Today (Thursday) we had a wonderful time on the lake. Aron arranged for a boat excursion to the far end of the lake. It was an 8 hour ride for 20 people, including family, friends and acquaintances from Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Australia, France, Russia, and the good ol’ US of A, of course. The ride was great fun with singing, 2 guitars, a bongo and assorted improvised instruments. Our destination was a beautiful waterfall, where we tied off for swimming and a Batak style picnic, which Hapne and several relatives cooked and served to all of us. There was rice, grilled carp, fried eggs, toast, French fries, spicy noodles, and sliced cucumbers. Always, there is that delicious Sumatran coffee and there was mushroom tea and the Indonesian beer of choice Bintang (which these non-beer drinkers say is not too bad). Along the way we made stops at two small settlements of very rural Batak (as opposed to the “citified” Batak of Tuk Tuk). Hopefully, we can post some photos soon to show you some of what we saw: coffee bean groves and beans drying on woven mats, rice paddies, streams traversed by fallen logs. The vegetation was lush and pigs, chickens, goats and dogs roamed free. It was odd in these environs to see satellite dishes erected next to huts with dirt floors. It made us appreciate home, but a little envious of the simplicity of life here.
