Hier kommt die Sonne (Rammstein)

March 9th

They say the sleep is better in a fresh air. This seems to be not the case this time. I wake up several times during the night. The history keeps silent on whether that’s the noise of the Molucca sea waves or the firm sleeping place which is not letting me sleep till the moment when the others are also waking up. It’s rather the firm sleeping place as I have foresightedly left the mattress at home…
Here one has to explain that we set up the base camp on the previous evening on the sea side – some under the mosquito net, some in the tent like me, some just in sleeping bag.
So I am looking through the net of the tent entrance and see that the Sun has risen quite above the horizon. Nothing has been missed and the camp is waking up bit by bit, our travellers’ group is gathering the sleeping accessories and preparing for the Big Event. Special glasses get distributed, cameras with light filters get set up and everyone reserves the nicest square meters of the beach for themselves.
Our activities are also observed by several Indonesians which arrived on the beach in the morning with their mopeds. They are, however, shyly sitting in the bush and our contact does not happen.

At 7:30 IT starts, first as a slight gap in the Sun’s puck that looks like someone would have bitten a round biscuit. Later it becomes similar to the protagonist of the classical computer game Pacman till around 8:44 we await a moment when for 3 minutes the Sun gets lost from the firmament. No, in fact it is not getting lost anywhere, just the puck of the Moon gets in the front of it with its broad back and in these latitudes, where we have come to not in the most easiest way, a strange twilight sets in for a moment. With the diminishing of the Sun’s light it gets noticeably colder. There were some clouds in the sky since the early morning which, when the eclipse was approaching, tried to cover the Sun, but they didn’t have courage to spoil the most important moment.
Meanwhile the first Indonesian group gets replaced by some other young generation Sun observers who have the special glasses as well in their inventory.
To describe the eclipse itself nothing suitable comes to the mind. It is indescribable by words.

When the brightness of the Sun comes back a photo of the united Latvia-Sweden eclipse observers’ group is made. The last joy in the water on this coast and we get ready for going back. After the Indonesian boys have shown us their tricks in the water, they climb palms and get us more than ten coconuts for which they get a small but fair fee. The coconut water turns out to be very refreshing.

At 10:30 we start driving with an aim to reach Ampana during this day – a place from where it is planned for us to go to Togean islands. Since it is a hot day, the crews crave for another swim. A half-suitable place gets found on the seaside and the heated bodies refresh in the warm sea.

We continue our trip for a bit more than an hour and then our bright and important day is, however, darkened by a “cloud” – we get a phone call from the crew of the third car with a message that their car has broken down and does not move. Since we are quite some stretch of the road in front of them, we return to evaluate the situation. All the signs are showing that the car has got left without a clutch which has not managed to withstand the stress of the several days in mountain serpentines. There are no tools and solutions initially, but we must do something. In the closest village using the “rich knowledge of Indonesian language” a durable rope gets bought and we pull the defective car to the Salodik village. The previously acquired new acquaintance Ipin gets called who promises to come and help.
Of course, this turn of events changes our plan considerably.

After a long discussion and involvement of several Indonesian “specialists” the solution is as follows – we trust the car to the locals together with a set sum of the many-zeroes money which would be necessary for its repair and also leaving in this car a big part of our belongings so everyone could move to the two other cars (luckily they are seven-seaters after all). In this way we would continue our road to Ampana, but the car after the repair would be delivered there by the locals and we would get it back after returning from the Togean islands. The risk, as a matter of course, rather great, but we don’t have any other acceptable options at 11pm.
Then the most complicated starts as after the already long day we still decide to go to Ampana where we arrive in the ferry terminal at 3:45am. The previously planned schedules have failed so we without pleasure choose to enjoy the not-so-comfortable hotel named “car” till the departure of the ferry.

The day before the eclipse

March 8th

It is important to talk to the local people. In this way, last evening we have found out that our route goes through a road renovation zone. It is closed for cars between 8am and 12pm. This factor requires leaving the hotel early (we are staying in the hotel Waraswati in Pagimana).

