Today was a biggie. Made this appointment a couple of weeks ago with a farmer who really knows his stuff. His was the farm I visited with all the gold around, when I felt like the world was coming together in all the right ways. For today, he offered to help me catch and identify all the insects we could find. I was determined to photograph them and make note of the Balinese and Indonesian names. I made a list of all the ones people already told me about and had it ready as a checklist. He added a few to it. Here's a little snippit.
* Sidenote- insects are an excellent food source and really quite delicious. They can be enjoyed in a variety of nice ways and provide well needed protein for many people. This account is only in reaction to touching them before they are fried...
This wonderful university student from Denpasar has been helping me some with my research. I originally contacted her for help with language but she is doing so much more! Today, without any hesitation, she went directly to hunting. One lady in the fields told her how to find blauk (dragonfly larva) and she dug into the mud right away, looking. Then, in her greatest feat, she caught spiders. With her fingers. Just two fingers, like it was nothing. And these are the type of spiders who don't make webs so they are *fast*! She grew up in the city; joined me in her first rice planting last time we were together. Then just captured these things like it was second nature. I was completely blown away.
The farmer led me all around to the different rice fields, asking other farmers if they had seen this bug or that animal. At one point, we were down to one major one- bluwang. That's the Balinese name. In Indonesian, it's orang-orang, which means people. Because it has hands. We found one field that was tilling soaked soil and the farmers pulled out four or five. I put them into my glass jar. They do, indeed, have hands. And an amazing ability to give me the creeps. As the hunt was winding down, we joined his older brother in a hut and his wife gave us coffee and these sweet snacks: sticky rice with coconut cream, sugar and little beans. The best part was the way they were wrapped in leaves, held together with tiny sticks and natural string. I complimented her repeatedly and she eventually just insisted I take the whole bag.
Back at his house, where I thought I would be photographing my catch, he clarified some names and sent me on my way. The task would be a solo adventure in the apartment. The tile here is white, so that was a bonus and the owner is a photographer, so there was extra lighting available. The only question was how I was going to single out each of the creatures- frogs, spiders, the thing with hands, a catepiller bug that convulses (and repulses) regularly, dragonfly larva, tadpoles, grasshoppers, a cricket, eels, tiny snails etc. Many were dead and some were almost out of life; I felt awful about this. "Borrowed" the resident sauce pan with lid to contain them in, washed my glass container and steeled myself. Repeatedly. Handled the dead ones first with minimal shivers. But when it came to the bluwang, I started hopping. Everything was more sensitive and it felt like something was crawling on me at all time. I freed the frogs (already had photos of them in the wild) and skipped the eels because I had them already too. And got through the cricket and the grasshopper so they could go live free. The rest I used spoons and cups and tweezers to move around. In the rice field, they were fine. The little legs would make me cringe a bit but they were organic and natural. They belonged. It's manageable. Here in the apartment, their alien nature was clear as day. Even the neighbors' cat avoided my sauce pan of clicking and scratching. One by one my models hopped and oozed on my photo pallet.
Then I got to the jubel. This catepiller thing with a fat body, few legs and floppy antenea. It was at the bottom and I didn't see it until I poured out all the water. One of my best "informants" (who I accidently met while getting a facial. Research is about living life- you never know where information will reveal itself!) said she loves all of the insects, excep the jubel. Everytime she said the name, her hands flew up to her face like she was frantically trying to sho away a fly. This one looked dead. I grapped the tweezers and seized its tail. It convulsed and squeaked. Loudly. And I screamed. Loudly. Bit my arm to shut myself up and narrowly missed the glass case of expensive equipment. Oh holy mother of. These things are ugly. Ugly and fat and slimy and they convulse and squeak.
I am supposed to be studying people! That is what "anthro-pology" means- the study of man! How did I end up in a Balinese apartment by myself in the middle of the night with a sauce pan of insects and frogs, lighting equipment, a spoon, my dinky point-and-shoot camera, tweezers and a squeaking jubel!? I had to walk outside, take a deep breath, then just go for it. It squawked and bent itself in half repeatedly, violently. I took 3 photos of it and called it a night. Dumped the whole lot in the field behind the apartment, wished the living ones well, cleaned up the splattered mud and washed everything down. Then burned incense in the spot. Part of clarify and part to clear out the mud scum smell.
I have a potluck to go to. With people, to talk to. Life's roads never cease to amaze me.
