Travel with Irwan

When you hear the name Wae Reno, what comes to mind is that the sand mining center is located on the border between East Manggarai and Manggarai Regency. Every travelers who cross the trans Flores route from and to the eastern part of Ruteng will certainly not escape the sight of this mining activity that is  gaping like a meteor hit. In fact, not far from this mining location, there is a paved farm road with a distance of about 200 meters as access to the rice fields of the Robo community and its surroundings. It was through this road that we discovered a hidden paradise on the outskirts of Ruteng City. This plantation land owned by residents measuring thousands of hectares holds a million charms that are very pleasing to the eye. In the warm embrace of the Mandosawu mountains, the abundance of water from the mountain, the fertile land of the former eruption of the Ranaka volcano, and the harmony of nature and culture that is so thickly felt when this plantation land becomes a...

“Bapa, nanti kalau situasi kembali normal, saya akan pasarkan tuak  Kobok  ini ke luar negeri, turis-turis saya antar ke sini, Bapa tenang sa, pokoknya Bapa siap sibuk banyak”.  Dengan sangat lantang Ino mengucapkan kalimat itu. Ia melepaskan semua peralatan kamera di tangannya saat Alvin dan saya sibuk mewawancarai Bapa Tomas. Ia beranjak dari tempat duduknya dan berjalan meninggalkan tempat  shooting , ia berjalan tak seperti biasanya, berlenggak-lenggok di antara rak p iring, beruntung saja kakinya tak menginjak ekor anjing yang masih tidur di balik pintu. Mama Ida datang membantu, ia memegang tangannya dan memandunya ke ruang tengah.  “nana, tidur di sini saja dulu”.  Mama Ida berusaha menenangkan sambil membaringkannya ke atas tempat tidur.   Begitu kira-kira efek langsung setelah Ino meminum tuak  Kobok  satu botol ukuran 60 ml berdua dengan Bapa Tomas. Di balik dinding dapur terbuat dari bambu yang hampir lapuk termakan usia itu, mam...

Wakos village never stops presenting me with new stories, knowledge and experiences of Manggarai-Flores traditions, rituals and culture in every journey I go through. A recent visit led me to a big family that seems to be united in various occasions and who have become very special to me. They gave me my first opportunity to learn and participate in the traditional "tapa kolo" way of cooking rice unique to the region, and of course I leapt at the chance to follow it through step by step and learn of its history. Fresh leaves from the palm tree ("leka" in the Manggarai language), fragrant Pandan leaves, bamboo stems, and of course rice are the main materials used in preparing tapa kolo. The bamboo that was cut has to be very selectively chosen, of a certain age and size. According to Bapa Risa "if it is too old, the water content is less and when it is baked it will burn easily and if it is too young the water content is too much so that it will take a lo...

Right at the beginning of 2021, I started my travel stories by visiting my hometown, the village where my parents came from. The names are Wakos and Ntangis. Wakos is the village where my father is from and Ntangis is the village where my mother came from. These two villages are located in East Manggarai Regency, in a valley surrounded by a row of hills north of the city of Borong, the capital of East Manggarai regency. These two villages are close to each other, about 4 km away and only bordered by a fairly well-known river, Wae Bobo, which empties into the South Sea of Flores, namely the Sawu Sea. With a distance of about 50 km from the city of Ruteng and a travel time of about 2 hours, I rode a motorcycle that has accompanied my journey for years. This trip was not an ordinary trip, but more than that, a trip with the aim of praying at the funeral of our ancestors which we often call in Manggarai " tutung Lilin"  or lighting a candle at a funeral. For me and my famil...

Celebrating Christmas For the first time in 3 years, I could spend Christmas with my family in Ruteng. The last 3 years, I spent Christmas away from home for works, to guide people around Flores. Since covid-19 hit, tourism activities are not busy anymore that made me having lots of time to stay at home to spend Christmas with family. Christmas for me and family refer to dried cakes, tart, and pork. This part has always been a tradition since I was kid. The talks over the cakes making was about sharing memory about our childhood during Christmas. My mom and I while pressing the batter reminisced about I and my brother who were always frustrated when my mom used to ask us to go to the neighbor to borrow some cooking stuffs to make cakes like baking oven, mixer, and cake maker. This was always been the frustrating part for us. Every time we went to borrow their belongings, we faced the fact that the neighbors were also busy in making their own cakes, we had to wait till we were a...

A ceremony is a time when all relatives get together again. For married women, the ceremony is a very appropriate time to see families who have been left behind since marriage and mainly because of the Manggaraian culture which requires women to follow their husbands after marriage. Just 3 years ago in September, all my relatives from the village came to Ruteng to get involved in the a ceremony to prepare for the wedding. It was the first time my family held a “ Kumpul Kope ” ceremony or a ceremony that aims to collect dowry. In this ceremony, relatives brought some money and animals such as chickens and pigs. These main items are collected as the dowry which will be brought to the bride's family on the day of the wedding or known as " Belis ".    Relatives who had known previously that the ceremony would be held in Ruteng felt it was right to see how the city looked like. Some relatives came with their children only because the children screamed for their mothers t...