As usual we wake up at 6am. The breakfast is not included in the hotel price but we get some rice with few pieces of chicken and traditional shrimp crisps. Even though there is no alternative, the food here is great. Tea or coffee is not served (we don’t specificaly insist on having it, so it may be possible to get it if asked).

We fear that it may be difficult to find petrol station further along out route, so we fill the tanks in Pagimana and continue our journey. Around 1 km to the south from a town called Salodik, there is a small park called ‘obyek wisata pilaweanto salodik’. When we arrive, there is nobody at the entrance, so we open the gates ourselves and enter the park. This recreational zone contains few waterfalls, canopies and pedestrian paths. It is poorly maintained and almost seems to be abandoned. The waterfalls are nice and some of the group members go for a dip beneath one of them. The park offers refreshment during the hot day, so it is worth visiting. When we leave two men are waiting for us at the entrance and ask for an entry fee – 2000 rupies (approx. 0.13eur) per person.
8th of March is known as women’s day and Ilgonis presents flowers to the ladies in our team.

As we plan to camp on the beach during the night, we continue our road without stops. We must arrange our camp before the nightfall – the sunset here is around 6pm. We manage to find a nice spot close to the town called Pangkalaseang in the east of the central Sulawesi. The beach is close to the main road, but we need to go a short distance through coconut palm plantation to reach it. This is an extremely beautiful place – white sand, blue ocean, clear sky. This is a tropical paradise. Few of us set-up tents, few arrange sleeping under the mosquito nets and one would sleep directly below the sky (mosquite repealent is required). We make a small fire place and set up a dinner ‘table’. We go to sleep early. Tomorrow is the most important day of our journey.

Agnese’s notes:
The road between Salodik and Pangkalaseang is not ideal but not too bad either. Potholes in places sometimes small, sometimes for several meters.
The Poh bay is beautiful, we snorkel for a bit just before turning north away from it. There are coralls here as well and very beautiful ones once you get through a small forest of sea-weed.
Don’t attempt to sleep on beach without a mosquito net. The mosquito repellent perhaps helps to fall asleep, but the sleep only lasts till a point when you wake up from something biting vigorously.

The day of the first bath

March 7th

Today we wake up in Poso – the second biggest city in Central Sulawesi region if I am not mistaken. We slept on the last floor (3rd floor by Latvian standards, 2nd by UK) and it was one of the highest buildings around. There is no wifi here, but a good reception for mobile data, so I upload Ilgoni’s article before heading out.
The breakfast is arranged at 6:30 and incuded in the hotel price, but instead of fried rice that they had promised us for breakfast just before 7am we get some jam sandwiches and cream buns, plus tea/coffee. The receptionist can only say ‘sorry’. But I’m not surprised a bit. Everything happens slowly in Sulawesi, and likely the rice would take even longer time to be prepared.

We head out, get some petrol and then continue in the direction of Ampana, that is east. After a couple of kilometers we can see the Celebes sea on our left side and it will stay there all the day. It looks lovely and soon after we cannot stand to stay in the cars anymore. We stop and most of us get in the water which is very warm. Much warmer than one gets in Latvia at any time. I could perhaps stay in the whole day. After the first impression some people go to get their snorkeling gear and only then I realise that we have been swimming above a real coral reef. The corals are perhaps not the most beautiful I have seen, but there is still a big diversity both in the shape and the colour. And there are many nice and diverse fish among them, I like the stripy ones the most. After we head back to the cars we notice a motor-cyclist has stopped to ask us for a selfie. We have got used to this by now…

Near the town of Marowo we ask the locals for hotsprings. Air-pana is the Indonesian word for it, directly translated as water-hot. The locals say it’s about 7 kilometers ahead. Unfortunately when the locals arrange some motorcyclist to show us the way, he hears ‘Ampana’ and leads us 30km ahead to that town. Well, we will try to find them again on our way back, I guess…

