Horas, Lake Toba, and a Reunion After 34 Years

Horas! Hello, welcome, how lovely to see you!

Lake Toba. Toba Lake, Samosir Island with the Tuk-Tuk Peninsula. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Toba

Lake Toba, a favorite spot, a fascinating place with incredible brightness, cloud power, shadow play, texture, depth of color, and expanse. The largest volcanic crater lake in the world, Toba, a supervolcano.

We were here repeatedly from 1992 to 1994. A place to rest, enjoy, marvel, I can jump into the lake and enjoy the soft water while swimming - several times a day. Spectacular cloud formations and light displays in the sky, shadows cast in the folds of the crater rim, changing colors of the lake leave us in awe - see for yourself.

In 1992, we met Roslin Samosier, she worked for her uncle at Abadi Bungalows and Restaurant, where we were guests. In 1993, we returned, but Linda, as she introduced herself to us in 1992, was no longer there, she had gone to Jakarta to work. We wrote to each other, but contact quickly faded - there was no internet then with its fast and easy global communication options.

In 2018, after a long time, we traveled to Sumatra again and of course, we went to Lake Toba. When inquiring about Roslin's whereabouts, no one could provide information. Last year, at a friend's celebration, it turned out that the friend of the daughter of the house has an Indonesian father, a Batak, an Indonesian from Lake Toba. The Batak are the indigenous people living around Lake Toba. They are Christians and have a very vibrant and singing faith community. He was able to help locate Roslin, gave her our phone numbers, and since then we've been in contact again. It was such a joy to see her again. Roslin now lives with her family back at Lake Toba. We also had the chance to meet her mother and two of her siblings. A warm and open hello surrounded us. Now we see each other daily, sometimes just for a chat, sometimes for a joint Sunday church service, sometimes for a longer shared meal.

During the day, we set off on the moped, riding up to the plateau of Samosir, the island in Lake Toba. The road, which was good 8 years ago, is partially broken and in one place completely washed away. A bridge has been constructed with boards for crossing. Potholes and cracks make further travel difficult for us. It has always been a mammoth task in Sumatra to build and especially to maintain roads. Sumatra, like all of Indonesia, is tectonically active, and the tropical rain contributes to the seemingly never-ending task of road construction.

There is a small tourism scene in Tuk-Tuk. It has regressed with the visiting Western tourists, while local tourism has seen some growth. This also means that Indonesian hotel guests enjoy hosting karaoke parties. Our tolerance limit is up to 10 PM, after that it becomes painful :-). During the day, people eat, sing, and chase each other across the lake on jet skis. For a night or two, then it's back home.

We still have a few days left and are enjoying the peace :-)