October 27 Makassar

We hired a taxi for the day in order to visit some sites around Makassar. We tried to visit an area of town that had some island traditional houses on display. It was an abject failure as the taxi driver didn't speak english, didn't know where anything was, and I suspect he couldn't read Indonesian either, We gave up on the houses and headed for the waterfalls next. First he phoned somebody for instructions, then he stopped to ask directions. We got there first attempt and had a neat visit to a waterfall and caves. The caves were not lit and I think we ruined someone's day when I pulled a flashlight out of my camera bag for Joan and I to use in the caves (the worker with the coleman lantern did not need to use it). Then the guide and 3 young boys got out their iPhones and used them as lights also. We had just enough light to take some pictures in the darkest cave. We had a good visit and then the guide asked us where we were heading next. When I told him the city name, he informed me it was 4 hours away, not 1 hour like I expected. We made a quick change to the itinerary and the guide gave us a map to the next destination – a set of ancient caves. The driver really wanted to go straight back but I had the name and the map and off we went. This is when I realized he couldn't read. I had to check the signs with the map we had and I had to navigate. It sort of worked, The driver really seemed frightened and checked with everyone we met. The last guy we asked pointed to the next driveway and that was it. We were at the caves where traces of civilization were about 8000 years old. Then the driver, who had been rather tense, came to life and joined us on the tour. He took more pictures than me on his iPhone. He really enjoyed the caves after he got there.

Waterfalls during the dry season.  Monsoons next month.

Caves near the waterfalls