Northern Sulawesi was our favorite part, possibly because our guide was awesome, but also because it was a nice balance of culture, hiking, and relaxing, as opposed to a crazy amount of culture, followed by way too much hiking, ect.
Our guide/driver was waiting for us when we arrived and drove us the 9 hours to Gorontalo, a city nestled near 3 volcanos. The drive was long, however he offered us many options of stopping and was very intent on getting us some fruit when we informed him we loved pisang susu. We stopped by the sea for a lunch of fish and rice, which I was absolutely sick of, but it still tasted pretty delicious at this point since we hadn't had a real meal in about 24 hours.
We arrived at our hotel, which was the most beautiful we had stayed in. I wanted to spend my time just sitting and reading because there were beautiful plants all around and you could look out over the volcanos in the distance. The restaurant wasn't half bad either and they had more choices than just fish and rice. We settled in for a good night of sleep post overnight ferry.
The following morning we woke up for our tour around Gorontalo. We started the morning with a short hike to and around a semi active volcano, Mahawu. Then Stefaan (our guide) took us to the local market to show us different Indonesian items for sale, including cooked cat, dogs, rats, and bats. The dogs were simply too much for me to handle. After purchasing some pineapple, we went to the nearby lake and ate fresh fish for lunch, as well as savoring some new juices (for my parents.) They loved the soursap juice, but weren't quite as sure about the jackfruit.
After this we were taken to the "hill of peace." It was created after the turmoil in Central Sulawesi subsided to say that now Sulawesi was accepting of all religions. There are 6 different places of worship represented, and there is also a hot springs coming out from underneath.
After this it began to rain, so we were escorted home for dinner and some relaxation. The following morning we headed to Manado and then took a short boat ride to Bunaken Island.
The Island was nice, but once again left me wondering how people can spend more than a day or two on a beach. Apparently there was excellent snorkeling and diving, but they took us to the best snorkeling spot and I didn't think it was that interesting. At least not as excellent as Flores. We searched far and wide for chocolate, but could find none. My mother did managed to find several sarongs to purchase and we got to have some excellent pork while we were there. We also founda starfish family.
After one day we left on a boat, took a car to the airport, and we shortly home after our 3 hour flight and 3 hour cab ride.
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