900,000 population-75% are Christian…surprising, atleast to me. In this predominately  Muslim country. 

Schooling …6-7 years elementary + 3 years for middle school plus 3 for high school. It is not free but costs 1 million rupiah ($85CAD) for school each year… catholic school is 2 million rupiah. 

It’s dry season here now, unlike the rest of country/area. This area that we are driving through, nobody wants to live here because there is no water. It’s a wasteland. 

So many goats…. not for meat but milk.  Fences built from pieces of tree branches that sprout. 

One car in the caravan of private vehicles used for all our tours, broke down so had to transfer people around. 40 cars in line like African safari where everyone is chasing the illusive leopard. 

Went to Savannah…. Looks much the same as the area we’ve driven through …. barren but it is valley with trees that look dead. Apparently they will sprout once the rains come. I think maybe they are acacia as in Africa. 

There are quite a few horses wandering the barren hillsides, are raised to be sold for racing in Java. They are the income to the village we visited.  Throughout the village there are lots of chicks and hens and monoliths….  The whole village is like a graveyard with these stone structures scattered around.

Next we are off to see the waterfall.

We are driven over horrendous roads, steep on the precipice of a lush valley. As we arrive there is lightning and thunder and then downpour that then made it unsafe to see the waterfall. According to the guide it was 242 step down and 242 steps up. Probably would have been the only thing worth seeing on this tour. I would have gone forked to the waterfall but would have had to cross over a metal bridge that given that there was an electrical storm happening, might have been dangerous. The absolute disorganization of the guides and the yelling and indecision was so annoying. All in all disappointed to the tune of $433CAD….grrrr!  So many people were peed off. 

On the return to the port we stopped to see water buffalo rolling around in the mud….. probably as a result of the rain. 

Highlights were seeing the goats, horses and water buffaloes.