June 25, 2010

Mt. Rinjani...

The second night after dinner, we started talking with the more senior of our two porters, Jalan, who is a champion stickfighter come stickfighting season during Lombok's August. I'm going to be very stingy with my words right now, again, because I'm sure one day I won't be...but when you're standing by the fire, 6 people sharing rice wine out of the same cup, struggling to stay warm, and your guide is talking about black magic and a sport where two guys lash hell from each other until one of them cowers and retreats, the only thing I could think...there is no other existence on this entire living planet but ours...