Wow, what a place. I flew from Bali to Sulawesi on April 1. No joke. Sulawesi is a world away from Bali.

I had a driver pick me up for the eight hour drive to the hills. It was so fun to spend a day with a local. He was fun, kind, a good driver and a very motivated entrepreneur. We spent a lot of our trip talking about ideas for his business.

I’m staying at a very simple homestay in the center of Rantepao. I have a guide for two days, and yesterday was amazing. We visited the water buffalo market, a funeral ceremony in the hills, and some very traditional villages around Rantepao. We had a wonderful time and I learned a lot about the culture here.

The culture is deeply connected to the funeral ceremony tradition — there’s an entire economy wrapped around it, which is rather fascinating. The funeral I attended involved sacrificing 67 water buffalos and 200 pigs. Mind-boggling. The ceremony lasts a full week, with hundreds of villagers and family members attending. We spent the entire morning there, and I feel lucky to have experienced this firsthand.

After the funeral, we visited some very old villages and checked out the cliffs where burials used to happen. There were MANY skulls.

Today is coffee day! It’s raining, so should be a wet one.