In Ampana we find some bigger shop to get some supplies for the next 3 or so days (bigger than a kiosk several of which can be found in every village and considerably more in every town along the roadside of the main road. Also we find a post office which only has 10 (very basic and not at all touristy) postcards in total. We have been said that there is no water in Pangkalaseang village which is our ultimate destination for observing the eclipse, so we try to buy some. The biggest bottle the shop has is 6l and there is only 2 of those. We take both and hope to buy the 20l bottle in a kiosk on the roadside where we saw them being sold. But it turns out that one needs to have the bottle and it can be only filled in the kiosk with filtered tap water. Filtered tap water is not ideal but we still thought better than none. Yet it turns out one can only get water here if one has the bottle itself. Our big bottle is still full of water so we leave without any more.

More beautiful sights, more palms, more winding roads and another swim in the sea. In the evening we arrive in the Pagimana village and find a guesthouse between the main road and the sea. It has whole 2 air-conditioned rooms and an extra we had not expected to find here – wifi. Most of us squeeze in the 2 rooms leaving 3 other people to try to not suffocate in a non-AC one with an open window. Some fish are swimming in an enclosed area next to the guesthouse. Most of us pick some of them for supper while I will eat chicken instead. The guesthouse also has some beer which most of us have been craving for a couple of days already. The fish and chicken are delicious even though the supper is not cheap by the local standards. We talk and joke a bit. Then Ilgonis suggests going for a walk and most people join. I stay to translate Gunita’s article.

When they come back they have given the Big Dipper constellation a new name – ‘Bucket’ as that’s what we have been using instead of shower for last 2 nights and will do tonight as well. They have also made some new friends and learned about a road ahead which gets closed between certain times. We need to make it there before it closes around 8am, so tomorrow everyone must be packed by 6:30, then have breakfast and leave at 7am sharp. Time for some sleep, it has been another beautiful day!

The Hot And The Cold

March 6th

I felt it already in the evening before. That smell. Like rotting fish. Swedish surstromming. Could it be a durian? I didn’t know. It certainly wasn’t my feet this time. The smell gave me a headache. Or perhaps I was just dehydrated. Morning came and we had sausages, peas and small sandwiches for breakfast. And off we go! I was driving, and it was quite a nice drive through villages and hilly terrain. We were going from Wuasa towards Doda to look for the ancient megaliths in this area. The road was often good but narrow, sometimes with really high grass on the sides, making it like driving in a tunnel. In many places the road was bad though, with potholes, mud, even bigger potholes and steep drop offs. There was a few military checkpoints. Closing in on Doda there was signs formegaliths both left and right. After trying the right hand path, which turned out to be blocked, we walked the left path to the Tadulaku megalithic complex.

The first thing that happened was that we met the lady from the National Park Service,who had provided us with information about Lore Lindu. Agnese had the chance to complain about the missleading information that it was possible to see tarsiers at lake Tambing. I went ahead of the others for some “alone time” with the megaliths and the chance to perhaps spot some birds. It was a really hot day and the sun was burning relentlessly. About half way around the complex I was glad to see a lonely pine tree, and rested under for a while, feeling right at home. Many of the megaliths were shaped like giant jars, and I heard afterwards that some had cooled themselves down in the water inside. One was shaped like a flying saucer and one was shaped like a person, or a god-like figure.

Then there was the long drive back to Poso. We had some rain. At one of the military checkpoints the soldiers wanted to take pictures with us. We all lined up for the cameras, with guns and all. Back in Poso it was hard to find a guest house, because nobody spoke English when Agnese tried to call different places. After a while we found a place next to the main road. After settling in, we went to a restaurant for grilled fish with rice and vegetables. For the night I was offered to sleep on the floor in one of the air-conditioned rooms but declined. It is usually a good idea to try to adapt to the heat, the air-con will just give you a cold. Tha was my reasoning. The other rooms were really hot though, and I had difficulties sleeping. When I woke up the next day, I realized I had got a cold.

