The experience Mentawai of Sigri Manai

Dear Cuki,

More or less 2 months ago me and my friends Jose, Jon and Guillem visited you and your family on the Mentawai island Siberut. Do you remember us?

Jose the Spanish guy who wanted a siesta after every meal, Jon the Bask guy who got us addicted on muse, Guillem the Catalan guy who wanted a Mentawai tattoo but changed his mind when he saw the instrument they use to make the tattoos and me, Anne, the very tall Dutch girl who didn´t like it so much when you killed a pig for dinner.

We learned that Siberut is an island close to the city Padang from where you leave in a big old ferry to arrive 11 hours later at the island. There is one ferry a week but no one seems to know exactly when it leaves. So when we thought we arrived just in time to get the ferry it appeared that we had to wait one and a half day which could also easily become 3 days of waiting. Everybody told us something different, so in the end we decided to relax and wait. We heard that you and all the other tribe family’s love sugar, tea and cigarettes. So when the ferry finally did arrive we entered it with bags full of sugar, tea and cigarettes to give to you and all the others we were going to meet. In the ferry we had a small cabin with two bunk beds and two little round windows. The ferry was full of people, mostly locals but also some tourists. A lot of people were sleeping on the ground in the corridors, others had cabins like us. 

There were lots of surfers on board because Mentawai has amazing waves, the most famous surfers around the world go there. But the surfers will never meet you Cuki, because most of them don’t even know about the tribes and uma’s in the jungle. We fell asleep with the cracking sounds and rocking of the old ferry, hoping we would arrive safely. The next morning we were woken up by the sunlight shining thru the small windows, we made it! We counted our mosquito bites, a bit paranoid, because we heard that there is a very dangerous type of malaria on your island. Jon and I even bought big pieces of fabric and I sewed two sleeping bags for us, so we would be protected within the mosquito nets we had. You must remember those silk looking, shiny white posh covers we slept under.

After arriving we went to have breakfast and immediately we met Liki, your nephew. He told us we could go on a trekking with him into the jungle to meet you and his other family members. The first night we stayed at his sister’s house, so that must be your niece. But I’m not sure because everybody seems to be everybody’s family in your tribe. 
They we’re so friendly! We talked about the trekking and what we were going to see. Liki told us about his Spanish friend, Roberto, that just visited him a short while ago and made him a very nice video that could help him to promote his work as a guide. You met Roberto right? The funny thing was that when we saw a photo of Roberto hanging on the wall of the house we recognized him! We had just met him 2 weeks ago in Bukit Lawang where we did a trekking with Orangutans. The world is big but small at same time.

Liki explained us some things about the tribal traditions and the way you and your family live. He also told us that he is a modern Mentawai. He respects his culture and his roots, he feels like a real Mentawai, but he also wants to move on and develop himself. Live life like others guys of his age. He wants to improve his English, likes to buy nice clothes, wants to work and earn money and likes to go party. And that’s OK as long as he doesn’t forget his roots. He also introduced us to his girlfriend, Marga, she doesn’t speak a word English, but is always joking and cooks amazingly well. You’re lucky that you are able to eat her food so often!

After having dinner with the whole family on the floor of the veranda we went to our room and it took a while to install our mosquito nets in such a way that we trusted it enough to sleep without worries.

The next day we woke up and started our trip in a small but long wooden boat, carved out of one piece of a tree. The boat was so small that we couldn’t move, otherwise water would come in, or worse we would roll over. So without making a movement for more than one hour, enjoying the first impressions of the jungle, we arrived at the first Uma, the wooden houses where you and the other tribe families live in. We were welcomed by an old man in a loincloth and his almost blind wife with horrible teeth. She was wearing a volcom t-shirt, but I don’t think she will be surfing any big waves some time soon. 

She was standing very close to us and squeezing our arms enthusiastic. She became even more enthusiastic when we gave her a cigarette. She sat down on the wooden stairs of her Uma to enjoy her cigarette and mumbling to herself.

