In & Around Solo

Yesterday we traveled northeast of Yogya to Solo to visit 3 new sites. First, we stopped in Solo at an Islamic boarding school, Pesantren Al-Muayyad, to learn about religious education in Indonesia. The school has ties to ICRS and Gadjah Mada which allowed for our visit, and we spent about 2 hours learning about the history of the pesantren and its role in Solo. The stereotype given by Westerners toward the activity of Islamic pesantrens has historically been very negative; however, Al-Muayyad is a very progressive, socially active organization that seems to be effecting a lot of good in Solo and around Indonesia. Somewhat ironically, perhaps, Solo tends to be a center for Islamic radicalism and we viewed a short video clip of religious-based violence from just a few years ago. The head of Al-Muayyad was prompt to emphasize the universality in religion as well as notions of religious tolerance, both within Islam and among other religions.

After our religion lesson for the day we got back in the car and headed up Mt. Lawu to see an historic Hindu temple, Temple Sukuh. When I say “up” Mt. Lawu it was really far up and very steep! Kudos to Mas Ramang for getting us up the hill safely! Sukuh Temple was one of the last Hindu temples built in Java, before (or during) the Islamic conquest of the island. It is described as an “erotic” temple and was visited by Hindu women to ensure fertility. As one might expect, then, the place has statues of naked men. I also found a statue of a turtle, kind of random.

Our last stop of the day was to Grojogan Sewu waterfall. After descending quite a few stairs we reached the bottom – and not after plenty of whining that it was too much physical work, pish posh. The views were nice, though not stunning. We climbed around the rocks for a bit, took some photos, then made our way back up the steps. Once at the entrance to the waterfall we still had another trek up a hill to reach the car. Local men were selling horse (more like pony) rides up the hill but I decided it would be more fun to run up the hill; I was off! Upon reaching the top I nearly collapsed and immediately bought some Propel-like energy water from an Ibu and guzzled it down. It felt good to run, though.