogs:

- Mayalibit Bay, Development, Transmigration and Kalabia

- Why Sigh? - The new capital of Waisai and its garbage problem

- Division - Transmigration slated for Papua

- Avatar - Similarities with the Papua situation

- Kaliyam & Wailebet - Forest Destruction, Turtle Consumption and Fish Bombers

- Transmigration Woes