Dragons, Volcanos and Vicious Coral - Flores, Indonesia
Flores, Indonesia
As I walked towards the 50 seater twin propeller plane to Labuhan Bajo on the west coast of Flores, an old lady about 2 foot high came scuttling alongside me as we walked across the runway to the plane so being a polite English lady I let her climb the steps in front of me. Being small she didn't need to bend down to get in the plane door like Europeans! Good job the top of the door frame has sponge taped on otherwise many of us would be walking around with bruises on our foreheads! She sat next to me and her thick bottle glasses did nothing for her looks! She was gorgeous and although did not speak a word of English, was keen to chatter to me with huge gappy smiles. I felt a bond between us and she was so delighted when I gave her my box containing the "in flight meal", a dry roll and plastic cup of water with a straw! She had put hers straight into her handbag to save for goodness only knows who! A good start to Friendly Flores. When we landed she obviously felt it her duty to give me a hug before scuttling off! Luggage collection was a laugh, the airport had only a small room for everything, the luggage is dumped on the side of the runway and its a case of find your bag in the heap, give a man (any man) your baggage ticket and away you go! Great....LHR should try this sometime! As per usual, someone is happy to give help in finding suitable accommodation - (I just have to tell them how much I want to pay per night and I'm whisked off to somewhere!) and the place I was taken to, Chez Felix!, was on the hill above town, nice and quiet and magnificent views across the bay. At £7 including breakfast, this would be quite acceptable! The only drawback was the shower, only about 4 holes worked so washing hair shampoo out with the trickle of cold water took forever! My objective was to go and see Komodo Dragons so I head straight into town to try and arrange a trip. I found out that a trip to Komodo by boat would use the majority of my month's budget and took far too long on the sea. There were still plenty of dragons on Rinca Island, still in the National Park and much more affordable. It didn't matter which island I saw them on, as long as I saw them! A boat trip required a minimum of 2 people and I was only little old me, so now I had to find some people! Not many tourists around in this beautiful ram shackled little town and the only ones I saw were there for the diving. After an afternoon of asking around, one "Tourist Information Office " (every other building was one) said a German man had made enquiries about going and if I returned that evening he would let me know. Great, my hopes were starting to raise and a hot walk back up the hill to my hotel just about finished me off! The hotel didn't do food apart from breakfast, so I attempted a shower (took me a long time trying to place myself under a trickle) and a walk down the hill again in the pitch black in search of food. Thank goodness I had my torch with me! All day long scooters were stopping when I walked asking if I wanted a lift, which I found a little unnerving and in the dark it wasn't pleasant at all. I was getting a little shirty with them in the end as I thought these lads were "trying it on". It wasn't until the second day that I realised they were taxis!! Zooming around all over the place, you just hop on the back and they take you to wherever you want! Sorry Flores boys! I found a lovely restaurant with a view of the harbour and ate outside with the warm sea breeze keeping me cool-ish. A short walk to the Tourist Information Office and it was confirmed that I would leave from the office at 7.30am the next morning...brill. So another walk up the pitch black hill to Chez Felix, much quicker this time and an early night ready for my exciting trip to see dragons! As I sat on the kerb waiting for the Tourist Information office to open (it never did!) a lad on a motorbike pulled up and said I was to hop on and he would take me to the boat. I have to say I was a little reluctant, but I suppose this was what was expected, even though no-one had mentioned this to me! So I hopped on the back and he sped off towards the harbour and took me to a little wooden boat. There were no steps down to the boat so I pondered this a little wondering whether to do this jump in my flip flops or bear footeded and thought the latter was probably better cos I didn't want my flip flops being catapulted through the air and land in the sea. To my rescue, two Indonesians from the boat below climbed up and helped me down! I sat there for a good 10 minutes wondering whether I was on the right boat and wondering where I would end up as no-one spoke any English! Eventually two motorbikes arrived and a young couple from Switzerland joined me. I tried very hard to make conversation with them as there were only the three of us on this tiny boat but they were not having any of it, miseries! It didn't matter as I was determined to enjoy myself and have fun, so quickly made friends with the crew - sign language and laughs go a long way! 2 hours later we had arrived at Rinca Island and we were met by a 12 year old Guide, well, he looked around that age! I was quite amazed at the wonderful huge entrance to the National Park, a stone gateway with stone dragons looking upwards on each side in a total wilderness. It did look very strange. A short hot walk brought us to the cafe area and there must have been about 30 huge dragons, all