Rantepao 2

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This morning we slept through the 7am alarm waking up at 8am after a night of heavy rain. The plan was to take a scooter again to the village of Pallawa for the funeral ceremony but due to the rain and subsequent wet roads Meana wasn't confident driving so after breakfast we went in hunt of a bemo. In the end we took a bemo half way and then a jeep to the village. The jeep left when full and we were the first in so we had to wait about half an hour. They crammed as many people in as possible, two people in the one front seat so it made for an uncomfortable trip. It dropped so off just a short walk from the village and even though we were told to be there for around ten, arriving at eleven was fine after all this is Indonesian time and things are always running late.
Walking into the village there were pigs tied to bamboo sticks everywhere, maybe about fifty! Guests bring them as a gift to the dead and they are traditionally sacrifice along with the buffalos. The pigs and buffalos cost millions of ruppees but Togean's spend large amounts of money on funerals and celebrate them in style. They have bull fighting, traditional dancing, singing and the family wear traditional clothes while everyone else wears black. They also did parades sometimes taking food and other times taking a long red banner holding it above there heads.
The villagers offered us lunch and we gave coffee. They were such friendly people even offering us the option to stay the night although we couldn't as we had buses early in the morning.
After making our way back to Rantepao I tried unsuccessfully to post things home again, it is so difficult over here! Then I found some cheap flights to the Philippines for september so I booked them whoo! Another country that will be ticked off the ever growing list.
For dinner I didn't have rice or noodles! I had avocado and prawn salad! Something different so good. Then I took Meana to the stall with the chocolate and nut bread deserts but resisted. They have to be the most unhealthy thing on earth.
Time for some hiking again! Meana met a French guy last might who along with three others had a day hiking around the north west of Rantepao planned so instead of spending a few hundred ruppees on a guide we followed the map and took a bemo.
But of course things are never done quickly when there are so many of you so we finally left around eleven. We hiked around rice paddies going through many small villages and having a very scary encounter with a buffalo. After taking the bemo we started walking towards Lempo, a very small village but quite easy to find as we were able to ask the friendly locals for directions. The beginning of the walk involved walking up into the mountains and made you kinda feel like you were in the sound of music the scenery was amazingly beautiful. We then walked through the rice paddies and came across the buffalo. It was tied up but blocking the pathway so we decided to eat the rice we had bought before leaving in hope that it would move. This involved walking down a narrow path to a grassy area which of cause I slipped and fell down then had to be pulled back up, but I wasn't the only one to do it so thats ok. But after eating the buffalo still hadn't moved and it started to get stressed when we tried to pass. In the end getting passed involved jumping and balancing along rocks along a stream but we did it without getting killed. The trek gave us breathtaking views over Rantepao and the surrounding area at the top.
We were also able to see more caves burials in one of the villages before heading towards Tikala to catch a bemo back to Rantepao. But of-cause after six hours of walking over rough ground I lost concentration and sprained my ankle, again. And it had to be the left one as I already had the ankle support around my right! Not happy, two sprained ankles! Taking the bemo back out is was also towing a truck which made the trip a but more interesting as we had to keep stopping to attach it again along the pot-holed, windy roads. But we made it back then caught an ojek back to the hostel. It was then a relaxing night reading as Meana brought my takeaway dinner and Joszi went out to get the bus tickets.

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