Jam Karet... (rubber-time)

************
uhh... later on the same day as the last post, i guess.


intersections in indonesia are AMAZING.
there is no right-of-way...
everyone just goes at the same time.

they HONK their horns and HOPE it works out.
and somehow... it does.

it flows here.

in America we like to draw really bright, solid lines that say
THIS IS YOUR SIDE
and
THIS IS MY SIDE
it's as though there is an electric shock system in our lanes... like on a farm, how when an animal crosses over that imaginary line that delineates OUR farm from THEIR farm... they get totally electrocuted and scolded!
(it seems we do that with everything... the possessiveness)

here, it is not that way.

in indo... you will be barreling down a road on a motorbike in the pouring rain.... you can't see a thing... there are potholes literally the size of bathtubs... and a random truck starts speeding towards you, going the "wrong way"... and somehow, magically it works out.

there are SO many ways to get hurt all the time out here...

and yet, there's such incredible FAITH....
to me, if feels like a TRUST... that E.W.O. (Everything Works Out)... and it really does.

Sure... people totally get hurt and crash and whatever... but no more so, really, then they do in LA.
And here, the people are exercising fearlessness and faith.

you just GO.
and somehow, when everyone is trusting, and nobody is hesitating... E.W.O.

My friend Mick and I decided to go on another adventure today... since the last one we went on (climbing to the top of a hill) was awesome display of E.W.O.


We had a driver pick us up from Bridgette's house and directed him to drop us off somewhere beautiful.
So he drove us about 30 minutes south to Bungus - and stopped near Ayer Terjun Lubuhitam (Lubuhitam waterfall)...
and fully just dropped us off.

Before he drove away he gestured up the mountain... "Ayer Terjun!" he said pointing vaguely... and then zoomed away.

We didn't know where we were.
We had no clue how we were going to get home from there...
We had no clue about anything.

All we knew, was that we were there.
And there we were.

Heading down a dirt path, we decided we would follow the guys carrying the giant sacks on their heads that were heading up towards something...
Everything was SO lush and green.
We were immediately in the jungle.

Monkeys were everywhere and the creek was rushing down next to us as amazing huge plants took breaths so deep, i swear i could hear them.

We didn't have any way of knowing which way we were facing since we didn't have a map or compass..

So, of course... i did "compass pose" on a rock.

duh.

There was a young couple swimming in the water right below me that we said hello to and immediately became friends.
Neither of them spoke a word of english
and neither of us speak Indo...
But we communicated and hung out for a good two hours...

Instead of hiking through the jungle on the little dirt trail... the four of us climbed up the middle of the creek, hoping from rock to rock, like the monkeys all around us.



we finally got up pretty high and found a little flat area perfect for a dip... the rocks all around were shaded by trees and perfect for just sitting, with eyes closed and listening to the clicks and hums of the jungle... and the constant crescendo of the waterfall and rushing water around us.
i fell into a trance.

when i came back to life... the boys had decided to continue up and climb to the top of the waterfall... and i would stay right there and wait with Camila, my new friend.

I have no clue how much time passed, but i think it must have been hours.

when the boys got back, i hugged my new friends to say goodbye and we started back down, realizing we really needed to get on the whole return adventure.
I had been talking to Camila in our language-less language about the best way to get back to Padang City and we had hatched a plan.
(so i thought.)

We started walking down the little dirt trail by the side of the creek.
And before we knew it, our new friends were right behind us... over-taking us on the trail and signaling for us to follow them.



When we got to the bottom, we said goodbye again... Mick and I had made our plans to walk from the bottom of the trail out to the main street and either take a taksi or a bus...

All of a sudden Teman pulled around on his motorcycle and indicated for us to get on...driving us down the road to the main street.
Mick screamed to me over the buzz of the motorcycle we were now on, riding down a jungle road,
"strangers are just friends you haven't met yet!"

We walked through Bungus for a little while putting our thumbs up and saying "Bungus is Bagus!" (Bagus is "good")...
and we ended up meeting a new friend named Raul, along the road.

Raul owns a guesthouse (like Bridgette's) - called Losmen Tin Tin... He spoke english very well, and instructed us to take a bus (bis)... waited with us until we got on and then said "check out my website!" www.losmentintin.com
He was hilarious.
i love him.

While we were waiting Mick mentioned to Raul that it seemed like it had been a little more then the "fifteen minutes" for the next bus to drive by.

That's when Raul started laughing and said "JAM KARET! WELCOME TO INDONESIA!"

Jam Karet is rubber time.

eternal SEKARANG. (Now)

there is ONLY right now.
yesterday never happened.
and tomorrow will never come.

Its so easy to forget to embrace the moment.


We got on the little blue "bus" that could very well be the slowest moving thing in this entire country, heading for Padang.

It was seriously so unbelievably slow we started to get irritable.

We hadn't eaten and this bus was basically going backwards it was going so slow.

Thats when the song i started writing in Singapore popped in my head.

KNOW YOU CAN NEVER GO TOO SLOW
OH OH
KNOW YOU CAN NEVER GO TOO SLOW.

well.. shit.

i pulled out my ipod - gave one ear to Mick, put my feet up and let Cat Stevens carry us all the way home to Padang.
Going slow gave me the opportunity to actually look at the beautiful landscape and countryside as we waddled back up the coast towards Bridgette's.