After getting to the hotel among a jungle of cars and motorbikes and horns, no one could tell me where to get my night bus to Tana Torja (Rantepao), people were shouting to each other, etc… I went out and a nice old man and his friend were super nice and kind of helped me while ‘’robbing’’ me at the same time…. I took a becak with one of them to the ticket office…. And voila! It was closed. I called the number and they tell me the only way is to get to the terminal which is 12km away and almost next to the airport! (bad of me for not doing the research before!)…. So changed to a taxi which was once more not easy to find…. And made it there after like an hour, got the ticket, get back among the ‘’jungle’’ to the hotel…. And of course tired as up to now I have been sleeping 4/5 hours per night….
So so ….. I slept for a while and after I found out that in Makassar they have sushi … smiling I found one almost next to the hotel and treated myself to two rounds and my day was made!
Back to the taxi to the terminal, got there and all was easy…. At some some point where we were all in the bus (I was the only tourist!) a man comes and say, you need to get out and come with all of us in this van outside and then the bus will pick us up.. the law doesn’t allow us to get into the bus here?!?! WTF?!?! No way! I say to the driver , sorry my bag is here, I stay here… he was fine…. I stayed but the rest did the opposite and we did pick them up outside… strange… but well, it worked out and at 5:45 I made it to my hotel and the guide Arru was waiting….
Tana Torja is known as one of the most traditional areas in Sulawesi where the animistic rituals and believes are still alive even though a young catholic protestant religion rules. It is all about boated shaped houses and death among stunning rice fields and caves….. I absolutely loved, loved this place! Really the perfect combinations of many things I like.
The main ritual it is around the funeral of a dead person where according to the social class there are a number of buffalos (sign of wealth and power) to be killed and distributed to the different people of the family and friends. This is because the Toraja people believe the soul of the animal needs to follow the one if its master to the next life.
Once the person dies, the family keeps it in some kind of 'embalsamo' until they have enough money to run the ceremony and at the same time because they believe the person it is still alive… the ceremony can last 3 or more days and people come from all Indonesia to assist. They do offerings from pigs to sugar and cigarettes (what I gave) and in exchange you are also served with tea, coffee and traditional cookies, cakes as well as the cooked pig in bamboo…
The buffaloes are killed in front of everyone and I saw how two were done…. I have to look away…. It is very impressive, the whole process and seeing the pigs being taken to be killed… Arru asked me if I wanted to see the pigs killing but I couldn’t do that…
The kids and some of the other people were dressed in beautiful traditional clothing and someone was even filing the ceremony… really, very special to participate to such an important ritual in this culture.
After the ceremony the coffin is placed in a cave in different rocky mountains or some rock formations around the area…. Some of the caves are stunning, I went into one and just the outside it is very special, the coffins and sometimes bones are visible.
Another special sigh are the boat shaped house which are all over the are and make it look like a place out of a dream…. There is the house where people still live and in front of it the little house where the rice is places and buffalos kept… I saw so many buffalos these days!
While leaving the ceremony, I asked for a stop to buy some water, was paying and when I turn this nice woman who was the wife of the shop owner was so happy to greet me. We had a little chat and she invited me for lunch at her place. I told her I am vegetarian so she showed me some green leaves from her garden as well as tomatoes and she cooked the best noodles ever with the veggies and egg. So nice and welcoming to let me in her house just like that! Huge house by the way!
Her son was back from school and already taking care of the little daughter of 1,5 years… we had some nice conversation and play with the kids. Going out the big girl of 17 and her friends were back from school and I became a big attraction, we made many pictures and she immediately ask fro my Instagram or Twitter…. And yes, looks like FB is dead for the new generation here as well! It was a very unexpected wonderful moment to share lunch with these family.
Arru was an ok guide but unfortunately I cannot recommend him… it is not easy to find a good guide, there are many. He had good reviews in Trip Advisor but we didn’t connect maybe! He was nice and took me to all places but the level of history knowledge was not better than the Lonely Planet….
On my second day after a wonderful sleep till 8AM (Wow!! Jajaja) I joined a German-Spanish couple for a hike from Sa’dan to Batutumong in the north of the area… WOW!!!! It was incredible!!!! Passing by little villages with the beautiful boat shaped houses, these time much more authentic than the ones from yesterday as we could see how the people were working the land and really living there.
The second part of the hike had the most beautiful views of rice fields and buffalos working the land or just relaxing and getting cool off in the mad pods, I felt like joining one of them as it was really hot, jajajjaj the last part was among a bamboo forest, the sun going down and the sunlight among the trees made me feel in a dream, truly beautiful.
We made it to Batutumonga in 4 hours. The couple would stay there and I needed to find my way back to Rantepao..no bus, no noting! Jajaj we stopped a random guy with a motorbike, pay him (thanks Angel for that!.. I had no small money with me) and he took me down all the way to Rantepao which was a good option as I wouldn’t have made it before sunset on time, wonderful ride once more with kids greeting from the houses and rice fields all around! Happy!!
Back down, I had my gado-gado in the little warung (small local place) as yesterday as I loved it and now I am getting ready for the coming two days and one-night hike in the forest up north, this time with Luthr, my guide, as we need to cross some rivers and the road it is really in the jungle! So exciting! Till then!
Ha! This region is well known for the coffee and cacao plantations! I have seen tons of cacao, so nice, first time I see the real plant and not in the Cailler factory, jajaj and in the coming days I will hike by and hopefully stop and one of the coffee plantations as well.
I wanted a difficult hike and difficult it was! AMAZING views and challenging for the 7,5/8 hours we walk each day with Luthr, an excellent guide!
We started day 1 from a tiny village up the mountains and after one hour of stunning rice fields we got into the bushes as he used to say and here it was rainforest… I mean it, most of the time I couldn’t even see where I was putting my feet as it was dense vegetation, lianas, plants, bushes, huge trees… the ones I fall in love for are these tall white trees that give a touch of different color to the jungle. For moments I would ask Luthr just to stop to appreciate the beauty of the place, magic… so many different plants, greens, yellows, browns, the sound of the birds and other unknown animals around us…. The blue sky above the trees… just perfect natural beauty.
We stopped for some lunch after climbing up some bushes with nice flowers, this was a dreamy pace, it felt so so good to be there!
Ate some noodles and some fried banana done by Luthr's wife.. that was the best! Yummy!
Almost arriving at the village, there is plenty of fruits around, Luthr climbed a few trees to catch some… not ripped enough for me.
The village was tiny but a lot of beautiful girls were just stunned to see me. They would just stand in front of me and stare at me for a while until we became ‘’friends’’ and had a lot of singing sessions… here the happy birthday fro my friends Dani!
And after a night of sleep on the floor… like they do… we are so lucky and fortunate to have every day comfort.. A new day started, 7:30AM and walking….
This day was challenging, but it was not difficult, it was just too hot, not so many trees and being tired of no good sleep and no good food… still, this made it better as I was amazed by every step… probably the most beautiful rice fields I’ve ever seen in my life, wonderful people on the way, a stunning pine tree forest, cacao and coffee plantations, some climbing, crossing a river by foot which I was scared at the start, jajaj and got over it!
Crossing a bamboo hanging bridge and walk, walk walk… I felt the exhaustion but also the happiness of the place and the fact that I did it! The finish line after 8 hours walk was an incredible 1-hour motorbike ride back to Rantepao…. What an incredible place I will hold those views in my heart forever!
I can fully recommend Luthr, you can reach him at his mobile to get better prices than doing this via Indo Sella. Mobile: +62 (0)813 42463828.
I loved this place, truly incredible, all, all, all of it!
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