Tomahon, North Sulawesi

Ok, one month later, life gets going fast, it's almost time for summer break and I still haven't written anything about the second leg of our North Sulawesi journey into the mountains.  It was a 2 night stay, cooler than on the island, and the landscape, outside of 'overall tropical', was completely different.  My favourite landscape photo was of a volcano we stayed near.  In the early morning the moon was slowly sinking down the blue sky while the sun worked its way upwards, and I attempted to get a nice, clean shot of it all.  In doing so, I intentionally kept out a plume of yucky brown smoke that just made the photo a little 'dirtier.'  Later, as I looked at our friend Jeff's photos of the same mountain on that same morning, I realized I had missed out on an opportunity to photograph the volcano smoking...I thought the smoke was from a nearby village.  Duh.

Our transfer from Bunaken to Manado's port was quite uneventful, which is always good when you're on water, but we did see a unique sight at the port itself.  Yellowfin tunas were being transported from a boat to a small truck, and it was quite something to see young guys haul 100 kg frozen tuna onto their shoulders, skirt up a skinny, worn wooden plank and plop the frozen fish into the truck.  I've seen big salmon and West Coat fish, but these were BIG.

Once in the mountains, we took advantage of the terrain and went white water rafting.  That, by far, was my favourite part of this trip.  I think I grinned the whole way down the river and then some.  That was a first for me, as was peering over the edge of a volcano into the crater below.  That didn't thrill me nearly as much as the hike up the volcano, with the fields of varying crops on all sides, in various shades of greens and browns.  Absolutely lovely!

Of course, how can you get the full feeling of a place unless you go shopping?  Just before our trip up the volcano, we needed to find 3 year old Caleb a pair of shoes, as he lost the only ones he had.  As his parents and the rest of the gang dug through shoes, chose the perfect pair, and dickered for a good price, Matthew and I wandered around and took a bunch of photos.  My favourite 'person' photo was this one of an older woman in the market.  She was quite willing to pose for me, although it's the candid shot of her than I like the best.  If ever I had to take a survey, I think that Sulawesi is by far the most friendly place to visit in Indonesia (with Jogjakarta a close 2nd), and this woman epitomizes that for me.

There was more to our trip in the mountains, with a hike into a waterfall, free massages for each cabin, dinner with friends and even a movie channel in the villa!
It was a super "Spring" break for our family, and traveling with other families was a great way to go.  Indonesia is such a huge country and we'd like to experience a bit of every part of it, so who knows if we'll ever go back to Sulawesi.  I hope that sometime in the future we'll have another opportunity, and if you're thinking of visiting, I highly recommend it.

Thanks for reading.

Yard Sale!

I've been grinning since Friday just before 3 and haven't stopped since.  Well, maybe a few times, but the grin keeps coming back.  The charity group that I belong to held a Yard Sale on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, and it was so fun for everyone involved.  Our goal was to collect enough "goods" to sell to the local drivers, helpers and yard maintenance workers (hired by the village to keep the place looking good) at really cheap prices, while raising some money for the medical fund for underprivileged children that we're involved with at the local hospital.   The first reason for my grinning?  My expectation, with having mostly clothes and small items, was $200-300, while my friend Dalenea's was a little higher at $500.  We ended up raising approximately $700 US in little less than 5 hours.

Sales like these are not all that common here.  In fact, we've only ever seen a similar sale at our school, held through the Parents Committee, and that one is usually quite successful too.  The second reason for my grinning?  Every time I see a helper or driver that knows I was part of the event asks me "Mrs, when's the next sale??"   Realistically, probably once or twice a year is enough with all the collecting and work that goes into one, but when I give that answer it brings a smile every time.  Now regardless of what position I hold this time next year in the charity group, I'll have to push for a 2nd Annual Yard Sale.

The 3rd reason for grinning is that every person who bought clothing at the sale that I've seen since Saturday has been wearing something they bought for themselves.  This morning my helper arrived from her home with a big smile on her face, her new pretty, green shirt on, and again, with the question "when is the next one?"  When we went shopping, I tapped on the window of my friend's car, waved hello to her waiting driver, and the next thing I know he's popped up next to my car with his new, long-sleeved men's dress shirt on, grinning, and helped us unload the groceries into my car.

To be honest, we could just give the things away that we collected.  In fact, with having help in our homes, that is usually what we do with anything that our children have outgrown or we've become tired of (kind of sad, isn't it, that we become tired of things so easily).  However, the buzz that was at this Yard Sale, and the sense of community was really neat.  Although the pace was really, really fast (can you say mind-spinning!?) most of the time, and we were all dripping with sweat, tired and thirsty, it was really fun to help people shop, make change, work as a team and, in the last hour, to practically give things away for free.  The guy who walked away with a swivelling office chair for about 20 cents didn't really know what to do with the chair (rode in on a motorbike) but was ecstatic he'd bought himself a chair.  My friend's helper didn't need anything, but she bought a bunch of baby clothes for her sister in their home village 12 hours away.  One security guard isn't married yet, but he bought a wooden high chair, some lamps, and a set of wooden blinds for a couple of dollars, for who knows who.  He went back and forth on his motor bike a few times just to haul his treasures away.  Each time he rode with a grin.  That made the collecting, sorting, printing, cutting, taping, sticking, folding and hauling all worth it.

Thanks for reading