Agnese’s notes:
We considered to go from Doda south and then west to Tentena as that seemed to be faster judging from Nokia maps (no other map app had anything at all in this area). Yet the local person said the road is not doable by car – but doable if we were hiking…
By this day I had learned enough Indonesian to be able to arrange rooms in guest houses or hotels, however when the person on the other end of the phone says they speak English, I’d expect them to understand more than “Hello”. Or if I tell them in Indonesian “please talk slowly”, it doesn’t help if they start laughing and talking even faster…
But Poso centre has many guest houses so the easiest was just to go to some and talk Indonesian in person. Then they realise you are not supposed to speak their language at all and are more patient.
Also Air-con is a must if possible at all (this hotel “Armada” only had 2 such rooms)

The day of unfound tarsiers

March 5th

We were sleeping in two rooms of hotel Victory – twelve people. There are 54km to Poso which Imants and Agnese drive within 1h 10min. The locals said it will be at least 2 hours. After fueling up we go to a grocery store.
We get from Poso to Wuasa within 4 hours. On the way there were four checkpoints with passport checks and proceeded by taking photos together with them, treating with fruits in the mood of good-willing mutual interest. We successfully get to Wuasa where we don’t manage to stay in guesthouse “Mona Lisa” as all the rooms have been taken already. We get a place to stay elsewhere in the direct presence of the religious buildings of different confessions.

We settle in and go to Lore Lindu nature reserve. We have prepared well for the dangerous walk in jungle. As a result we walk along a swampy lakeside path already in dusk. The return path is done in the darkness already. We heard loud voices of frongs and cicadas. In the darkness after the jungle at home we have a dinner together. Time from time the electricity turns off. We sleep 4 in each room paying 150’000 for a room. The washing was Indonesian style by taking water by a bucket from barrels. In the double room which we get it is quite tight for 4 people so I decide to sleep outside as I had done it in Tentena already. However my sleeping doesn’t last long as the local dogs get interested in me and so I need to go back in the room.

Agnese’s notes:
The road from Poso to Wuasa is narrow and winding but with 90% of good asphalt. Half of the way it is going uphill, we measured the highest place to be 1700m above the sea level. The views are beautiful! And the nature completely different from what we had got used to. Canada came to my mind. Meanwhile on the way up it was a real rainforest with trees looking like tripods (their roots growing down in the air before they reach the ground). In about 3 places downhill one had to cross big muddy puddles, but no problems for our drivers there. In the Napu valley after the crossroads for a place called Watutau the road became worse for one stretch (many potholes) but still not as bad as I had imagined.
The overnighting places in Wuasa are located all on the same street – Mona Lisa, also “Di Wuasa”, where we stayed and Sandy where it’s likely possible to order meal as well. There was not place to be found in this town with working mobile data, however, even though otherwise the coverage was good and theoretically available Edge speed internet.
There are no Tarsiers near lake Tambing, at least the ranger of the park was not ready to bring us to look for any even though previously I had got such information.

The day of beautiful views

March 4th

Since we were staying so high up the mountain around 1400m above the sea, it was agreed to get up early in the morning to see the sunrise. We did not see the Sun in all the beauty – here he was shyly hiding in the clouds at first. But it was worth to get up – the views were fantastic. Clouds below us, above us, we ourselves almost like in a paradise. Yes, the suffering yesterday was worth it. Meanwhile the hosts had prepared breakfast – two pancakes with bananas for each.

After the breakfast we go to an open-air museum. We drive for a tiny stretch of road and I got stunned because a fantastic view opened up to the valley from the hill. That is how I imagine Indonesia. Majestic palms on the hill-sides but at the very bottom rice fields as small patches on a patch-blanket. When we came down from the mountain we noticed buffalos on the edges of the rice fields. Is that one golden? No, just rolled in some mud. The mud here is special. In the museum there are the same houses with boat-style roofs which are characteristic to the Toraja people. In the museum we are allowed inside these houses. It’s not a long walking around as we get surrounded by the merchants. Everyone tries to sell her goods. I have to say that they know their job well and some of us will go home richer by some necklaces, scarfs and bronze buffaloes.

