It's a hot, sunny Easter as I sit at an eco-lodge in Flores, Indonesia, reflecting on the last few weeks. Flores is a world apart from Bali, which is a world apart from Java. Indonesia's richness continues to amaze.
Indonesia is a wide (as wide as the US) archpelago of islands, and Java is a longish thin island along the lower edge of the archipelago. Bali is a small island directly to the right of Java, and Flores is a small island, a few islands to the right of Bali.
There's such cultural diversity from one island to another. And we're only scratching the surface with several weeks on three islands -- Indonesia's many islands have multiple ethnic and cultural groups, with equally diverse languages and religions. It almost resembles a set of miniature continents, visually and conceptually. We've gone from visiting some Christian friends in mostly Muslim Java, to seeing hybrid Hindu temples on Bali, to being asked if we're going to church on Easter Sunday on Flores.
Flores' Christianity is also hybrid; it's mixed with the local animist traditions. Long ago, it was a colonized by the Portuguese. I think I can hear people singing a hymn as I write this, sitting on the seaside porch, looking out onto grasslands, sea, and another island. Some will eat their traditional Easter meal of dog today (I hear the big black one is tastiest).
Flores has a mix of Malay and Melanesian peoples. There are some Muslims from Java here too. Traditions of groups throughout the island are diverse, and I hear there's a matrilinear society on one of the mountains.
There aren't many tourists here right now; some were scared off by the Bali bombs. But there's not a lot of dependency on tourism; we were told that most people are still farmers here. Good service is also hard to get here, but that seems a compromise for being in an uncrowded, fairly unspoiled location. The people are quite friendly, and we've really enjoyed talking with our fellow travellers here.
I'm definitely tempted to return and explore more of Indonesia, as a month isn't long enough to develop much of an understanding of the place.
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