snoozing in the shade - wow! A baby dragon only 2 months old ran across in front of us and I was so excited and had a silly grin on my face! The three of us decided upon a 2 hour trek with our Guide, who at this point was starting to annoy me with silly remarks and didn't appear to know much about anything! Still, off we trotted and saw lots of Komodo Dragon nests, further on we saw some dung then a monkey and walked up a blooming steep hill in at least 45 degrees with no shade only to come down the other side! I suppose the views were lovely, but I guess it was too hot for the dragons and they were all down near the entrance in the shade! I have to say I was slightly disappointed at not seeing them roaming around on the hill. However back at the cafe 2 hours later I made a point of inspecting the dozing dragons more closely and I couldn't get over their size - they are huge! I dont think I have ever been so hot in my life though! Back on board the boat the guys took us to two islands in the middle of the sea for snorkeling. We had lunch on board and was wondering how ill I was going to be after eating it as it was chicken and rice and had been sitting in a black plastic bag in the sun for the whole morning! I just gulped gallons of water with it hoping it would flush anything unsavory away! The sea was beautiful, calm, turquoise blue and the little islands were perfect. The boat dropped us not far from the islands so it was a case of jump in as best you can without losing your fins! Unfortunately (why does it always happen to me?) I was snorkeling looking at the amazing (don't I just love this word) colours of the coral and admiring the gorgeous coloured tropical fish, when all of a sudden I had terrific stinging pains on my leg. I shouted to the guys and swam in a panicky state towards the boat and they hauled me in. The top of my leg was covered in massive blisters and the pain was horrible. They kept on shouting "cream" at me louder and louder - perhaps they thought I was deaf, don't they realise it's the other way round, so got out my suncream and they nodded so I squirted it all over. I was certain I would have to have my leg amputated at the very least but within an hour the pain was getting better and I was able to go back in for more swimming. The blisters remained for a few days but then turned into red spots. I am not sure what stung me but I had seen a white plant swaying above the coral and think I had brushed my leg on that. Phew, amputation not required, but the scars remain there still. The guys were great, reassuring me with thumbs up signs and we had a happy return trip. By the time we reached harbour at 5pm, it was slightly choppy and getting back up the harbour wall from the boat was certainly a giggle. I can't understand why there aren't any ladders or steps, or something!! Standing on a man's shoulders and being hauled up seemed a little undignified somehow! Still, saw the dragons, nearly fainted with the heat climbing a hill, snorkelled off deserted islands, nearly lost a leg and got lifted off a boat - not a bad day really.
Back up the hill to Chez Felix for a cold shower and loads and loads of cream 7 inches thick on my leg before packing for my 5am bus departure the next morning.
Sitting in the dark at 4.45am on the side of the country road I was wondering what I would do if a spider or snake appeared! Saved by the bus at 5am, rucksack on the roof, I climbed on and had to clamber over live chickens, sacks of grain, boxes of Bintang (local beer - great!) to get to my seat. I just absolutely love the local buses, really uncomfortable seats, so narrow that you really have to make friends with the person next to you and the low sliding windows are perfect for hanging out of when you need to breathe. One hour later and I passed the same spot I got on! This has happened before to me, they pick up tourists first I think so they get a seat and then do a tour of all the local villages to pile them on, then its off. I'd rather have another hour in bed to be honest and sit on the roof! Not a straight bit of road for 12 hours we went winding along the narrow roads taking in spectacular scenery, up in the hills and down by secluded bays, up and down, winding and winding, all the time with two lads hanging out of the open doors to make sure we didn't go over the edge into the revines, until we arrived at Roeteng for lunch then on to Bajawa. A little boy around 3 years old sat perfectly still for 12 hours looking out of the window. I was amazed at how a young child could sit without fidgeting. He was gorgeous. As we passed villages all the children came running out of the houses and when they saw me shouted "hello mister" (English lessons required or perhaps I was looking particularly grotty). On one hilltop road we came across an accident that had just happened. A lorry carrying plastics had gone over the edge down into the ravine. There was blue plastic everywhere and locals were getting as much as they could back up on to the side of the road. I couldn't find out about the driver but the chairs came in handy for the village people to sit on and watch! At 5pm, 12hrs after leaving, I basically fell off the bus in Bajawa as my legs were so stiff! The chickens seemed to survive better than me! Poor things wouldn't be ok later on though as they would be served with rice. Two girls were also on the bus from Germany so the three of us headed down the street in search of accommodation and found a lovely place called Edelweiss.
