Tug-Of-War
fig. 1 ~ There are so many things that I love about this photo. The eyes, the dress, the background action, the fact that I wasn’t sick anymore. This was taken in Flores in a town called Labuhanbajo. Say it, it’s fun: Labuhanbajo.
This is the town where the ferry from Komodo stops if you are heading East, which we were. I arrived in this town sick as a dog. I ate some bad fish in Bima right before going to Komodo and caught some godforsaken parasite. It festered in my belly for two days and then , on the ferry from Komodo, that damn parasite took a legitimate hold and I was curled up in a ball the whole way to Labuhanbajo. I started my antibiotics as soon as I got there (after staying a night in a horrible hotel that the guide book says, “…harbors one of Indonesia’s most wonderful collection of losmen scalawags.” Nice. Anyway, the next morning, my buddy Matt found us better digs up on a hill overlooking the harbor where I convalesced for a full two full days. I will not get into the details of said convalescence. It was THE WORST.
On the third day, I was finally returning to a normal physical state. I was sitting on the porch of our rented room with Matt when we heard a strange commotion. We would hear loud shouts for a minute or two and then silence for a few more minutes following. Then the shouting would start all over again. Matt asked what I thought it was and – I swear to God – I said it sounded like a game of Tug-O-War. Matt asked if I felt up to going down to check it out and, since I was feeling better, I said yes and grabbed my camera.
Lo and behold, it was a freaking Tug-O-War match down in this huge field. It looked as if the whole town was there and Matt, speaking wonderful Indonesian, concluded that it was TWO towns. When the locals spotted us, they begged for us to join in. I was still not 100% so I said no thank you and started taking photos of the competition. Man oh man, they all cheated like crazy! Who knew!?!
Most of my photos from this event were pretty dull but as soon as I pulled the trigger on this photo, I knew it was going to be good and I am very pleased with the way it came out.