Next our road leads to Poso. On Sulawesi island in most hotels it is not possible to wash normally, it was also not possible in our homestay. The nature compensated us this shortcome by offering a stream on the roadside where we washed naked behind a cover. On the way we stop at a palm forest, those are date palms. We didn’t get to Poso as it was already past 10pm. We didn’t want to spend few more hours on the road. Luckily we got a place to stay in Tentena hotel with a proud name “Victory”. The hotel was indeed a high class, no need to was from a barrel with a bucket but can use even a warm shower. We quickly prepared the dear Chinese instant noodle soup for supper and go to sleep. We sleep 6 people in our triple room. 3 are sleeping on extra mattresses. Rudolfs is sleeping on mattress under our bed, but he is not complaining. Rudolfs is never complaining, just smiling sweetly.

Agnese’s notes:
Down from Batutumonga we were driving along a road on the eastern side – with a turning point not far before Palawa village when looking from Rantepao. If we had come up along this road yesterday, there would have been no problems, but we didn’t know it.
To see the Toraja houses we went to Palawa village not far from Rantepao (Northeast). The entrance fee again 20’000IDR per person.
The road from Rantepao to Tentena mostly very winding, goes over several mountains, lots of serpentines. Meanwhile, the last about 20km there were roadworks, so we were driving it very long time.
In the hotel Victory or Victori (phone nr. 452-21841) there was also a free wifi available.

All is good that finishes in the night

March 3rd, Thursday

The day begins with the mosque prayer sounds at sunrise. At 6:30 for breakfast we enjoy the local traditional dishes – rice and coconut mixture wrapped in banana leaf, discuss the details of the earthquake and impending tsunami in Indonesia. We are delighted that Indonesia is so big that we are not nearby this incident. Meanwhile, the local goat opposite the hotel feast on trash content.

The day is sunny, hot, +29 degrees. At 7:30 we go for a boat ride on the lake Tempe. We get in 3 kayak-type boats with our bums on the boat floor and with a good mood enjoy the sunny day and easily bracing breeze. Along river coasts on stilts built are not only houses but also a mosque. On the footbridges next to the river women are washing clothes and bathe themselves, and are preparing food. Flying are white and gray herons, kingfishers, terns and some birds of prey. We are going through the water hyacinths, some water cabbage, peppers and vine jungle into open lake. One can only imagine how beautiful the view would be if there was the hyacinths blooming time as now only a few flowers can be seen. Visible in the distance is a mountain range, white clouds the sky. There are a large number of bamboo poles sticked in the lake to regulate the spread of water hyacinths’ floating islands. Fishermen cast small-hole nets in the lake. We go to the point where a small village of houses has been built in the middle of the lake. It is fine to live like this, because here it is warm and life on the water could be even more refreshing than on the coast. Fish in one’s reach, the rest can be brought by a boat. On the way back we enjoy the relaxation and boats are competing by overtaking each other. When we have returned to the river, it is possible to see the fish offloading and reception place, which is located on stilts. Lake nourishes the locals and lets them profit, it at least one would like to think so. Two-hour trip on the lake goes very fast.

We go back to the hotel and at 9:30 we depart. 55 km straight stretch of road. Cars are already noticeably dusty and we ourselves are quite sweaty. Landscape with rice fields and traditional houses, built on stilts. Rice is sprayed with a hand sprayer. We see some villas with hedges of decorative shrubs and colorful ornaments. Satellite dishes are all sticked in the ground and pointed straight up to the sky. There are dried corn grains along the roadsides. Part of them get eaten by the roosters and chicken, which, like dogs, consider roadside their territory. Beautifully dressed children in school uniforms, different for each school, come along the road. They are going home from school. Before the second car in our regular column dogs keep dashing out, this time it is the white car, which them solemnly await. On the roadside there are silver domes for mosques sold. We suppose that a dome is a key element for a mosque since in several places visible are bright domes on unfinished buildings. We are talking about the possibility of putting a dome on the car as well, or on the summer cottage in Latvia.