Before arriving at your house we had to walk a few hours thru the mud. Because it had been raining a lot our feet sank 20 or 30 centimeters into the mud. So I took my shoes off and decided to go barefoot. I thought, if you all can walk barefoot, I should be able to do it. But of course my feet are a lot more sensible and not used to this, so I arrived with some cuts here and there. And all of this just to keep my shoes dry.

When we arrived at your house Cuki, I was really amazed! It’s such a beautiful Uma. Everything made of wood and by hand. And you told us that it’s only 10 years old and it took 1,5 year to build it. All the uma’s we saw are very big, but yours is definitely the biggest and the most beautiful one. I think all the other families are jealous of that one beautiful Uma on the right side of the river. And the river is a big plus because it’s the best jungle shower we had in the week that we were there.

And Cuki what an interesting wife you have, Tete. Together you are such a lovely couple. Sitting all day long on the veranda together, Tete talking in Mentawai (sometimes it’s not very clear to who though) and sharing your 3 addictions: smoking cigarettes, drinking tea with lots of spoons of sugar and loving the family members that are living in or visiting your Uma.

And then you took us with you to get the most important thing in the whole jungle: SAGU!

You taught us that sagu is a type of tree that you can use for everything. You love to eat it prepared as cracker sticks above the fire. Tete showed us how to do it. Roll it into a leave, and tie it together with another little string of leave. I tried it but of course I wasn’t as good as Tete, I think she was laughing a bit at me when she saw my sticks falling apart.

Sagu is also for your animals, most importantly for your pigs. It seems like that’s your biggest hobby, feeding big pieces of sagu to your beloved pigs. Pigs are very important for your family. Not only for food, but also to pay the dower when your son wants to marry a girl from another family. Pigs are money in Mentawai. You are lucky to have so many! It was great to sit there with you on the back veranda watching the pigs fighting over the sagu. Also great was when we put our arms around each other and you squeezed me friendly in my behind, taking advantage of the fact that you are much smaller than me and ‘couldn’t reach any higher’.

Do you remember that one little pig that conquered a little piece of sagu and was just running around screaming, being afraid of the other pigs taking it away from him. And the 2 very small piggy friends, that were not really interested in the sagu, just running around together, or at least one was running and the other one followed him everywhere. And the huge punker pig that chased everyone aggressively away so she could eat one big piece of sagu all by herself.

And then arrived the moment that you picked out a small pig to eat that evening. I was wondering how you chose which one was best, you seemed to know. I watched the whole ritual Cuki, but for me it was hard to see. I don’t eat animals and I don’t want to see them suffer. But I know that they have a very good life with you. And at least you have a ritual to honor each animal you kill. Liki showed us all the skulls hanging in your house of each animal that was killed.

The next day was also a memorable day. Liki showed us what to do in case you’re in need of a quick snack, he took us to a self-service jungle restaurant: an old sagu tree. In these trees you find Tamra, fat worms. Liki got about 8 fat worms out of different trees and fried them above a fire we made. Not being used to this you need to let go of the mental idea of what you’re eating because it actually tastes pretty good! Kind of sweet and roasted. I remember were sitting on a tree and watching us with a smile, how we were eating the tamra’s with so much fuzz and talking.

That night we had dinner together and you used some of the only words you knew in English ‘eat together’. You always said that with a big smile. And Marga gave us Mentawai names. From that day on she only called me Sigri Manai, ‘ diagonal flower’. I responded with her new nickname, Pantoja, a famous Spanish singer. Guillem got the name Rerek uma what means ‘asking for the uma’. Jon was called something like Maria karei, I forgot what it means. And Jose’s name I forgot at all. Do you remember? It was so nice that you stayed with us until very late, talking in Mentawai, smiling, friendly squeezing Jose’s legs. But probably you try to forget our singing from that night when Marga and Liki taught us Mentawai songs. Sorry for that…

The last day when I woke up in the morning you were holding the little girl who was crying and you were singing to her, swinging her back and forth. It was magical to wake up with your voice singing in mentawai. Guillem and I were lying silently in our mosquito net enjoying listening to your voice.

