Indnesia, Sumatra, Bukit Lawang, agosto 2009
Quando misi il piede fuori di casa, non c'era nulla di strano. Tutto era come al solito. Percorrendo la solita road, went down to the station, as every day. I greeted the crowds, the usual friends. Where are you going? Childbirth. I was making the first small step, but it was equal to a thousand more steps each day. Except that that step would take me away. I do not know how to describe this strange feeling that normality of the gestures contained instead the beauty of departure, the excitement of "who knows where I'll be tonight." And then: Camogli station, chatting as we waited for the train, the friends met by chance. The usual train that departs late, the usual route to Genoa. It 's just that the air entering the airport change, comes the awareness.
And then everything speeds up and so I find myself to write the first frase sul mio quaderno intatto: "Quanto tempo ci vuole fra la stazione di Camogli e la giungla di Sumatra?". Assurdo e azzardato come collegamento, se non fosse che sono sotto una tenda, in mezzo alla giungla, nel buio più profondo, con una ranocchia minuscola a far da guardia contro le zanzare.
E' stato un attimo arrivare a Jakarta già con il programma di viaggio sconvolto dalla decisione di non restare lì, ma di andare a Sumatra. E poi, arrivati lì, andar via di nuovo fino a Bukit Lawang, a nord. Il pullman con la ruota di scorta al posto dei passeggeri e i ragazzi che salgono sopra a vendere cibo mi danno il benvenuto in Asia. Adesso lo so: sono arrivata. Due ragazzi con una pseudo acconciatura rockettara salgono a suonare la chitarra. Humor that only can be found here. A man sits down beside us and starts talking. Then he tells us to be a guide of the natural park of Bukit Lawang. Slowly forward with his real purpose, but then have time to do it quietly, the trip takes 4 hours. In the end I know that there is no way to escape the jungle trip, so I resigned. I'm not particularly fit to face so suddenly: from the desktop to the trails ... Yet the next morning I find myself starting with a backpack that contains very little spare underwear, a Kway, camera and a bottle of water. For seven or eight hours we are left to follow our guide, Sunny, that brings us joy in the midst of the vines, the giant spider webs and and down the paths, but also very off the beaten track, to search for the orangutans. And the orangutan we find them, even very close, large, beautiful, with their intense gaze.
Eventually my legs tremble from the effort. The knees do not hold me anymore. If you do not feel that we come to the camp begin to slip on muddy trails. I can stand the vines and roots of trees until they finally come to the River. Here is ready the camp. In short, it is ready to put down a tent poles. Under the mats, similar to those for exercise, will be our beds. A man has prepared the tea, and dinner is cooking over a fire. As soon as darkness falls, the light of small candles, there in the middle of the anything, we eat rice, vegetables and chicken. Then we tell stories of jungle animals. Sunny imitates them all. When you turn the laughter and the candles started the company more tough: sleeping on the floor!
Indonesia, Sumatra, orangutans in the wild, in August 2009
