terça-feira, 17 de outubro de 2017

Indonesia, Part III

I honestly though I would never finish this little report on my adventure but here I am, getting back to the topic.
I am sorry it took me so long to come back and write it down as my biggest fear came true and I now don't remember everything as vividly as I wish. The purpose was precisly not to forget even the smallest and maybe most insignificant things about my trip. I think it's also good to have let time go by and let the memories settle, but it starts to feel like another life and I can't help regretting not having written sooner.

I think I was around week 2 to 3 when we last met so I am picking up from there. I am ready, so let's go! 
Until the very end of the second week / the beginning of third week I didn't spend much time with my project folks. During those times I was always out and about with Amber and Sike (and Sike's friends). We used to go to karaoke, to the movies or just having dinner out. Neither had I taken many pictures. In general I think I haven't photographed as much as I had planned, or at least as much as I wanted to. But reality is, Makassar isn't exactly what we imagine when we think about Indonesia.  There is garbage everywhere, more traffic than I have ever seen in my life and it's a city full of roads, houses and malls so not really the beachy, palm tree, coconut scenario we think of. 
But I got to experience that as soon as we left for an island called Kondigareng. Finally a project activity that seemed to work (it had its ups and downs as well but we made it!).
Most definitely the best sunrise I've seen was in Kodingareng. I have no words for how emotional I feel just remembering it. A sky full of stars, no air polution, no clouds, just a clear sky filled with little glimpses of light. Seriously, if you don't bond over a starry sky I don't know how to make it work. So, by then, after a few days sharing rooms, showers and meals with a big group of about 30 people you get to know some of them and you get to love them too. I remember Hajar, Matei, Rachid and Johnny fondly. Those days made me want to stay. I should mention we had no signal or wi-fi and life was pretty good.
The days were spent in schools teaching, playing games and getting to know the locals and their culture. I have to say Kodingareng is a pretty small island. You get to walk the whole island in less than 45 minutes and that is it. Food, water and every day supplies come daily from the mainland, or should I say from the closest islands, since Indonesia is just the biggest archipelago in the world, with thousands of islands os all sizes you can imagine. 
I think that was the first time those people got to see foreigners and I can't count how many pictures we have taken with them, or how many mister, mister, ini, ini, cantik we've heard over the days. This was also the time I got to gain some weight because the food the ladies cooked for us in the big house was just so good and I loved it so much I had 2 or 3 servings per meal (ahhhhh)!!!

Kodingareng was when I started taking more pictures. Kodingareng was also the place where I got to clean a beach for the first time and I won't even tell you what kind of stuff I found and picked up from the sand or the water. The beaches there are beautiful but you just can't swim or lie on the sand without stepping on any kind of strange object. It broke my heart to see so many beautiful landscapes ruined by such a big amout of trash and knowing the week after we left they would go back to what they where before we got there. 

The adventure had begun. The days were happy. Mamasa and Majene next!! 

Also, I'll be posting some pictures of Indonesia as soon as I finish and this never-ending blabbering!!