Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Perfect Love and the Heebie Jeebies

On Tuesday nights two of our students, Nasreen and Jung Min, come to my house for prayer time. We've been praying for world events and for different countries and their leaders. Tonight, I was reading 1 John 4 while praying for the Middle East. Two verses stood out to me. "Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God." and "Such love has no fear because perfect love expels all fear." As I prayed for the people of Iran, the beauty and power of love struck my heart in a sweet way. The media seems to thrive on fear, and the politicians seem to use it as a tool, but God's perfect love "expels all fear."

Then it was time to say goodnight. As the students were leaving, I felt the distinct tickle of a roach scurrying across my toe. I immediately began hopping and exclaiming, "ewww, gross, yuck," etc. Nasreen was quick to come to my rescue. She picked the bug up out of the cranny it had crept into, placed it on the floor in front of her, and squashed it with her shoe. "You touched it?" I asked, flabbergasted. "It's okay," she said, rolling her eyes, "Where I grew up, cockroaches are a delacacy."

10 minutes later...in the shower...washing my foot for the 12th time...I began sheepishly asking God, "Can perfect love drive out the heebie jeebies, too?"

Monday, April 17, 2006

The Komodo Dragon

I spent the last week living in a fantasy world. In my imagination we were sailing on the Dawn Treader, like great explorers discovering beasts of mythological proportions. This is what it’s like to vacation in the Flores Sea.

The islands in Flores are home to many creatures, the most famous of which is the Komodo dragon. Before traveling, I read that there are only 6,000 Komodos in the wild, and they all live on two or three islands in Flores. The word to emphasize would be only. That would be like saying “There are only 50 crocodiles in the pool in my backyard. I think I’ll go for a swim.” Seeing the dragons up close seemed a bit reckless to me. Yes, they have been known to bite and even to eat tourists.

Two Komodo snacksThe Komodo dragon has a symbiotic relationship with bacteria in its mouth, and one bite usually leads to death for its prey. The dragons feed on everything from smaller dragons to horses and water buffalo. According to the information at the welcome center, they hide in the grass along trails waiting for prey. Hiking in flip-flops, I became increasingly aware of my naked feet.

“No worries, mate,” the Aussie-influenced locals would say. The guides at Komodo National Park are quite capable. Granted, our guide was on his second day on the job. Having grown up on the island pretty much makes all of these guys experts in my mind, though. They also carry forked sticks to protect us.

Adult male Komodo Dragon, 2.5 metersAll in all, we saw seven Komodos. Five were lounging around the guide posts, and two were actually out on the trails. In spite of their reputation, they seemed quite docile. We found out as we were leaving the island, though, that one tried to attack a woman that week. Thankfully, the guide held it off with his stick, and she came away unharmed. Danger is part of adventure’s enchantment. . .

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Angkota Calling

The angkota is the most common form of local travel after the good old legs. When we first arrived, the angkota was Rupiah (Rp.) 800 per person per leg. That's about a dime. Since then, with two gas hikes and a shift in government administration, the price per leg has risen to Rp. 2,000. Most trips to town take between two and four legs round trip.Angkota Calling

These supped up mini-vans would normally hold a maximum of five in the states, but with the back seat removed and replaced by two planks along either wall, they frequently fill with 20. This is no exaggeration.

Note the men hanging out the side. That's the fun part. Each angkota has a driver and a caller. The caller hangs out the side yelling, "kota, kota" (town, town), inviting patrons, and helping women with their groceries or other market goods. As the van fills, the young men make room for the ladies by hanging life and limb out the side as you see. Some of these vans are equipped with semi-trailor road horns which they use to bully their way through the narrow alleys at whiplash speeds. Angkotas on the same route will commonly race each other to the central market, where all angkotas end up if you stay on long enough.

When you reach you destination, simply shout, "kiri" to the driver. They'll slam on the breaks, squeezing everyone toward the metal baracade behind the driver's seat, making room for you to exit. Then off they go again to the races.

Mitchell Goins and I once replaced the caller for a leg. We got many stares, shortly followed by a marriage proposal to Mitch from a local woman on behalf of her daughter. Never knew being a caller was such a prestigious vocation.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Family Bike

A while back, I mentioned the fun of local travel in Indonesia including entire families on a single moped. Well, here's a shot of one such family. Note: it's quite difficult to get a shot like this due to the movement and seemingly random nature at which traffic can flow here.