Landscape is changed by coconut and banana gardens. Thanks to the air conditioner it is a pleasant coolness in the car. We notice red clusters of fruits in trees and realise that they are traded along the road; look appetizing, so we buy some. It turns out that they are rambutan – fluffy and delicious fruits with a seed in the middle. We continue moving along a winding mountain road with fabulous palm valleys, later it turns out that that all of the following road section is like this. We pause to photograph mountains and amazingly welcoming locals are offering us to use the toilet in their home.

Our path leads to Tana Toraja district, known for its unusual traditions for burial of the dead. There are peculiar-looking boat-shaped second floor and roof cottages appearing. As it turns out, there are a lot of them. We are visiting graves in cliffs with wooden dolls on balconies, which are clothed like the deceased. We are viewing an impressive cave with burials in old boat-shaped coffins and skulls arranged in rows. Next to several skulls there is a large number of cigarettes placed. Likely they are meant for the dead in the afterlife. It would be a good advertisement for cigarettes – Smoking – kills! Great, that in our group nobody smokes.

On the way to the burial cave we are surprised by unusually fat bamboo shoots and excited by the photogenic and noble misty colored bull. In the center of the village locals gather for rooster fights. Roosters are getting their feet, neck, back massaged and wings stretched. Two roosters start spontaneous unauthorized sample fight which Ilgonis is trying to perpetuate in a photo. The owners quickly stop this amateur activity as roosters can get injured before the ”official” matches (rooster fights, it seems, are officially banned).

Next, we look for the children’s burial tree. We find it only in heavy twilight already. Small children are buried in a many recesses cut in the tree, which are then covered with braided grass carpets attached with wooden pegs to prevent the small spirits from escaping. Tree is standing big, withered and without top in front us. Even spookier atmosphere is created by bright sparks – fireflies – which as the spirits of the children buried in the tree accompany us along the trail to the cars.

We get there at 18:50 when it is already completely dark, yet we decide to go to an evening swim in a lake with clean water. Then begins the great searching game. First we unsuccessfully look for the lake along different roads till it begins to rain and removes all the desire to swim. Then we try to find a petrol tank, but it turns out that so late (20:00) they are already closed. Gasoline can be bought only in bottles on the roadside. It is sufficient to the many motorists, but might not serve our cars. Not gotten any water, or gasoline, we focus on the search of accommodation. And then begins that what words cannot describe. The road along which we go uphill turns into something that can hardly be named road. If anyone would talk about it in a video recording, then all the words would need to be censored and replaced by beep… beep… beep…. Translated they would be 60% of steepness, sharp elbows, broken and collapsed asphalt, large stones and all of that with a solid additive of rain and black darkness. Was it not for our masterful drivers, probably we would get to sleep in the cars on some hillside. Occasionally jumping out and walking, or jumping with the cars through the rocks, in the end we happily reach 1,424 m of height, and are escorted to our accommodation by local boys.

Either because of the nervous tension or it really was so nice, the overnight stay in a mountain hut gave everyone a great joy. Eating the tasty Indonesian rural style food that our hosts had arranged, consisting of noodle soup, crispy chicken pieces, warm eggs and bananas, listening Ilgonis playing harmonica, we dined with fun in the ship-form house and went to sleep with the chicken and other animals emitting a variety of sounds to rise up in the morning together with the roosters and enjoy the first rays of sunshine in the mountains. Only the drivers still could not settle and loudly discussed dark astray experiences. – Then I dove to the right, then left, then pressed on the gas, then on the brakes, then the car went bang on its belly! Beep… beep… beep… – The first and the last beep… are a little exaggerated to magnificate the narration. In the Indonesian tour everything is good, that finishes in the night!

Agnese’s notes:
We saw the dolls tau-tau in the royal burial site of Suaya, the cave with the many bones in Tampangallo which is in a short walk’s distance from Suaya. The children’s burial tree in Kambira. In each of both places it was required to pay 20’000 IDR to the local cashier (in exchange for official entry tickets) for each person
We went up the hill to reach a place called Batutumonga and stayed at Mama Yo’s homestay

Day of crazy traffic

March 2nd

Our day started very good, rental cars arrived early, one was white, next was gray and the third was black, or – we got two Toyota Avanza’ s and one Daihatsu Xenia. Drivers with the experience of left side driving took their places and our journey had begun. First we visited the harbour with traditional wooden ships built by Bugis people. We were allowed to explore one of them from inside. The day was sunny and hot.

