17::Tana Toraja, Sulawesi
2.6.97 Thursday
Drive to Tana Toraja. We have decided to alter Yunus' usual tour route because "there is a funeral tomorrow in Tana Toraja." As in Bali, funerals are the main event.
It rained for most of the drive. We made a lunch stop in Parepare and took a break at "Erotic Mountain" (the green hills taking the shape of a long penis between two fat thighs).
Our background music consisted of Yunus’ favorite tapes: Barbara Streisand, Roberta Flack, Ann Murray. In my mind, however, I kept running through themes from Turandot, which seemed to go better with the grandeur of the pounding rain.
I finished The Year of Living Dangerously and began This Earth of Mankind, volume 1 of the Buru Quartet by Pramoedya Ananta Toer, an Indonesian dissident. It is banned in Indonesia so I feel quite dangerous toting it around with me.
We got to Tana Toraja (village of Makale) in time for some of the preliminary funeral activities. We watched men trying to goad pre-sacrifice water buffalo into fighting with each other on a field at the edge of town. And we met some family friends via Yunus at "Booth 58." The main street of Makale is lined with elaborate gallery booths built by the family of the deceased to draw people from far and wide for the days and days of ritual and hospitality.
Then on to the Novotel, brand new and beautiful.
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