Let's talk about the weather

It's funny how seemingly small things can make or break what you think of a place--things like weather or a friendly face. When we visited Bawomataluo village (try saying that 3 times fast), it was a drizzly day. There weren't many people out and everything just seemed grey.



 

The village was unique and interesting. It is elevated so it feels like you're in the sky. The buildings are made with massive timbers and modeled after boats. They are constructed without nails and have survived the many earthquakes in the region better than more modern buildings. But we skipped the famous stone jumping, partly out of concern that the jumpers might slip, and the mood was less than festive.

Coffee 'grinding'. They make strong coffee here.
Just skip the fine grounds in the bottom of your cup.

The King's House

After a few days of rain (this is the rainy season), the sun finally showed its supercharged face. We don't normally visit touristy places more than once, but when Mark on Field Trip wanted to head back to get some drone shots on a day with better weather, Matt was happy to tag along. They were fortunate enough to be present at the same time as an honored 3-star Navy Admiral. This meant that there would be lots of stone jumping (without the normal 200,000 Rupiah fee) in full traditional costume.

Drying rice

Drying laundry

Of course, this being Indonesia, there was also a long wait and several speeches before the show could start. In the interim, Matt, Mark and Kate (guest crew on Field Trip), were whisked away to the King's House so they wouldn't hear a brewing argument: The villagers were taking advantage of the sun to dry their rice and laundry. The organizers of the festivities didn't want their scenic village to be covered in laundry and rice. Eventually, they worked it out but the discussion did get quite heated.

Batu Lompat (jumping stone)

Boys become men by vertically jumping over this 2 meter stone

When you live among historic artifacts, they cease to be interesting and
simply become a place to hang your laundry.