Discovering Utopia

Togean islands are placed within the liquid turquoise womb of the orchid shaped island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. Everything that I read, or mostly the scarcity of what was written about it, had me beeline to these remote islands in escape from all the real, concrete, commonplace, mundane. I was headed towards ideas and ideals - constructs of my head, in search of an earthly paradise, of a simple life immersed within astounding beauty - bountiful, natural. I sought a return to womb, of life before emergence, identity, before a crafting of myself into me.

I found paradise in these tiny emerald droplets floating on iridescent blue lagoons whose depths I plunged in awe struck wonder, again and again, many many hundred times over, looking into turquoise and jade reeling away to navy infinity filled with sunlit coral gardens of golds, copper, pink and mauve, swaying gentle whites with chocolate fronds, bouquets of chrysanthemums between japanese scapes, filled with flashes of darting fish in unimaginable colors, shapes, sizes. Stingrays rays glided and sharks romped these waters with lethal assurance, while a giant whale blew huge spouts as it crossed our path, ignoring us.

The islands were covered with swaying palms and steep rock faces that cascaded with wild orchids. The sands were golden and fair, the water world a mere thirty feet from our tiny hut. We ate simply, whiled away hours on hammocks in silence, or in quiet companionship of our new found friends, sang songs and heard guitar played to popular bollywood numbers. We slept like babies to a loud chorus of cicadas and awoke at early hours with the cock crowing. Mostly we swam, snorkeled, watched the ocean and were aware that our eyes were just too inadequate to grasp so much beauty that filled our world here.

We spent eight perfect days in Togeans and left it with hearts wiped clean with infinite ocean, infinite sky, a mind mindful of living in the present and ready to return, and be reborn.