My Experience in Indonesia as a Teen
Whoever thought that putting nineteen teenagers together in a foreign country was a good idea is either brilliant or insane. You see before my experiences of camping out the jungle, or playing Cosmic Wimpout at two in the morning, or a seven-hour hike deep into the jungle with total strangers, I would have told you that I had never really experienced the bliss or lucidity that the Earth offers. I had never been told, “witness the chaos to understand the order.” I never had the chance to help the orangutans — let alone see them up close. I had never before learned that I should live my dream and not dream my life. This trip changed me like no other travel experience has in the past — and I have traveled to over 18 countries on 4 continents. It allowed me to discover myself and pick up stories that no one else, except for those with me will have with them. It has wholeheartedly changed how I think about the purpose of my life and how to fulfill that purpose. Before this trip, I had amassed a great deal of thought that was not profound enough to change my stubborn ways. But, this trip threw that out and replaced it with an updated version that has changed how I see the world.
This photo is of a critically endangered animal that is losing its habitat rapidly, the Sumatran Orangutan. Sumatran farmers are not farming fruit and rubber, which would benefit both them and the animals. Instead, they are farming palm oil, which can only be harvested once or twice before farmers must plant more palm trees further into the jungle. To harvest palm oil, farmers must cut down the trees, and because the trees suck up so many nutrients nothing can be re-planted in its place. This process is killing various species in the jungle, but the most prominent is the Sumatran Orangutan. The group we partnered with, Nature for Change, focuses on planting fruit trees. With this group, we planted around two hundred fruit trees that farmers can harvest, and orangutans can live and feed off. To help these beautiful creatures yourself, you can limit your use of palm oil products, including shampoo, beauty products, and foods such as KitKats. There is no reason humans should kill animals off, as they have as much claim to the planet as we do.
Morning fog rises above the treeline in Gunung Leuser National Park
Beauty
To me, Indonesia was beautiful because of its less attractive parts. Our group did numerous things, but none of them were in tourist-populated areas. The only way that one can find the true beauty in travel is if they seek discomfort. This discomfort can be found in learning about and going to places off the beaten trail. Some of our discomfort was in the accommodations, none were five stars or even four stars; instead, we stayed in family-owned and run businesses that were homey and nice. But, there were geckos in our rooms, mosquito nets around the beds, and broken showers — these became our luxury. The ruggedness is what I will remember; not only the places we went and had fun but the places that we stayed. You see the places we stayed were the setting of some of the best memories we made over the course of our journey. Travel is both reliant on the places you go, but also who you meet along the way. I want to go back not only to see the places again, but to see the people again. I want to play Cosmic Wimpout until two am again, talk with other teenagers at midnight about life, and be inspired even more by the everlasting beauty of Indonesia.
Photo by Jake Weirick on Unsplash
Sight
We all have the chance to see what is beautiful, but we must look for it. Our phones are so significant in our lives that we have forgotten to look. The lack of my phone on the trip allowed me to see what was so great about Indonesia. It enabled me to sit on a bus for four hours and see not only a sprawling city, but hundreds of humans living their lives. With a phone, I would have missed many parts of the country. I would have not seen people cooking curry and fish on the side of the street, the hundreds of Bintang signs that seemed to dot the landscape, or the jungle and its intricacies. Technology is replaceable, but life is not. Without a phone, we can regain lucidity of thought. This lucidity allows us to see more of what we miss in our everyday lives. Clarity like this allows people to bond and learn more about each other. It gives one the feeling that sight is not only what people see, but what we feel, smell, and hear. That is what is vital about sight, it is not just vision, but instead, it is everything around us that we do not see. Seeing is just discovery, but that sight opens a gate to understanding.
Photo by Lukas Robertson on Unsplash
Cosmic
I have mentioned a game in this story a couple times, Cosmic Wimpout. To many people this is probably just a simple game; but, to me, the game is a memory or really many memories. Our group, self-named the Bintang Boys started off as strangers, but this game made us friends. It allowed us to connect and talk about many things that probably would not have been brought up otherwise. There were times in which we all were exhausted, but we kept playing so we could talk. Although this does not seem ideal, it turned out to be one of the best decisions we made. We stayed up late in the middle of the jungle surrounded by nature playing a dice game without a care in the world. We laughed, joked, and relaxed over the game after long days of service. One of my most salient memories of the entire trip was when we climbed up to the roof of the hotel to play. When I first climbed onto the roof, I saw the stars of the southern hemisphere, something I have only seen once before in the Serengeti. It was a cluster of stars twinkling in the pitch black sky above the Southeast Asian sea. Right below were the lights of Denpasar, the largest city in Bali. It took me a second to take in the beauty of the night sky. Sitting on that roof with a few friends, just admiring the aesthetic, was something even more surreal. It was as if time stopped for a second, we took a breath and just looked. There was nothing except for the silence of our admiration. After a moment, we took out our headlamps and started playing. This was the last night of the trip and the realization that we would all be leaving each other the next day set in. It was the quietest game we ever played, but it was the time when I learned the most about everyone playing. It was just a silent realization that this is life, and it is not always supposed to make sense.
Rick-isms
Rick was one of the leaders for the trip, and no one else could have been better for the job. He and his co-leader (Sorrel) were both amazing and connected with us. They were one of the reasons we had so much fun. But, Rick, in particular, had a big influence on me. He was a minimalist who was on the move a lot and often did not stop traveling. He was both funny and serious. Rick left a lasting impact on both my life and some of the other guys’ lives as well. He gave us many wonderful quotes, two of which I have incorporated into this piece. He told me to “not dream my life, but to live my dream.” He and I talked about how people should follow what they want to do and love, which led me to realize I should ultimately do what I want, not what other people want me to do. It was something that I can carry with me into the future. Rick was the center of many spontaneous moments from the trip, including the jungle offering that we simply acknowledged at the time, but led to laughs at the end of the trip, and our clay body paint in a river that came with titles we bestowed upon each other. Because of our leaders, the trip was a unique experience that will never be replicated. As Rick was fond of saying, all you have to do is “witness the chaos to understand the order.”
Lessons of Leaving
I never have wanted to stay where I am; I always want to go places and see how others live. When I finally travel everywhere, I will settle down in one place which I love the most -the place where the most discovery is done. I want to live in a place where I learn things every day about that place. It can feel so bland to be a settled group of people. Nomadic cultures traveled the world based on their needs, but now we have the chance to go wherever we want, regardless of our needs; yet many never leave their hometowns. With each step I take further from home, there is more to learn about the world. One amazing thing I learned was that life is different in each and every place in the world. No matter where I live, be it Maine or Estonia or Indonesia, each place will have its special gifts and knowledge. Language, religion, and ruins are gifts that we have access to with a simple flight. No matter what though we always have to leave a place at some point. Separation is always something we have to go through whether it be when we leave for college or go live in a new city or country. We cannot stop the separation, so we must make the most of our time where we are. Every second we waste is one that we can use to do something we love.
What Is the Purpose of This
You tell me. What does it truly means to live and love? No one knows because it is all in the eye of the beholder. For me, it is travel and seeing the world’s beauty and intricacies. I have been told that there is beauty in everything, and if that is true all you must do is find it and cherish it, as it may never come again.