Into the Tomohon Local Market. Difficult trying to keep upright in the mud along the outside while avoiding slimy floors inside. There were the communal taxi cabs and buses lined up in a big parking lot and buyers and sellers making their way, umbrellas hoisted above. …View image… A.J. brought us here because I expressed a desire to see one of the typical Minahasan foods, rat. Have absolutely no objection or moral qualms about dead rats skewered and ready for sale but alas, they were sold out.

Instead, dead dogs for sale. I’m not judging what people eat but had a hard time reconciling the fact that we, Americans, usually consider dogs to be pets and “members of the family.” I don’t have one myself but seeing dogs in a cage ready to be killed and barbecued, then laid out on the table for sale, gave me major heebie-jeebies. I do not feel that way about other animals…

line-up of shared cabs waiting in Tomohon, Sulawesi
Dogs are considered a special treat for the Minahasans served on special occasions. All you cat lovers are lucky, there weren’t any cats for sale either. Yes, they do eat cats. Even more disturbing to those of you who think of your pets as “children” was the response to a question. “A.J., are these dogs raised for eating (like chickens)?” His casual reply, “…No. If you have a pet and are tired of it, we sell for meat. Also, pick up strays and cook…” Allrighty then….

dogs caged and ready to be butchered in Tomohon, Sulawesi
It was lunch time and food was really the last thing on our minds now but a drive was scheduled around Lake Tondano to the restaurant….still raining. Lake Tondano is basically a caldera of an extinct volcano and the third biggest lake in Indonesia resting on a plateau 600m/2,000′ above sea level, Lake Tondano is only 14 km/9 mi long with villages along the shore where the primarily occupation is fish farming of carp and catfish. A nice restaurant filled with other rained out Mount Mahawu would-be hikers. (Every tourist usually ends up in the same places because there aren’t that many to choose from.) Notwithstanding the market sights, lunch was delicious and I used a little zen to take my mind someplace else to forget about the dogs…

Still more to see but done with the upsetting food displays…