Toraja

We have just returned from a quick but amazing trip to Toraja area in South Sulawesi. It was organised through Dinny from torajamelo. We were a group of four brave souls who  flew to Makassar and stayed the night at a hotel near the airport then set off early the next day in our mini-bus.











The journey took 10 hours all up.We traveled up the west coast for a while then up into the mountains. There was lots to see on the way with panoramic views in the mountain passes but were were all ready to get off that mini-bus after a journey of 10 hours with stops.

BBQ seafood for Lunch

 

The four silly adventurers

We stayed at Dinny's house perched high on the hills above Rantepao. The final climb in the rain and mist up the steep driveway with multiple hairpins that had to be taken at high speed to keep our minibuses momentum was a testament to Jamie our excellent driver's skills. The house  is a wonderful modern building filled with interesting art and interesting people. Dinny and her husband made us feel at home and consistently tried to feed us more good food than we could possibly eat.

Dinny's house - our destination

The next day we hoped back on our mini-bus with our enthusiastic guide Johan. We then did a tour that given the Torajan's obsession with funerals naturally revolved mainly around burials. First we visited a cliff where graves are chiseled ( not sizzled ) into the rock. Large wooden effigies are also placed on ledges near the graves.

We also visited a tree which is the site of baby graves where the bodies of infants who have died are placed into a living tree through holes made in the side, which eventually close back up. Initially this all sounded gruesome but Johan's explanation of how it was believed this way the children could grow with the tree then rise up and eventually leave the tree through the leaves and rise to the second life seems as good a way with coping with a child's death as any.

We then visited caves where ancient wooden sarcophagus are stored high up in the cave. Many had broken leaving many human skulls and bones in the cave

Note the kids who befriended us happily playing surrounded by bones

Seeing these peering down at you from above was certainly spooky

Time to wash the buffalo. 

After a late lunch it poured

Johan's rendition of "West Toraja' to the tune of "Country Roads' is still stuck in my head.

The whole Torajan economy seems based around Funeral Rites. These are elaborate ceremonies where many buffalo and pigs are slaughtered. The bodies of the deceased are embalmed and kept in the family house until the family is ready to hold the ceremony. This can take years as is involves considerable expense, higher cost as the deceased persons status rises. Many Torajans work around Indonesia in an attempt to raise enough money for the ceremonies. Some of the more rare buffaloes slaughtered for example can cost up to 70000 USD.

Dinny's who is an amazing women with a great story, that needs more than a blog entry to tell, took us around the next day. We drove down the hill another way viewing more verdant green rice fields.

These are standing stones at another grave site. We walked up beyond it to find the graves in a large rock. They were chiseling a new grave, one person chisels while two sharpen the chisels.

We then went and met some weavers that are part of a co-operative the Dinny has set up to empower these women, maintain the traditional craft, and add a source of income to these low income women many of whom have returned from working as migrant workers, and many come back abused with unwanted pregnancies.

While were there they had an co-op meeting sitting under one of the amazingly decorated rice barns. They happily let as sit with them and have a Torajan coffee as they discussed co-op matter with children and dogs running about.

Next we visited Dinny's husband village where they are preparing for a very large funeral coming in a few months. They are busy putting up temporary housing and stage areas. They estimate the cost of the funeral to be over a million dollars.

Note the brick

Finally we visited another village which showed the Torajan houses with their distinctive shape and impressive colored wooden carvings.  I had thought we would just see a few left of these, but they are literally everywhere in Toraja with many more being built. The newer ones usually have steel roofs but are still intricately decorated.

Dinner that night shared with a famous Indonesian film director  while drinking beer and discussing Indonesian politics.

On the way home.

Sadly it was time to leave the next day and another long trip back over the mountains and down the coast. Hard work getting there but defiantly an amazing experience.