Bentha - Ben und Katha

After an adventurous journey steep uphill, with a part where we had to get out of the car and push it in order to be able to move on to that traditional, vivid village, we finally arrived in Belaraghi. It is a very pure little village, where we intended to spend the night at, so we might get a glimpse of the village life in the countryside.
After we made a little donation, we were allowed to roam around the village, happily waving to the incredibly friendly people and trying the best we could to speak the little Bahasa Indonesia we learned so far.
Especially one elderly woman, Irene, was exceptionally friendly, we asked her about the nuts she was drying just outside her home and were able to tell her, how beautiful her house and the whole village was.
After our little walk we came back to our driver, who was discussing for a long while with some people of the village. From what we understood, it was a long discussion about chicken, food and eating, and it didn't take long until we had the feeling that we might not be able to stay there...
In the end our driver confirmed our thoughts: in order to be able to have guests sleeping at their village, the Belaraghi people have to follow a strict ritual which they need to prepare hours before the guests would arrive. This ritual includes killing a chicken, as well as giving some tee, cigarettes and chicken to the ancestors before celebrating with the guests.
As our driver never slept there overnight, he didn't know and we had to leave the village.
Instead we decided to stay at Aimere, to get the chance to see an Arak destillery the next morning.
Let's call it karma. The accommodation right on the water was really great.Read more