The Arrival - Indonesia

From the airplane through the dim blue dusk light I could see the ships on the calm Jakarta bay. By the time I had disembarked the plane, night had already covered the city. It was a three hour air-conditioned taxi ride to Depok. We were insulated in the taxi from more than just heat. The sweet smell of cloves and leaded gas, the crowds of people in the noisy darkness, the fried rice and Gado Gado stands that line the street all the way to Depok were  just outside the taxi window. At that point I felt like going home already. I had visions of New England. The crisp autumn air, colored trees, and clear running streams. Then  I looked outside the car window to see that the traffic and the people in the roadside stands were unstirred despite my visions.

Ecocircles  

I was an outsider, a trained  biochemist trying to break into the conservation biology world. I relished listening in on the conversations between the scientists. Across the table sat the head of national parks in Indonesia and Conservation International Jatna Supriatna. “The interesting thing about this archipelago is that Indonesia used to be one landmass. Now all the species are on the islands and some have been isolated for years. The scientists around me talked about biology’s increasingly prominent role in conservation — its usefulness investigating the evolution of species, genetic diversity between species, and current trends in migration and mating behaviors. Then Jatna talked about his training. He had gone to University of New Mexico. Homework for his herpetology classes meant catching rattlesnakes. Next he talked about his primary research in Sulawesi. He had spent several years there trapping monkeys in the jungles. He once caught several monkeys at night but decided to wait till morning to take blood samples. When he returned, the monkeys had been killed. They had been slaughtered to death by local villagers who viewed the monkeys as agricultural nuisances. Jatna subsequently talked to the village’s chief to have the the town know that the macaque maura was an endangered species. That night 50 angry town farmers surrounded his house with knives and machetes intent to drive him out of town. 

Lenteng Agung  

We checked into a boarding house by the University of Indonesia. The Indonesians thought it was funny when we said we are living in LA- Lenteng Agung, that is.  There, the women live on the first floor while the men occupy the second and third floors. Across the backyard, the speakers of the mosque start blaring prayers at 4 o’clock in the morning. The prayers sound as if Martians have landed on earth. At first a staticky screechy prayer creaks out of the speakers. It is quickly followed by a deep monotone melody chanted by an imam. Soon the oscillating  buzz of hundreds of praying Muslims accompanies the imam’s chants. The voice for the speaker crescendos as the imam professes his worshippers’  love and respect for the supreme God Allah. I lay awake in my bed staring at the wall waiting for the strange alien sounds to stop. Eventually I manage to sleep somehow only to be a woken up by the 7 AM prayer shift.