Here is an awesome picture of Horst, the German Anthropologist.  He is wearing a traditional Makassar sarong on his head.  The sun is extremely intense on the equator, so we wore a variety of clothing to protect us.  Horst could speak fluent English, German, Dutch, and about six different local dialects, including Indonesian.  He was an incredible sailor and was committed to sailing in the traditional fashion.  For thousands of years, people had sailed to neighboring Islands for trade.  Some sailors had gone as far as India.  They have a culture and tradition of sailing and fishing.  It is this culture that we were researching.  Also,  I think Horst was not a big fan of the real world, and loved sailing the remote islands of Indonesia.

When I wasn't sailing with Horst, I was off doing my own research.  Two things fascinated me most about the culture.  First, the Batik -the Art of Wax.  This is a traditional fine art that produces beautiful handmade fabrics.  However, most Westerners have never seen true Batik.  The stuff  sold out here doesn't even come close!  My other favorite pastime was researching the true Spice Islands, the Molucca Islands.  Here grew the spices that Christopher Columbus was searching for, nutmeg, mace, and cloves.  For centuries, these few islands were the only place in the world that these spices could grow.  European countries, such as the Dutch and Portuguese, fought desperate wars to control the precious substance.  For several weeks I traveled these islands.  I loved going off the beaten path and seeing what I could discover. Below is a picture of the jungles that these spices grew in.  Here you see some of the villagers I met who were harvesting these precious spices.