Jungle Family

I feel it’s only right to include a note about our jungle family. They are the family who owned the losmen we stayed in, cooked our food and were generally awesome. Moris and his wife Matiana have 3 ADORABLE children Endi (boy aged 7) Seralin (girl aged 4) and Alfek (boy aged 2). Moris spoke really good English from years of business with the boulehs, and used to come up and hang out with us when we were chilling. He was pretty funny too… it must be said!

It took a while for the rest of the family to warm up to us – I think we were always objects of curiosity for the children but it wasn’t until the end of the trip that they really seemed comfortable with us. Alfek was the cutest thing (cuter than Legato? Hmm… maybe!) and used to run after our car every time we left shouting “Dada dada” (means bye bye) with his plump little legs and toddler excitement. One time he pooped his pants right in front of us. It was a pretty surreal moment, but hilarious as well – a weird look came over his face and all of a sudden there was a little pile of poop by his feet. And he just stood there, obviously not so sure about what to do. Awwwwwww!!

Saying goodbye to our jungle family (Moris used to call his kitchen a jungle kitchen in Nias jungle, hence the nickname) was possibly one of the hardest things I’ve had to do in a while. It’s funny how much of a relationship you can really build without even speaking the same language. I really miss them!!