Hi Everyone,

  Writing from Labuanbajo where we will meet up with Sail Indonesia on the 6th.  I still owe you the remaining photos from Nur’s house but our cell phone connection won’t send photos well.  I hope this goes to you so you can meet Petra and Janez. 

Randal and I made the best spur of the moment decision while in Tana Toraja.  During our stop where the women were playing the music with the long poles calling people to the coming funeral celebration, we met Petra and Janez.  While I was off with Rusli taking photos, Randal was watching the drum women.  Petra, also watching the women, started to chat.  Janez joined them and they were all still talking when Rusli and I returned.  I was introduced and thought them a very sweet, happy couple. They were from Slovenia and reminded us of a cruising Slovenian friend, Tasha, whom we had met at the boat yard in China.  Randal gave them one of our cards and we said good-bye.  While we walked to the car, Randal told me that Petra and Janez were hoping to get to the island off Labuanbajo.  We both thought the same thing, why not ask them to come with us if they would like.  Randal returned to them, offered and they said they would like to if everyone’s plans fit; they didn’t want to hold us up.  They had some more things to see and then a 10 hour bus trip.  They are 26 and incredibly adventuresome and live on a shoe string budget.  Well, it worked out and they arrived in Makassar early Sunday evening.  They had given us their passport numbers over the phone the day before so we could officially add them to our crew list.  You have to do that when you cruise so countries know who is entering and leaving.  There are lots of reasons.  Countries want to know who is coming and when they leave.  They charge fees to come so they know how much to collect.  It gives the crew some added safety if something happens to the boat, there would be a list of crew (passengers.)  By 11 pm we had all the paperwork done and the fuel loaded thanks to the help from our friends Arifuddin Hamid who did about everything we needed and Sempo who ran the water taxi service.  About  7:30 am Monday morning we pulled up anchor.  We’d had two boat glitches that Captain Randal could fix, and the Sox score was bad, but nothing to stop us so off we went.  It was a rolly bumpy slow long day.  But we made it to anchor before dark.  The next 2 days and night were not smooth either.  There was little boat traffic to worry about so both Janez and Petra took 3 hour night watches with Randal sleeping close by if needed.  Randal and I took the first and last watch and that made it so much nicer than each of us doing 2 watches.  Petra and Janez cooked, washed dishes, played the guitar and sang and slept where there was space.  Compared to the dark spider filled caves they’d had to sleep in during a trek or the knee deep mud or leeches on their hikes in India, anywhere on our boat was comfort.  They had met at university in Slovenia, both studying geography and focusing on ecology.  For now their passion is travel and they have been doing it for many months including several in India doing volunteer work and meditation.  They are so enthused and open minded and care about the world.  They, of course, are vegans so we all ate very well.  Lots of cabbage salads and beans and a great eggplant potato vegetable stew Petra made.  We also ate tempeh pan-fried with garlic.  I made bread and we all ate veggies, fruit and healthy! 

  We arrived in Labuanbajo about 3:30 pm on Wednesday and they were packed and leaving by about 4pm.  I quickly grabbed my camera realizing I’d taken few photos of them.  So here they are, Petra and Janez.

This is how they traveled, with packs for camping, sleeping bags for sleeping.  I asked what kind of shoes they wore through the knee deep mud.  Sneakers Petra said.  Petra said she just laughed at how absurd it was but Janez was too mad since they had been given such bad directions that they had hiked miles through horrible mud all the wrong way. Luckily they had come upon a native hut, were allowed to stay there and then were taken by boat across the lake where they needed to be.  Very trusting people, they were always treated with kindness. 

  Petra with her purple tie dye shawl sitting on the flybridge.  She had such beautiful, expressive eyes.