It was my first trip to Indonesia, an unknown and new world for me. I had the excuse that I had become a member of the International Pen Friends to have more foreign contacts and to be able to visit them. The chosen one was Benita, a young woman from Bandung who introduced me to the island of Java and I also fell in love with a friend of hers with whom I travelled to Bali.

On a cultural level I got to know Yogyakarta, the artistic and cultural center for excellence where the main temples of Prambanan and Borobudur are. The Celebes islands with one of the experiences that marked me the most: living the funerals of the Toraja not yet well known by tourism. From Celebes to Bali, the island of the gods where I wanted to live. Visiting its temples and beaches.

The trip would also take me to two places outside the usual Indonesian circuits: Irian Jaya with its tribes and the Moluccas. In Irian Jaya, the objective was to meet the Dani tribe that inhabit the Baliem Valley region scattered among the mountains. For this I did a trekking where the anecdote was that my “guide” left me in the middle of the valley and I had to continue the walk alone.

I chose the Moluccas for being a rarely visited place where you can enjoy from its natural and historical wealth, to its charming traditional villages and intact beaches. As well as the Banda Islands, the ancient islands of spices.

It was a complete trip where the experiences that most marked me were: falling in love with a Javanese girl, the Toraja ceremonies and having lived with the Dani ethnic group in Irian Jaya.