Yogyakarta Indonesia Week 2 Day 5

Yogyakarta Indonesia
Friday

It's dusk here.... lightening is flickering every 15 - 30 seconds, bats are flying around, and I'm looking out from my balcony at a dark skyline of roofs and trees against a fading blue. The air is warm, yet not heavy. The call to prayer on the loud speakers is drowning out all traffic and street chatter. It's really beautiful -- mosques throughout the city start their speakers at slightly different times so Jogja rings with a chorus of call to prayer rounds.

Talk here is about Merapi -- will it erupt or not. I met a correspondent for the International Herald Tribune and New York Times, Peter Gelling, who is writing a piece about the mythology around volcano. The folklore is that everytime Merapi erupts it signals a political change in Indonesia. The last time this happened was right before the economic crisis in 1994. The eruption was predicted by an old man who is known as the gatekeeper of Merapi. He lives nearby it and in 1994 he foresaw the tragedy, which killed 60 people. The recent concerns have come from scientists and the government, and within the last several days, the Sultan, who handed down a decree to the residents living in the area that they must evacuate. However, the old man says it's not going to happen.

My subconscious vision of Merapi in 2003.
The catalogue is in its final prep -- I spent 4 hours yesterday copy editing and Arie spent several hours today fixing something else. Sama-sama!

I finally met up with my friend Kuta, the becak driver whose becak was one of the ones I painted in 2004. He took me on a ride through Jogja and over to see Alicia's mural -- when Carolyn and I tried to find it we got lost.