Another coastal town, with fishing boats and a beach, and at the cross roads to the Mamasa Valley.
Our next travel target is Mamasa, a town in the mountains of West Sulawesi – so far we have been in South Sulawesi province only. To get there, we decide to overnight in Polewali, a small town at the coast, from where the road to Mamasa starts.
We have the afternoon to explore the town. We first stroll to the beach, where we have seen some magnificent ships, outrigger canoes, on our way in. The boats are still there, and so are some 50 children, who are all terribly excited about the fact that two bule – foreigners – visit their community. For the next hour or so, we are being trailed by the group, which increases in size the longer we stay.
Next, we move to the Polewali boulevard, to take in the sunset, together with a fresh coconut juice and a martabak, a kind of omelet with filling. This is where the towns people seem to get together late afternoon, a gathering anticipated by many of the food stalls. The rainy season keeps threatening, however, and soon after dark the food stall operators start taking down their tarpaulins and collect their plastic chairs. The wind picks up. We just make it to a corrugated iron shelter, before the rain comes thundering down. If it rains here, it really rains. But the shelter turns out to be a restaurant, where we enjoy the Indonesian form of Kentucky Fried Chicken whilst waiting for dryer times.
There is not much more to Polewali, except transport to Mamasa. For hotel suggestions, click here.
next: to Mamasa, in the heart of another interesting minority area