Our next job was to buy supplies for the trip at the supermarket. It took a long time. After filling gas we were ready to leave Makassar but there was an obstacle, a big traffic jam that lasted for an hour. What an incredible mess, small motorbikes sneaking in every gap! For all these reasons we left Makassar only in the afternoon. In the dusk we entered mountains and the rain started. During the day it was sunny and hot. Our team was split by traffic and we could not contact each other by mobile phones due to a bad network connection.

The road was full of surprises, there were pits, sand piles, wrongly parked cars, careless pedestrians, dogs. People’s activities are concentrated on roadside, seams that all Indonesian life happens here. So gradually we get accustomed to local specifics. But luckily we reached Sengkang without any scratch (many thanks to our drivers) and we spent a night in a luxury looking apartments. A dinner and cold beer after this long trip were right on time.

The day of millionaires

March 1st

After 4am after journey of around 38 hours and half-slept night in the airplane we finally arrived at hotel Miko. We sort out the formalities for the hotel and around 5am can already go to bed. Just need to listen to the morning prayer and the dream can start. What a pity that less than 4 hours are left for this lovely activity.

At 9am we arrive for breakfast. Everyone is enthusiastic, just from time to time someone tries to fall asleep. The hotel is ok. For the breakfast we have tender rice and rice with spices, some fluffy, white, supposedly meat, also something like liver and a spicy soup. Everything is well. Some are complaining that they don’t have windows in their room, some others do have a window but it is looking to a chute. The eclipse t-shirts are distributed.

The day is dedicated to exploration of Makassar. But foremost the business. The sorting of car rental and currency exchange. The conversation with the hotel staff are long. Finally we get a minibus with driver and a guide. We had been thinking that the rental of the car will take the most time, but that’s not so. We finish that surprisingly fast.

Now the currency exchange. We walk in several banks and decide for the one where we started. The process takes time. We understand then that in this country nothing is happening quickly. The rate such that for 10’000 rupees one needs to pay 66 eurocents. And so – hurray, we become owners of several millions. We are millionaires, there are no problems.

Now to the city. We go to the port where there should be the old wooden ships. But it’s not so, they are not there or our guide did not know how to find them. Instead we find a fish restaurant. The entrance doesn’t look trustable but here they don’t care about the outside look yet. At the entrance there are several boxes with different fish, We choose the one which is called Dorada in Europe and another one, a bit fatter. The fish here cost 3.5 to 4.2 Eur for a fish. I imagine how much would it cost in Europe, uhh. And then they start to bring us all kinds of starters, spicy gherkins etc. Another bonus of the restaurant is that there is live music being performed here. The people are happy, take photos, also gladly sing themselves. Also our guys sang ” ja es būtu to zinājis, ka tik labi šai vietā…” [Latvian folk song]. The response was average, the Indonesians need to develop to understand us.

And then to the city sightseeing. We proceed to Hollanders’ fort [Fort Rotterdam]. Many local youths are hanging out here. Many want to take photos with us. We meet an interesting man who teaches English to the young sailors. He promises to show us the wooden ships. Then we walk to the sea coast. No effective sunset as there are clouds. However the clouds give a nice background. Just need to walk some 2km and we are back in the hotel. Just one more procedure left – the distribution of money. There are lots of banknotes, many jokes and a millionaire status for everyone. Can sleep peacefully. Only thoughts on how to keep that fortune are bothering.

The first day of sauna

February 29th

I wake up more active than yesterday. The lighting in the saloon is still off, everyone have their blinds closed, but if somebody tries to peek out then there is a bright light along the saloon. Many are still sleeping, but some are awake. I watch some films on the seat-panel screen. In a moment everyone are woken up by switching on the saloon light. After some time we get offered breakfast. There is an omelette with two slices of toast, tomato salad with mozarella cheese, a bun, butter, Turkish yoghurt for the desert, jam and water. Filled out the immigration form.