I arranged a driver and car for the next day to take me around the area and would you believe it, his name was IZ as well ! I just couldn't believe it. He was brilliant and spoke good English and made my day very special. At 8am we were ready for off, having had the usual banana pancake and fruit for brekki washed down with local grown coffee. The volcano dominated the scenery, a perfect shape, as a volcano should look like. I wanted to see local villages first so IZ took me to first the village of Bena deep in the hills and very remote. When we rounded a corner I gasped at the view of this ancient village, all thatched huts nestling in among the trees. I immediately thought of Machu Pichu and wondered whether this was in fact just as impressive! I jumped out of the car but IZ stopped me in my tracks and as he had heard drums in the distance he said if I walked down a certain track I would come to another small village (cant remember it's name) and witness a ceremony taking place. Off I ran down the track and came across yet another remote village, some 900 hundred years old, still holding it's charm as it must have done all those years ago. It was so surreal, like something out of National Geographical Magazine! I was the only Westerner there amongst these people and I was soon swamped by the children and locals, all dragging me to a hut where all of the people were gathered. I felt so honoured to have witnessed the ceremony with them, watching the local people in their national costumes dancing and singing and the band consisted of drums, metal things like pans being banged and wooden stick things. These were all played by the men folk, the women were dancing away to a repetitive rhythm and I soon got into the trance mood. Two men, obviously very important, were taking part in the dancing and had huge swords which they were waving about to the rhythm. It was all so very fascinating and beautiful to watch. Suddenly I was grabbed by the women and taken to the kitchen area and given rice and beef in a bowl and ushered back to my place with them! The whole village stopped to eat meat and rice and I felt like Alan Wicker! Soon the Araak appeared (local rice wine) and I declined, well it was only 9am!, but they insisted and poured me a tumbler of this stuff and so I couldn't refuse without being rude. I took a little sip and passed the glass on but...oh no, they were all laughing and made sign language to say it had to be drunk in one go as they were doing! Phew it was very strong and burned as it went down, but really nice. I thanked them and carried on eating my (very tough) meat and rice with the dog under my leg benefiting from accidental dropping of bits of this meat! The dancing continued and a lot of chanting was happening when the leader guy dude bloke came over to me with another full glass of Araak. I nearly died and he had quite a stern face so I didn't dare refuse as his sword looked very sharp indeed. I swigged this glass down and the ladies were in hysterics beside me, and obviously they are all used to it because it was being consumed in huge quantities by them. I must have been with them all about 2 hours and realised IZ would be wondering where I was, so took my leave and thanked them graciously. Walking back up the track to the other village my head was swimming and I did have a giggle or two on the way. IZ was waiting for me with some locals and when I explained he thought it was hilarious and was telling all these new villagers. They too were all laughing. I was invited into a home and was given local coffee (brill, that would sober me up no end as it is very strong) and we all sat crossed legged on the bamboo porch chatting about local life.
Bena village is something only picture books can show what it's like. An original Ngada village consisting of two wide rows of thatched huts with a centre courtyard housing umbrella shaped thatched roofs with a pole in the middle. At the base is a circular stone slab for slaughtering animals. The tradition in these villages is extraordinary to see, nothing has changed in 900 years, apart from perhaps the wearing of Tshirts. The girls giggled, the little boys were playing with rubber tyres and sticks and everyone wanted a photograph taken! It was so fascinating to see the slaughtering of a cow but the pigs were awful because they were squealing so much. It was nicely done though as they covered the animal's head with a banana palm so it couldn't see what was going to be it's fate. By 10.00am the Araak had certainly taken it's toll and I was ready to get back into the air conditioned car and let IZ whisk me off somewhere else, somewhere quiet! We went to a beautiful waterfall and then head back to the hotel for some lunch. I was allowed 1 hour to sober myself up before heading off to the natural hot springs in the other direction, high in the hills. When we arrived I couldn't believe how beautiful it was and there were local people there enjoying the rivers, waterfalls and pools on this hillside. I joined them in the river - blimey it was boiling hot, but soon had the usual problem of being swamped by people all wanting to have fun. We played together for ages before IZ instructed me to get out and follow him (he could be a bit bossy at times as he was in the Army and was doing driving on his two day's leave!!) We went a little way down stream to a beautiful waterfall that fed another river down below. The waterfall was boiling hot but IZ wanted to take photos of me in the waterfall. I was nearly scalded by the time he was satisfied he had the photos he wanted! All this time people were gathering, laughing, splashing and hugging me and we did have fun there for quite a long time before I looked at my skin which was both wrinkly and bright red with the hot water. I then laid in the cool waters of the other river and felt so thrilled to be in Flores. The people are gorgeous, so welcoming, happy and enjoying simple pleasures. When it was time for me to leave (IZ told me we had things to do!) I changed in a smelly wooden rotten hut trying not to get my clothes on the ground, which is difficult when theres nothing to hang anything on! My clothes were in a plastic bag which I held by my teeth and somehow I had to change over from my swimming costume! Balancing on one leg with the bag swaying in my teeth I though how glad I was that I hadn't come here straight from the celebration because with two full glasses of Araak, I think I would have been sat, or laid on the mucky floor! As much as IZ was an Army bloke, many of the photos he had taken of me did not come out which was a shame. We said our goodbyes and I enjoyed a long cold shower back at the hotel scrubbing my feet furiously!
