Ratna's Place (Danau Toba - Sumatra, Indonesia)

For a revised version of this post, go here. 

July 22^nd, 2009 - I think I had a date yesterday. A couple of days ago I went for a drive along Lake Toba that took me through a number of Batak fishing villages. The road eventually slimmed down to nothing more than a concrete path large enough for a motorcycle, maybe two. It was a little awkward as this path runs right along some of the houses. At times it was a bit like driving through someone’s living room. The glances local folks were sending my way did nothing to quell my self-consciousness. In these situations I always feel like a trespasser even when I am certain it is of no import to the locals.

So when I turned around at a point I thought prudent to do so I found myself in front of a house by the lake. As I slowly sputtered by an elderly woman came out of the house and motioned for me to stop. She then began speaking to me in Indonesian. Most it was beyond me but I did get enough to realize that she wanted me to wait a moment so I could speak with a woman paddling onto shore at the moment.

The woman in the boat greeted me in surprisingly good English. She introduced herself as Ratna, a Batak woman living with her mother (the old woman who stopped me). From the first moment I met her I found her to be extremely friendly, personable, and someone with whom it is easy to converse. I liked her from the start. After a short conversation she invited me to visit the following day for a short hike in the forest and a bite of fresh fish. As I viewed this as an excellent opportunity to get some insight into the local culture I accepted.

I stayed in Tuk Tuk and met Ratna in Sitamlang

When I returned to Ratna’s village I was greeted with a smile and some local tea. Soon after we went for a short walk in the hills behind her village. I discovered that Ratna was one of twelve children and that her father was a Batak king whose jurisdiction stretched to the villages in the area and up the mountain. He died when she was only four years old (she is 40 now) and unfortunately, did not pass on a king’s ransom. I guess the crown was not what it used to be by the time of his reign. I surmised that his was solely a leadership role, all the power without all the glory. He was apparently married twice, Ratna’s mother being the second after the death of the first.

Ratna spent most of her adult life away from Toba living first in Jakarta with the majority of her family, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, etc. She worked at a transportation/cargo company based in Jakarta for much of the time until she was transferred to Medan in Northern Sumatra. But as her mother began to advance in years she returned home to take care of her.

She is married but does not like her husband anymore. As she said, “I don’t think he is a good guy. I don’t want to see him again.” She said this so matter-of-factly that it was difficult to hold back a smile. She lived with him in a house in Medan but grew tired of their relationship on account of idleness (not much of a worker I gather) and his tendency toward violence and control. So she was basically supporting him, giving him money for whatever he requested and catering to his every whim. And for her trouble he was not allowed to have friends and would receive harsh punishment for violation of his rules. You could tell that this made her sad and that she did not understand why Jesus ( Did I mention the Batak people are catholic?) would send her such a man. I tried to console her a bit by relaying the fact that assholes like that are by no means endemic only to Sumatra (different phrasing of course). Every village has their share.

Ratna has many friends from other parts of the world. One of the best hails from Australia and is coming to live with her in her village for four months starting in September. Together they are involved in a small eco-movement in Indonesia, permaculture to be precise. For those unfamiliar with the concept permaculture is ‘a system of cultivation intended to maintain permanent agriculture or horticulture by relying on renewable resources and a self-sustaining ecosystem.’ She even has a compost area near her home. She is dedicated to sharing the principles of conservation with the youth of her village and introducing them to all the things she was never exposed to when she was a child. She also wants to teach English as well and even has a computer program that translates Indo to English. On top of that she is slowly building a small library of books to loan to anyone that wants to study permaculture , English, or other topics of interest. I guess the bottom line here is that she is one of those special people doing grand things on a small scale. I so admire people like that.

After our short walk in the forest we sat down to a tasty meal of rice and fresh fish. And I do mean fresh. From water to dinner table was no more than 25 minutes. I watched as she scooped a couple of fish out of the little enclosure in front of her house and nonchalantly began slicing up the catch. There was something strangely attractive about a forty-year-old Batak woman ripping the guts out of Tilapia fish in preparation for a meal, my meal. No high maintenance princess here, just a confident Batak woman living her life. All I could do was snap photos and contemplate how useless I would be in this village.

While loitering about I snapped a picture of man’s best friend, let’s call him Fido. There are many Fidos running all over the island. Gosh, I love dogs. Always have. The Batak people love dogs too……on a spit, in a stew, with a side of rice, so on a so forth. I guess you could say that Fido is one of man’s best dishes. I first learned of this when a British gentleman told me a went for an early morning to discover a couple of Batak men roasting Fido on a stick. In fact one of them was burning off the fur with a propane torch. Yummy.

Unfortunately, very few, if any, of the cute healthy dogs I see scampering about are pets. I asked Ratna about this and learned that none of the dogs in her village are pets. They share the same status as the chickens, ducks, buffaloes, and pigs. An American I met told me that he met a woman that was afraid to leave her dog (a pet) alone for fear that her friends might turn it into a light snack. Oh, the culture shock. I am afraid that kitty has to watch her step as well. Although not as popular it is not unheard of for Boots to end up on the barbecue as well. Ratna said she’d only eaten kitty once when she was a little girl.

So after dinner I thanked Ratna for her hospitality and for sharing a bit of her history with me and headed back to my hotel. She offered to show me around the island so I may see her again. What a reward for driving down a lakeside road just for the hell of it!

I finally manged to get some shots of a local 'school' bus. The ride to sixth grade would have been so much more exciting had I been lucky enough to have such an opportunity.