Does Tete like the tiger balsam that I gave her? I know she liked the massages I gave her. I hope the balsam helps for the pain in her bones and muscles.

When we left your house you, Liki and the wife of your son brought us to your brother’s house, Liki’s father. We were very impressed by your strength. We carried small backpacks with our cloths and were sweating like pigs. You were carrying an enormous basket with food and I don’t know what else and it didn’t seem to bother you at all. You weren’t even sweating! But I did see the marks on your shoulders from the basket so I thought it would be good to give you my sarong to put between your shoulders and the straps. You were happy and said I was ‘a good man’.

Your brother is a shaman, like you, and he showed us how you make poison of plants, peppers and some other ingredients. Liki explained us that they used to put the poison on the arrows to shoot the monkeys so they could eat them, but now there are no monkeys anymore because you ate them all.

So we went shooting on trees. Or at least Liki’s father went shooting; he didn’t let us shoot at first because he said we would break his bow. But when we dared him to shoot a package of cigarettes of a broken tree, with the cigarettes as the trophy of course, he got into a good mood and changed his mind. He tried a lot of times to shoot the cigarettes of the tree and I’m sorry to say this to you Cuki, but he isn’t a very good shooter. We were mostly looking for arrows in the forest because he missed all the time. It was a lot easier when we started trying and the arrows ended up one meter in front of us. We didn’t have to walk that far.

After the shooting he took us for a barefoot walk thru the jungle to the house of another brother. That house seemed almost abandoned. Nothing compared to your house! The river at Liki’s fathers’ uma was also a little bit less nice because if you didn’t kneel down, while washing yourself, everybody could see you. Jon, cheerful and distracted as he can be, found a perfect spot to show us his beautiful white ass.

In the evening Marga and a few young boys were preparing dinner. Your brother killed another pig, but this time I went somewhere else. I didn’t want to see it again. A young boy was getting water in the river while singing Mentawai songs with the most beautiful voice I had heard in a long while. Later that night we asked him to sing into our MP3 player and so he did with one of his little brothers. At the end of every song he said ‘End. Thank you’.

The next day we went to the village on the border of the jungle, arriving there we saw a paved road for the first time in 5 days, which was almost strange after days of only walking thru mud, creeks and jungle. In the village we had lots of fun playing volleyball with the kids, who were all much better than me. Most of the time I would hit the ball behind me instead of the direction of the other team. The kids would give me tips and everybody laughed loud about all the mistakes. We had about 30 people watching us and at one moment the ball hit a little girl on the head, while the girl started screaming at the top of her lungs everybody else was laughing. You laugh about more or less everything.

Sweaty as we were of the exercise we jumped in the river and played with the kids. 

After lunch and a small siesta (proposed by Jose of course) I went fishing with a woman and 3 girls in a skirt made out of palm leaf. They needed more or less 5 minutes to decide that it was better that I just held the bamboo stick to save the catch, because I wasn’t very good at it. We arrived at the house with one plate full of different fish for dinner. But when it was dinner time the fish was gone.

The last day we went to a waterfall to swim and jump from little cliffs. The boys from there were jumping naked from high cliffs. We decided to be smart and only watch and admire them instead of trying it ourselves. Especially the naked part. The rest of the day we played cards and drank a lot of super sweet cappuccinos.  Before going back to ´the normal world ´ they made us a Mentawai bracelet that we will wear until it falls off by itself. Every time we look at it we remember you, Tete, Liki, Marga and all the other family members we met.

But especially you and Tete! It was special to be in your house and that you shared with us your way of living. Thank you for everything, you are my grandpa of the jungle and I hope to meet you again one day!

A big hug,

Anne