Finally the time has come to land and we land nicely, finally we are on hard land. Going out from the airport by a tunnel a moist hottness hits us. The first day of sauna, one can say. In the airport building the air is conditioned – then it feels better. We wait for everyone to meet at one place and then also all together go for the passport control, where we got a stampo in our passports saying “IMMIGRATION INDONESIA VISA EXEMTION”. I got it stamped next to the voting signs, Normunds got it on the “Children” page. We go to get the baggage. Waiting for some time till we get it. Then out to the airport, last scannings, neither liquids nor computer needs to be taken out.

We get out of the airport and arrive in sauna. It’s already got dark outside as darkness arrives already after 18:00. It is 27 degrees centigrade and steamy. We look for the bus to the first airport terminal, we almost catch one, then wait for the next one. Many different busses stop here, some of them still moving while the people get in or out of the transport. The correct free inter-terminals bus comes and we board it. We squeeze in the back with all the suitcases. We started to drive, it stopped in 100metres and there was Agnese whom we had agreed to meet in the airport.

All together we successfully arrive at the first terminal. We go in without taking anything out. Here they don’t care at all whether the computer or liquids have been taken out and put separately. We notice a big cockroach running near the check-in belt. We check-in and give in our baggage. Then all of us go to the plane through a big decorative arch which is leading up, and then we cross a bridge with a garden underneath. The halls are nicely cool as everywhere around there is ventilaton everywhere that comes from the floor. We gather all at the same place where there are more seats, and wait for our plane which is scheduled at 21:45. The designed time has come and we go to the gate. Looks like nothing is happening but the door is open. We go forward, but it turned out that it’s not available yet and the airport staff member run after us to get back. We were said that it will be in half an hour. Then all of us are waiting. We notice that also on the screen the time is moved forward by 20 minutes and in a moment it gets lost from the screen. We are asking what has mattered. They said that it’ll be another half an hour late. We conclude that we shouldn’t believe our eyes and shouldn’t believe what is said and hope for the best. Finally the long-waited call for the plane has come, and we go down the stairs and in the bus that takes uz to the plane.

The plane is rather new. The air is rather cool. We take our places. I snooze for a short while and wake up in a moment and conclude that the plane is still on the runway, then in a moment we take off. I started to work on putting together a video which had to be done a long time ago. They started to give out a paper bag to everyone. There was a bun and a glass of water in the bag. Finally we arrive at the end and get out, and no less hot and humid air awaits us here as well. We get to the baggage belt and wait four our baggage, those are coming slowly and without a hurry. After some of things have rotated the 4th time, our first pieces of baggage start to appear and soon we get the rest. When we have got everything we are about to go out but we get stopped on the way to check whether we have taken the right baggage and only then let us go. We go further, and there is a taxi booking system on the way and we take 3 taxi companies in random. When outside, there are many people who are calling us to go to their taxi. We start to find out prices and bargain. In the end we agree that we all get into 2 taxis and each of them will cost 150’000 rupees. We squeeze the baggage and also squeeze ourselves in the taxis since after all we are 11 people. We drive out on the road and soon stop at a post where it’s needed to pay 3500 rupees for the toll road for light vehicles. After some time we approach our hotel going through area that in Europe would be called a slum, and soon spot our hotel which excels nicely from the surroundings. We get kindly welcomed in the middle of the night and get a room and we divide the rooms. The hotel is modern and nice. There is a conditioner in the room which we quickly turn on and get a shower and go to bed. Good night!

Agnese’s notes:
To Makassar we were flying with Sriwijaya carrier, the return ticket around 100Eur.
In the 2nd terminal of Jakarta airport there are many money exchanges – those which are closer to the exits the rate is worse. There are no exchanges in the 1st terminal where most local flights depart from. We arrived in Makassar airport with one of the latest flights and there were no possibilities to exchange money, so good that we exchanged some for taxis in Jakarta airport.