Today, I’m NOT traveling. One long day to Tentena, one day in Tentena on motor bike exploring, one long day yesterday on bus to get here and now, walking and relaxing. It’s strange being around a city again after being on the islands for so long. I’m carrying wallet and watch, found ice cream, am surrounded in the internet cafe by young boys teetering between their computer game and looking over my shoulder, and listening to traffic.
A couple people asked me how the weather is here. In one of Lewis Black’s comedy routines, he talks about the easiest job in the US: San Diego Weatherman. And the weather for today is……Nice! Back to you Bob!
Perhaps that should be the weather man in the Togian Islands. I was within 20 kilometers of the equator. The weather every day is warm and humid. Some days, warmer, some days windy, some days a bit rainy, every day: Nice!
Yesterday, a typical travel day, the bus took longer than promised. Amazingly, it left nearly on schedule which is the first time anything like that has happened for me in Indonesia. I generally ignore any information about travel times, etc. The bus left at 9:30 am for Palopo, all the bus’s stop there and then you need to connect toa bus to Rantepao. Once again, our six or seven hour ride took until 8:00 pm. One stop for a tree that had fallen across the road requiring our driver, his helpers, men from the trucks ahead of us, and skilled hands with machete had the road cleared in about 20 minutes. Then there was the truck that took a turn too tight, back tires left the pavement and the truck tumbled over the edge crushing the cab and stopping in the trees (no one appeared injured), then a stop for lunch, then a stop for the driver to shop at a market, then a stop for changing the head light, then a stop for dinner….well, you get the image!
Once in Palopo, we were dropped off on the side of the road, a dark road, hoisting our packs to figure out what to do next. A voice behind us asked “Toraja?” and we said yes. The Spanish couple on the bus with me have been traveling for four months and are on a tight budget. When the man told us a car would cost $300,000, we balked at the price. Soon, we realized that once again, the information in Lonely Planet wasn’t all that accurate. I don’t have one and am traveling without any travel guide but the Spanish couple (John and Suzana) were upset that Lonely Planet said there were lots of buses! Not to be, no more buses that night and only private car. So, it was either find a hotel, pay for a room, get a taxi there and back in the morning, wait for a minivan to fill up and leave when full or HOPE another private car would be available.
In short order, the men trying to sell us a car for $300,000 turned from sales to helper and started calling friends to see if they would help. We had a price of $240,000 but found the driver had already left. Then two men got on their motor bikes and went looking for cars. We had a comfortable spot to rest and decided to wait half an hour before going to the hotel. One of the motor bikes came back with no options, the other returned shortly with “good news, you very lucky”, he had found a car for $250,000. Off we headed and arrived in Rantepao after 11:00 pm. The hotel had only one room with single bed so my friends headed off with the driver looking for another hotel. I saw them sitting on the front of one of the three wheeled motorbikes this morning heading toward Wisma Maria so maybe I’ll see them again tonight?
This is the first town I’ve been in where people were more aggressive about selling trips, tours, “where you going mister”, etc. I stopped in the government information office that was helpful. Walking down the street, I noticed a sign for tourist information and headed that way. A small convenient looking shop had an information so I stopped and he asked me if I wanted to rent a motor bike?
We started talking about travel options and where I could find coffee plantations? He invited me inside, got out a map, pointed out areas to visit and I realized he was a wealth of information! He’s taking me on a motor bike tomorrow for the day for about $30 US to tour the South. We’ll see caves the funeral rites have happened for 700 years, visit an authentic village, eat traditional pig in a local village, stop at the “baby tree” and see the coffee plantation on the way home.
He speaks good English and most importantly, speaks with great enthusiasm about what there is to experience. I may go on an overnight trek with him to a local village in the North the next day. I’m at the point now where I have to begin thinking about travel schedules to Flores and Komodo.
The flights happen every couple days, only from Makassar, it’s a day or overnight trip to get there, then I’ll be off to see the Komodo Dragons, snorkel, visit islands near there and eventually get to Bali.
Coffee: all the good coffee is exported. They have both Robusta and Aribica coffee here. The altitude is good for Arabica beans and there is a coffee market here somewhere in town so I’ll go looking for that and a lunch spot shortly.
I’ve found packages of an instant Moka Coffee in the markets here that I carry for the occasional alternative to the bitter local brew. Even with good local beans, most of that is exported. If I go trekking with Nathan, we’ll be walking through the rice fields, cacoa plantations and the coffee plantations before staying in a local house. Many of the guides take people here to “tourist villages”, Nathan wants to take me to an authentic local village that others don’t visit. People there live the way they have for ages. Most of the other villages are more like museums, you can see the houses but people don’t live there anymore.
Should be some interesting stories and photographs when I get back!
Out of curiosity, I totaled the expenses I had once I had the expensive day in Manado with hotel and travel and taxi costs running nearly $1,800,000 rupiah in one day ($200 US). Keep in mind that I traveled by ferry, taxi, private car, boat, was snorkeling, bought water and a few beers. The places I stayed were inclusive price. The most expensive was on Bunaken for $150,000 a day and that included all meals, the same was true for the resorts in the Togian Islands although the prices were lower. My expenses for 16 or 17 days totaled $356.00. That includes everything! It was possible to do it even a little cheaper but I’m not counting pennies. People often ask how I travel and wonder how I can travel so long, that’s the secret!
Here in Rantepao, a tourist town, I found a money changer. They took my $100 dollar bill but had to discount the exchange rate as it wasn’t a bill from 2006 so wasn’t worth as much. They had different exchange rates also for $10’s, $20’s and $50’s, all lower by quite a bit. However, I now have tour money in my pocket. My room here is costing me $60,000 per night including breakfast. The breakfast is the best I’ve had included in any stay so far. This morning, I changed rooms as they only had one room left when I arrived late last night which was a double room, hot water and no extra charge for the mold and mildew devouring the walls. I now have a room clear of green things growing on the wall.
Here are two links, one for a map of the area with a description of some of what there is to see and another with information on Toraja.
I’m happy to have found your blog! I hope you find some good coffee….and I can’t wait to hear about it. Be well.