Soya Atos

We were given one day of liberty in Ambon and I wanted to do something off the beaten path so one day when the internet was my friend I looked up Ambon and came across a place that looked interesting – Soya Atos. I did not want to venture there without someone who spoke the language so I invited 3 of the Indonesian interpreters to go with us. We had an amazing experience. Soya is located on Mt. Sirimau and the roads up were very steep and windy. The drive itself was an adventure. We rolled all the windows down and just enjoyed the breeze and the scenery. I loved waving to everyone and seeing the smiles we got in return. The mountain town was so calm and peaceful compared to the chaos of the big city below. They told us that there are 2 million people who live on the island of Ambon.

The road ends at the city limits of Soya. There I was so grateful to have Indonesian speaking people with us as no one knew English. V was the most assertive of our interpreters and she took care of asking if we could walk up to the baileo, or ritual meeting place and the sacred urn. One the the men in the village agreed to be our guide. He told us that the walk was 600 meters up these stairs. We were like – stairs no problem as that is all we do on the ship is walk up and down stairs. Well this was quite a hike up old stairs that were covered with moss. They rose up through the rainforest with trees on either side. There were tons of fruit trees on either side of the stairs. Mango was the only fruit that I was familiar with as they named off the names of the fruit trees.

The stairs wound all up the mountain and it was fun to keep moving upward. There were creepy spiders along the edge. I don't think I would want to wander off into that forest as who know what kind of bugs and snakes lurked in there. Eventually we got to a locked gate which our guide opened for us. Then the stairs got narrower and steeper as we continued to climb. At the top were some stone remnants of a “temple” where we could stand and overlook the bay below. The view was amazing and it was super cool to be up in the middle of a rainforest overlooking the sea in the middle of nowhere. I heard one of our group say that if they did nothing else on this trip this was would have been enough. I was so glad that it turned out a great place to visit as I really had no idea. I really do like to go off the beaten path. I don't think any American's had been there in a long time.

I noticed another small set of stairs going up into a small cove. I asked V to ask the gentleman where those stairs went. He said that he would take us up, but that we had to get in order of oldest to youngest. I looked around and thought surely I am not the oldest, but alas I was and so I was the first one that climbed up this small stone stairway. Our guide went up first to the “Sacred Urn”.   The legend has it that it never is empty that there is always water in it and that the water has healing powers. There was a “cup” of sorts resting on a plate that covered the top of the urn. The cup looked kind of like a coconut shell, but only thinner and more pointy. He dipped this cup into the urn and handed it to me. I took it and immediately looked back at the group and said, “There is no way I am going to drink this water” He then motioned for me to dip my fingers in the cup and rub the water on myself. I did so, but left out any chanting or praying that I'm sure the locals do when performing this ritual. It was kinda cool to be involved in something that was special to this little town. Our group was very respectful of this place that was sacred to this people. After everyone had approached the Urn we were then asked to form a line youngest to oldest and that is how we descended the mountain. The whole experience was so unique and I felt like I had stepped back in time. I loved being a part of something cultural and special to the people of Soya Atos.