Flores
The Land of Flowers

...or The Land of the Tube People, as I came to affectionately refer to it during my holiday there in May.

There are a few things synonymous with the island of Flores in Indonesia: the textiles, the flowers, and of course, the tri-coloured lakes.

My 'Tube People' reference has to do with the textiles and the temperature! After two years of living in coastal Indonesia (average temperatures easily over 30C during the day), I found it COLD in Flores (albeit not unhappily so!). Of course, I was mostly visiting the mountainous areas... because that is where my friend Sigit, another CUSO volunteer, lives! But it's not just me, and my newly-adapted coastal blood, Flores really is quite chilly! So... people use their fabulous thick, tightly woven sarongs as full-body wear to keep them warm.




Getting to Flores was an adventure in itself... because there are no direct flights to Bajawa (the small town in the central mountains where Sigit lives), I spent an enjoyable overnight in Kupang, West Timor. Next morning, bright and early, I report for my flight to Bajawa, with only a handful of other people... because that's all the plane can seat; we're flying in a small twin-engine with a 1-2 seating configuration! It was really windy, and the pilots were struggling to keep us steady... I think they were quite stressed, as they were smoking throughout the entire flight - no kidding!



There is only a curtain between the cockpit and the cabin... there was no doubt... I'm just not sure they didn't open their windows to ash as well!? Anyway, after THE craziest landing I've ever had (which entailed a literal hop, skip and jump, as well as breaking SIDEWAYS down the runway!) we deplaned... I swear I saw the captain kiss the ground!



Straight from the plane we visited the natural Mengeruda hot springs, which were perfectly relaxing after the hair-raising flight! (The beer Sigit brought helped as well!)


I was lucky to visit Sigit at a time when he had lots of field work to do; he works in Eco-tourism for the Ngada Regency, so his 'work' was my 'vacation'! We spent a lot of time on his motorcycle, blackie...



... and I really experienced WHY Flores is called 'the cape of flowers'; it honestly feels like you're driving through a gigantic wildflower garden!







I got to see an amazingly-varied amount of the island considering I was there for less than a week!


We went to Aimere on the South Coast...





Riung and the Seventeen Islands Marine Park on the North Coast...






The traditional village of Bene...



... and I made a side trip to some of the traditional weaving villages, and had lovely visits with the ladies...

I also got on the road at 4 am for a solo motorbike ride up to Kelimutu National Park, the home of the tri-coloured lakes... when I got there my hands were frozen around the handlebars and had to be pried off... luckily the hike up warmed me up, and there was a gentleman at the peak serving tea... aaahhh.



Visiting the lakes was a religious experience in itself, but of course, to top it off, I was joined mid-morning by a group of nuns and a priest (who also happen to be working in Sorong). I actually spent the entire morning up at the lookout, just hangin', reading, visiting with the unique characters that happened my way, and enjoying the colour changes as the sun rose higher in the sky... by the time I left, the middle lake appeared to be an opaque, chalky robin's egg blue.



I chose the perfect moment to come down from the summit, because it was about to be turned from my peaceful respite into a MAJOR party! As it turns out it was the continuation of a religious holiday and it included a 'pilgrimage' of sorts to this lake. So, as I was getting ready to leave....



I was also lucky enough to meet Sigit's good friends Mama Mia and Pak Lawrence; at their house I was introduced to the Florenese tradition called 'nalo' (the gathering, eating, drinking, and discussion of friends and family). Nalo inevitably involves 'moke'. I thoroughly enjoyed both the Nalo and the MOKE!


Moke is actually a mildly(?) alcoholic. It comes directly from a specific species of palm tree (below), and with no distillation or processing whatsoever it is a cloudy whitish liquid. It has a very unique, possibly acquired, taste!



Traditional ceremony in Narualsdkjf


I got stranded in Flores for an extra night by a plane breakdown (as Martin says, better before take-off than somewhere over the Flores Sea!)... but made the best of it, and went wandering around Ende, finding myself in my favourite situation... the market...


... and like almost everywhere else I've been in Indonesia, I am a bit of a star, gathering a fan club wherever I go... oh dear, what a let down it will be to be back home in Canada where I'm just another regular Canadian! haha!

Malls of a Million Wonders

Jakarta was really a bit of a culture shock in itself!

