Run through the jungle

Tuesday, three days before, we drive along winding backroads through several jungle towns coming back from visits to a volcanic lake and the northern coast via breathtaking mountain lakes and views. These towns differ from those I saw on Java last month in that most of the homes of these people, artisans and farmers with precious little income, look lovely. Most importantly, they seem to have been built in dialogue with the environs… most of these places appear to emerge from and bleed back into the jungle all around. Javanese homes of similar means showed much less taste and awareness of where they stood. Of course we observe these towns in the midst of communal holiday decorating, but the drive is a deeply moving experience for all of us. At sunset we pass one temple filled with villagers in brightly-colored tops and sarongs awaiting a little space at the large square altar area to deposit their offerings, often a 2-foot-tall sliced fruit arrangement in a woven basket atop their heads. Families take most of the offering back home again after the ceremony. The rest is left for the spirits… and the guardians.