Bajawa
From Ruteng it was another hellish four hours to Bajawa, in the highlands of central Flores. Here it was cold and cloudy, as in Ruteng. The surrounding countryside was green with pine forests. Volcanoes rose in the distance. We organized an expedition with a local guide to visit some of the traditional villages in the area. People in this part of Flores still follow “adat” (meaning custom, tradition or religion, a charged and important word in Indonesian): in this case a set of rituals and customs passed down for generations. Their system of beliefs is full of interesting symbolism. Villages are composed of “clans” (families) who build houses with high, thatched roofs around a central open area. In the center is a megalithic altar composed of flat flagstones and upright standing stones. Each standing stone corresponds to an important ancestor. Nearby are Christian graves, marked with crosses, almost as if the villagers were hedging their bets. By the altar, a large tree trunk topped with an umbrella of palm hair is planted in the ground. This structure represents the “male” spirit. The “female” part is represented by a small house on stilts with a thatched grass roof. There is one pair of pole and house (male and female) for each clan. The design of the traditional house also incorporates many layers of symbolism. The front porch leads to an intricately carved doorway at the top of several steps. Only insiders are allowed to enter the house. All of the carvings and decorations are laid out with strict observance to the rituals and traditions of each clan.
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We visited several traditional villages during the day. We brought betel nut, the traditional gift, and sampled some ourselves to the delight of the local villagers. After cutting the brown interior out of the green “pinang” nut, you roll it in a dark green “sirih” leaf with some “kapur”, white lime, basically ground chalk. Then you put it in your mouth and start to chew. First comes a bitter taste, then your cheeks and lips start tingling, and soon you start salivating and spitting red. If you chew enough you get light-headed. Most of the older women chewed constantly. There were red splotches everywhere, the remains of constant spitting. Many of the men now prefer cigarettes, while the younger generation has given up on sirih, probably because it stains your teeth red. By traditional standards of beauty, though, white teeth are not considered good looking. Older women prefer to rub an herbal concoction on their teeth regularly to keep them (or their remaining toothy stumps) black.
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We had already noticed that by now, in this part of Flores, people had changed. Here their skin was darker and their hair frizzy. They looked more like Australian Aborigines than the Indonesians from Java or Bali. After seeing villages we relaxed in some nearby hot springs and feasted on a giant pineapple that had been on sale by the roadside. It was bigger than Eric's head! We took a stroll through a mixed coffee, cacao, clove and vanilla plantation as our guide pointed out the different trees to us.
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