We stayed at a hotel not too far from one of the newest, largest malls in the city, Grand Indonesia, where you can basically travel around the world without even leaving the city!




Water show at the Empire State Building in 'New York'


Wandering around Arabia



Hanging at the Moulin Rouge...


... and the Roman balconies...


...to the streets of New York...


Then back out onto the streets of Jakarta... for a meal at a neat little street cafe

Buah Merah
(Red Fruit)



It's red, and it's a fruit... they hit this one BANG ON!

Maybe you remember the post I did a while back on Ants' Nests?

Well, this remedy is even more celebrated... everyone in Papua has a buah merah story... I've heard about some pretty miraculous cures that I'm not quite ready to pass off as fiction.

Buah Merah is heralded as THE ultimate natural medicine, curing everything from cancer, to paralysis, to diabetes, to aids!? Can we please get some samples of this into the lab to study!?!?! I couldn't find any official data, but several sites claim to have information that buah merah contains all kinds of antioxidants, multivitamins, minerals and antiviral compounds, to which it attributes its ability to defeat many different diseases.

So I went in search of this miracle cure... thinking I really can't go wrong! And hoping to check for a slightly processed version (meaning, well-packaged) that would make it through customs and border security. Turns out it's not that hard to find in Sorong, nor is it very expensive... I walked into the market, asked, and was directed to an area full of ants' nests and red fruits!



Good luck getting that across the boarder!

Latin name: Pandanus Conoideus Lam.
Geographic Distribution: Endemic to the Papuan central mountains; 2000-3000 m alt.
Uses: food, traditional medicine for cancer, cholesterol, rheumatics, diabetes, hypertension, lung spots, hepatitis, coronary problems including stroke, vision care (including prevention of blindness!), immune system problems, intestinal worms, skin disease, low-metabolism, to osteoporosis and HIV Aids.

Traditionally, as a food, it is cooked using a process called a 'Bakar Batu' ceremony. As a medicine, the liquid-gold oil is extracted from the 'skin' of the fruit and consumed alone or as a tea.



I will be starting my buah merah regimen immediately (apparently one teaspoon is enough for eternal life (or something like that, I didn't read the fine print). And luckily, buah merah oil is sold in sealed containers, so I will be able bring it home without being detained at the border for questioning!

FLOOOOD!

I'm not talking about anything on the scale of the New Orleans flood, or the Jakarta 2002 floods where hundreds of thousands were displaced from their homes; there was no heart-wrenching footage of entire families taking refuge on a make-shift raft as their roof gets swallowed by water... but last week our staff house flooded!

This is the first time we've had flood issues since being in Indonesia, but according to friends it had to happen sooner or later (most have experienced floods, and some on several occasion)! "Everyone has to have an Indonesian flood story to take home", consoled Cecilia!

In fact, the situation wasn't THAT dire... it was just the series of factors that came together: high tide ("so", in terminology I adored, a coworker said "the sea was full"), major garbage problem in Sorong (ie. blocking the gutters and sewers, and more devastatingly their outlets to the sea), heavy rainfall (duh!?), and a low-ish lying property. But the worst that happened for us was that a few things got a little wet... but they probably needed a good washing anyway (luckily nothing electronic)!

Of course, then yesterday it *almost* happened again... when I realized it had been raining on a torrential scale for quite some time, I rushed home to 'guard' against the floods (how does one do that exactly!?)... when I arrived the water was already surrounding the house in a dirty brown moat, and not a speck of the patio was showing, but it hadn't quite reached the doorways. After raising everything up off the floor and out of harm's way (including the clothes which were not quite dry from the thorough wash they got after the last event!), I spent two hours running from the front to the back doors, checking on the 'current situation' and readying 'dykes' at the doorways - haha!

The rain slowed, and we were safe... this time. Let's hope this isn't us in the future!

Sea Crunch

A strange snack... Grilled Lobster Flavoured chips... hmmm...



This is just one of hundreds of different kinds of snack food you see on the shelves of supermarkets here; Indonesia is FULL of strange snacks of all shape, size and flavour. Processed and natural. Delicious and not.

They weren't as delicious as a real grilled lobster... I preferred the seaweed flavoured Lay's chips.

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!