Photos - Lake Toba and Sunday after church

Here I am crammed into the Internet cafe "booth" doing the blog. Why our friend took us to one without chairs I don't know. I'm doing this entry from the comfort of the air conditioned student computer lab, much better!Our Sunday night visitors, four very brave young ladies.
Several hard working young men weed whacked the entire area around our house on Sunday afternoon, then piled up all the trimmings and set them on fire. Needless to say the smoke is going right into our house.
We were looking for cheese in the store and this is the only option available, BBQ Chicken flavor! I was disappointed, the flavor was very subtle and didn't have a hint of what I would consider to be BBQ Chicken.
This map shows the route from Siantar (full name is below: Pematangsiantar) to Lake Toba. We drove to Parapat and connect with the ferry.
On the way to Lake Toba we stopped and picked up some snacks. This gentleman was cleaving big chunks of meat right by the roadside. Nancy would not allow me to buy any.
The snack shop sold little white balls made of rice flour, coconut and palm sugar. This is the gas powered contraption used to grind the rice into flour.
We stopped for gas several times (stations are only allowed to sell one big tank per day, so many are out of gas.) We spotted this awesome fire extinguisher. I believe they are ready for the next volcanic eruption!
We had to wait for the ferry for along time so we strolled up and down the street and saw these delectable items. Our first option is hard boiled eggs into some red hot chili sauce.
If you can look closely you can see all the little eye balls staring out of this nice dish.
Fish fry, Batak style. The Batak people are the indigenous residents of this area.
Here we are with the Dean and Nala waiting for the ferry. The town of Tuk Tuk on Samosir Island can be seen in the background.
This is our ferry boat. If you look closely you can see a young boy sans clothing hanging from the railing. He was collecting money from passengers as payment for making entertaining dives. His buddies are swimming at the side of the ship.
The cars were loaded very tightly onto the ferry, so tightly it was a challenge to squeeze between them.
This is the view of the rather squalid loading area in Parapat. Note the church in the background. There are many many churches here.

There were many children on the ferry, many of them dressed in what we would consider PJs.
There was a very small lookout spot on top of the ferry. Here some guys are negotiating with Nancy to have their picture taken with her. Since Jacob is such a rock star here Nancy and I have to taken advantage of attention when it comes our way.
This is on the island of Samosir. The chef is preparing fried bananas in long and ball form. We got the traditional long bananas, which consisted of a banana wrapped in a thin coating of dough and deep fat fried.
We all agreed that the fried bananas were delicious.Fish anyone? This lady is enjoying a bite of breakfast, taking a break from chopping and scaling her pile of fish. We certainly hope she washed her hands before digging in! The lake yields a tremendous amount of fish.
We visited a very interesting cemetery. I guess the cloth strips are sort of like prayer shawls. We were just told to wear them but not why.
Jacob stands by a very important grave of a past king and queen.
Jacob and I fill in the gap between two warriors.
Jacob connects with two more fans.
Nancy and Nala get into the action.
Here we are at the entrance to the Batak Museum, which housed some great artifacts. The building is in the form of a traditional Batak house.
This is one of many items for sale in the museum gift shop. When we discovered how much a small item cost we were afraid to ask about major pieces of carving like this one.
Jacob and the gang after the successful completion of negotiations to buy his two string guitar.
A lady at the market selling a beautiful variety of veggies.
Here we are with Berta in front of the main church on the island.
The traditional Batak style house is built on stilts to allow for chickens and other livestock below. Jim O'Hatnick, take notes for that next house renovation!
At the bottom of the church property there is an archway that has John 14:27 in English and Batak: "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you." Note the big truck on the street, containing all the food goodies for the vendors to sell. The boxes were being thrown out in piles onto the street.
Here's lunch, grilled lake fish. Though it was a bit of a challenge to separate the meat from the skin and bones, it was quite delicious. I tried to put the image of the lady sitting there chopping up the live fish out of my mind!
We climbed a big hill to get a great view of Tuk Tuk and the surrounding lake and mountains.
Here's Nancy more or less at the very top. A tomb can be seen in the background.
This picture is for Grandma Joan. Notice there is a church at the bottom of the towering mountain.
Nancy, Jacob, Nala and Berta gather at the top of the lookout spot.
Tuk Tuk was a beautiful place, though the hotels appeared to have seen better days. Many pizza and beer places. Sadly we did not have time to stop. It was here that we saw the first white faces since the airport in Medan.
Waiting for the ferry return trip. These ladies are roasting corn on a fire made of nut shells.
No comment but this is a free flowing ditch in the town where the ferry lands. For a place of such natural beauty there was no regard for keeping anything clean. There a duck sitting in the trash near the bottom of the picture.
After a long wait the ferry is loaded and we're headed back to Parapat. Note that the ferry door is not closed. Evidently the big gas truck was a bit too long to swing it shut, so they just put a few rocks under the truck tires to keep it from rolling off the ferry.
Sunset over Lake Toba! There were several little boys up top who were harassing folks like us, trying to hustle us for money. They always ask if you would like to hear them sing, and if you do then you owe them a tip. Nancy and I volunteered to sing for them and that was enough to scare them off!