Not-so-rough in the Jungle

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Seventy five thousand years ago a large volcano blew its top leaving a massive crater in North Sumatra. Near the middle of the crater a slow flow of lava trickled from beneath the earth's crust, forming a big lump that would become samosir island whenever the crater filled with water. Creation through destruction is the lesson volcanoes are here to teach us. The idea of violence in a place as peaceful as lake toba seems preposterous but when you hear old lore about canniblistic tribes deep in tropical jungles this is the source. Shamanism and consuming human flesh have been replaced churches and very emotive hymn singing as toba is the heartland of christianity in Indonesia. The first cross bearers weren't exactly welcome with open arms as the Batak people were protective of their territory. The mountain ranges surrounding the area form barriers which disueded most would-be intruders for centuries but eventually the self righteous colonials managed a foothold in toba.

the cannibalism here was either symbolic, as when defeating a rival tribe or was used as punishment for crimes against one's own village. I could explain but this blog from someone who passed through last year sums it . (cannibal bit is near the bottom of the page)

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/nickpalfreyman/indonick/1217248140/tpod.html


This can be a very lazy place. The air is crisp, the water cool, and the sky is always hazy just enough to obscure most land visible. Toba gets big points for surreality of environment. Along a north-south ridge lies a 40Km escarpment, twice as tall as the Niagara escarpment. There lies a quite picturesque cascading waterfall that we trekked to; the trail was rather precarious and sopping wet but we made it close to where the main stream shooting out cliff-side makes a first landfall. It rained the days before this hike so upon seeing a very very slippery and rock climb that looked difficult and unsafe we decided to cease our accent.

The frigid water was just what the doctor ordered. Completely refreshed we began our wet descent back to TukTuk village. As with most places we visit we ended up walking for kilometer after kilometer instead of renting a motorbike. You may not get to be in 10 places in a day but the calming effect of long walks is preferable to the mania that these roads cause in the minds of foreign drivers.

As much as there are multitudes of activities here the number one passtime is being lazy and eating wonderful food. The christians of the area are very proud of their delicious pork dishes the most offensive of which is BBQ suckling pig.
We were reminded of the places in India where the muslims would slaughter whole cows in outdoor tarpshacks in as public a place as possible. Fully halal of course but there was a bite of spitefulness in there. The christians of Sumatera provide the bacon and sell the alcohol as those are forbidden activities to muslims. Everyone seems to get along as long as bombs aren't going off and you catch the occasional christian dining on halal and muslim tossing back a brewsky. In Java there was an attack on a population of Batak christians (originally from Sumatera) and in Medan we witnessed a large church with most of it's windows broken and boarded up. From all accounts these are largely isolated events and as much as there are religiously motivated attacks, muslims love coming to the beautiful danau Toba to get a bit of removal from austere rules and relax.

As with Pulau Weh, folks tend to linger in Toba but we checked out after a week, attempting to become objects in motion again. There is a long way to the southern tip of this island. We need to backtrack to Medan (6 hours north) to get our Iron Maiden tickets. We simply can't leave it until later if we are serious about going to see the awesome show in Bali but it means that we have to take a 22 hour bus ride from Medan to Bukittinggi ("upward hill"), our next destination. In this ride we will cross 1/3 the north-south distance of Sumatera, cross through 3 mountain ranges and finally enter the southern hemisphere.

Next time we speak i will be severely bus beaten and surround by toilets that flush backwards. Cheers friends!

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Photos

Toba
traditional Batak house

Toba
waterfall at the north mouth of lake Toba

Toba
it was misty as heck this day but it only added to teh surreality of the view

Toba
north shore of Toba

Toba
close up of water

Toba
us

Toba
old batak palace

Toba
underneath the pillars

Toba
big metal fish at roadside.. no sign .. no clue

Toba
on the water, heading to tuk tuk village on samosir island

Toba
tuk tuk in sight

Toba
our garden

Toba
our hut, new but made in traditional sytle. it was massive inside and cost a cool 4 dollars a day

Comments

[Dean]

Sumatra
I like the long walks. One good long walk is certainly worth 10 quickly visited places.