Island boat builders

I found the island boat builders in my wanderings. They carved the canoe out of a single mahogany log with a chain saw, finishing it with hand tools, they did a nice job. The canoe is over. 20 ft long and will get outriggers. It's really heavy. The men are building a new cabin on an older boat. Those are the boat builder's kids.

Island school

The island has a population of 300. Grades 1-6 attend the school shown . There are 4 teachers teaching the 20 students . They attend 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year with an occasional holiday , no long summer vacation , etc. School hours are 7am - 1pm , no meals. The high school students attend school in Manado on Sulawesi , a half hour boat ride away . They stay in rented rooms coming home for the night on Saturday . Schooling is important to the islanders.

Random shots

Our blue outdoor shower. Last night on the way back from the Jungle, we stopped and had a dinner of freshwater fish from a jungle river, considered a delicacy. The greens are a wild water plant mixed with pieces of Passion flower. They gave me two different strengths of sambal (hot sauce.) We have become accustomed to eating whole fish . Dinner was excellent. The two fruits are the local small bananas and Duku , a tree fruit that is squeezed to split it open . It tastes like a grape, very good.

Jungle wildlife

Unlike the monkeys in Bali, this troop was wild. This gang of Black Faced Macacs numbered around 40. The females and young were shy but the older males allowed me to get quite close. They were really noisey. The troop hung around till the big boss thought it was time to move out. After much searching, the guide found a Tarsius. This adult male was only 4" tall. Being nocturnal we found him hiding in a hollow tree. He allowed us to get within 3 feet of him. These miniature primates are endangered . A film crew was in the jungle ahead of us filming these world's smallest monkeys. We saw lots of exotic birds.

The Jungle

We drove almost 3 hours to reach the base of a volcano. We then hiked two hours up the slope in dense primeval jungle. The insect/bird/ animal noise was incredibly loud, the guide called it jungle music. It was very hot with humidity near 100% . The triple canopy jungle had huge trees towering over 200 feet, we couldn't see the tops. The middle canopy was 50-75 feet tall. The bottom layer were we walked was 5-15 feet tall. All these layers created a very dark jungle with limited visibility. Although the guide said don't worry about it, he mentioned there were cobras ,poisonous green vipers and giant poisonous black spiders . We didn't see any. A local villager acted as our guide.

Tribal graveyard

Our guide stopped at this graveyard on the way to the jungle . During the pre Christian era on Sulawesi, tribal members chiseled out hollow boxes from solid stone. They placed their dead in a kneeling upright fetal position in these tomb boxes. The believed they entered the world in the fetal position so should exit it the same way . They placed personal items in with the body and kept these boxes inside their huts. In 1908 the Indonesian government said no more bodies in houses so they were moved to graveyards. The carved tops have faces, upside down figures, etc etched in them. They have an almost Polynesian look to them. Very interesting and unusual site.

Expedition

I am sitting by the pool waiting for Karen to get ready . I have set up a trip off the island .A driver and guide will meet us on Sulawesi and drive us into the mountains for us to observe the tiny reclusive Tarsius,the smallest monkey in the world. These tiny creatures come out at dusk to feed high up in jungle covered mountains. Karen agreed so off we go , should be an adventure. We won't be back till late tonite so there will be a lapse in getting back on line. We have taken our malaria meds so are ready . Weather note: nights are in the 70s but the sun is very hot by 7 am We've had a couple brief showers but mainly hot and humid. Ocean is 88 degrees. The beer is cold. Guests here are 50 % Japanese remainder Europeans The flower pot with flowers and ladle is for rinsing sand off our feet before entering our cottage