horas. HOras. HORAS !!! Day 2

Tuesday, Day 2 HORAS! The Batak aloha !

 Early again but I didn't catch the sunrise. After coffee, more coffee and some fruit we headed off again by boat...to the Batak stone seat of counsel.

 Running through the gamut of batik, carving, chotsky hawkers we arrived at the village and the stone chairs and the best ever tour guide possible. She weaved the story of the Batak people, the details of their homes, weavings, carvings and symbols engaged us made us laugh. We rummaged through the homes and sat on the stone thrones and moved to the scene of the area where they executed the judged. LSN...Batak were serious about meeting out justice. The gist is when you act like an animal...murder, rape, adultery, treason you die like an animal. They torture you till you pass out, chop off your head, cut you up and eat you. A little bit of shaman get the evil out and that's about it.

 I was hoping the small children among us were confused by her accent...otherwise it was a recipe for nightmares. Again through the gauntlet of stuff and sad faces and please buy this thing or that and maybe this. Or if not in this stall there will be 10 others with the same to hurry through. It reminds me of the gift shops at the exit of museums but much cheaper and much more of a hard sell.

 We stopped the boat on the way back and swam, ate our lunch, talked amongst ourselves and enjoyed the scenery, the company and the food. We were home early and took off on our scooters to the great beyond, life in the normal. In the 2 hours we drove higher up, saw 2 crashes, watched quickly rice being planted and water buffalo being water buffalo. That was fun riding through on our little scooter....

 It's 10 pm and we lit some candles in memory of those who have gone before. We just came from family presentations, a wonderful tradition carried forward. Last night...we heard the story of their story. It's really about stories, the ones we tell, the ones we hear, the ones we remember. Stories unfold our histories.

 Horas is a word used to express in it's simplicity...our routine connections. Our hellos, goodbye, how are you,that's great, that's too bad...it's a necessary word to build bridges. Like our family stories...in their simplicity they are the building blocks of our family.