Craig and I have just spent the day seeing the top third of this nice island, which is quite literally the size of Molokai. The little peninsula that the tourist accommodations are, was probably formed just like Kalaupapa was, there are giant steep volcanic Pali rising two thousand feet in back of us, and there is actually a narrow ribbon of waterfall streaming down it into a hidden pool. Undoubtedly there is a mo'o in it, because lizards are a traditional art motif here big time.
The people here are Batak, and share a few words with Polynesians actually... Five is "Lima".... And most astonishingly they have a single word that means hello, greetings, goodbye, take care, welcome, and it is "Horas"! Sure sounds like from same root as aloha to me!
People here still speak Batak, are allowed to teach some of it in school as well as Indonesian, and they are proud of both their Batak culture and sculpture, which is very Polynesian looking, and their Christianity, which they have to defend fiercely in Indonesia, a Muslim country. It helps that they live five hours from the nearest airport.
We spent the day today driving the loop road, to go up into the heights would be quite hard from this side, and its beautiful. People traditionally lived in very high peaked roof houses with fantastic carvings of mystical creatures, oxen horns and lizards and other icons, all painted in black, red and white, and a lot of these houses are still used; and when they die their family buries them In a high decorated mausoleum always out in a beautiful field, usually rice, near the house, very high sometimes with lifesize representations of the folks. The land is rich and green so chocolate trees, pineapples, all kinds of crops can be grown. It's like the windward side and the elevation is 3,000 feet so its been pretty cool.
The area is suffering economically though. Apparently in the 1970s, when you could stay a long time on an Indonesian visa, travelers always came here and many small guest houses and restaurants were built. But now that you can only stay a month without leaving, few travelers make it here. It's really a shame because its nearly as magical as Tana Toraja in the Sulawesi highlands and a lot more dependent on tourism because of the history.
Craig will post pictures. For anyone traveling here I wanted to put in our driver from today, Loi, his email is golkhonlibrary@hotmail.com or gokhonlibrary@hotmail, and phone 085261691642. He was so kind and informative, has two daughters in college, and growing chocolate and driving tourists like us. So it you should ever come here please use him!
It's hard to believe there could be a freshwater lake in the world, big enough to contain Moloka'i. Because all the cliffs are only about two thousand feet high and are far away, the horizon is beautiful with the mountains but the sky is enormous, sunrise was spectacular, and midday the lake is very blue. In the afternoons rain rolls through in short bursts and last night we had heavy drenching downpours, which means, relax, eat drink and be merry! We heard some energetic if not great Batan dancing and folksongs last night at a local hangout called Bagus (don't go there for the food) and heard the real music and saw beautiful dancing (which is mostly refined hand gestures and a little bobbing walk) today at the "museum" up at the top of the island, half an hour by car away. Best of all is hanging out on the huge restaurant verandas of hotel Carolina. The rooms are not overly maintained, a little paint would make the bathroom look a lot cleaner, but you can't beat the friendliness the reasonably ok food and the amazing ambiance and grounds.
You seem to be communicating easily with the local peoples. Am curious how you accomplish that. We are south of where you are by a few thousand miles, and in completely different worlds. Let us Continue on our journeys....there's so much to see! Love, B
ReplyDeleteHi Barbara! Sorry I didn't reply sooner, just saw your comment. We just talk to people, it's as simple as that. As you know by traveling the world, people are people where ever you are and are curious who you are and where you come from. Especially in a place like Sumatra, where they see very few foreign tourists.
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