The next morning my bus left at 6am for Moni in the east of Flores. We only had two live chickens on board today and the bus was not as packed as before (everyone got a seat). The young girl next to me was holding a very tiny baby and how she did this for 10 hours I will never know. The baby slept, fed with not a murmour and poor mum must have had arm ache. Two hours into the journey and we had a flat tyre! Great, this gave me chance to clamber out and sit in the shade watching them change it. We had pulled in at a scruffy hut called "Tyre Doktur" where Kwik Fit would have learnt a thing or two. No machines here, all mending done with knives, sticks and jumping up and down on the tyres, then to get the rim on shuffling round and round on top like a ritual dance movement! So entertaining!
Tyre fixed with another 4 spare ones lifted onto the roof for some unknown reason, and we were off again twisting and turning through the gloriously beautiful scenery until we reached Moni. When I got out, which appeared to be in the middle of knowhere (I had expected a town or a village) with a few buildings on one side of the road, it was so much cooler, perfect heat with no humidity....ah bliss. We had parked outside a building raised up above us on a slope called Bintang Cottages (Bintang being local beer) so I liked the sound of this place and started to head straight up there. Within a second My rucksack was taken off me and carried up the steep steps by a young man called Billy who had the biggest smile I have ever seen! Within 5 mins I was made to feel one of their family. The three brothers (actually I think they were cousins, we could never work this out), aged between 24 and 27 called me Mama and looked after me so well. I wanted to hire a scooter but they were horrified and said they would take me on the back of their scooters wherever I wanted to go because the roads were so horrendous! I had been on worse in Lombok but they clearly were upset at the thought of me zooming around Flores! Many people are killed or injured badly every day on the roads because of landslides, rockfalls or the road just giving way to plummet down revines. After a lovely meal, the boys produced a guitar and drum and my jaw actually dropped when they started singing! Billy especially had the most amazing, yes, amazing voice - like a rock star with a natural crack. After I physically closed my mouth we were all soon singing basically any song you could name. Many Bintangs were consumed and singing went on until 10.30 when Uncle Tobias puts a stop to any noise unless all residents are present. How thoughtful. I couldn't wait for the next evening and they reassured me that they would sing and play again every night I was there! Moni is the best place to go and see the sunrise at the top of the volcano Kelimutu and to view the three crater lakes, that change colour due to the minerals. As I have seen so many sunrises over so many mountains, I wasn't too keen to rise at 4am for a motorbike ride up the dark roads and opted to go up at 6am instead to see the view in daylight. Udin, the youngest of the boys said he would take me and I thought this would be a good test to see what his driving skills were like! He was so careful, constantly asking is I was ok, and we had a lovely trip to the top taking about half an hour. After we parked up he guided me to the crater rim and it was "amazing". All of the early birds who had gone up for sunrise had left for breakfast so only a few of us were up there. The light was so clear and in the time we were there one of the lakes had changed colour three times! Glorious views across the mountains. Udin was chattering on all the time about his life in Flores and by the time we arrived back home, I had learnt so much about their way of life. The others were waiting for me to return and to ask whether Udin had looked after me and I had to assure them that he didn't drive fast and was very careful! Keen to see more of the local area, he agreed to take me on his scooter for the rest of that day and we visited a little ramshackled village tucked away in the hills up some not so good roads! The husbands and wives were sitting in their front gardens weaving! The women did all the hard work, back breaking with traditional old wooden equipment and had a wooden shaped thick stick tied from their backs to the loom to help their posture. They sit on hard bamboo all day with just a break for lunch! The men had it easy, they sat and wound the wool from a home made wheel that contained the wool and wound it into balls for the women. We got invited to join a couple for home made local coffee as Udin knew them and I sat with them chatting about their way of life with Udin interpreting for me. I was numb after half an hour sitting on the bamboo - mind you they were quite large people and had quite a lot of natural padding so that helped them a bit! We said our goodbyes and then went on for a good hour or so up and down hills, on the twisty roads to a local fishing beach. Just a few pretty basic run down houses lined the shoreline and we sat in the shade watching the fishermen in their tiny rowing boats doing their daily catch. They don't sit in the boat, they stand! It was really hot by the sea, at least 10 degrees higher than in Moni and that was in the high 30s! Udin said he wanted to take me to the most beautiful beach on the island but time was getting on (and I was getting a numb bum from the scooter) so we arranged to go the next day. So a long trip back up to Moni and he kept stopping to reassure himself I was ok! Back at the ranch we were welcomed back by the family and they wanted to know all about what I had done. That night two young girls arrived from Germany and a couple from Holland so the evening was rocking, they too were gobsmacked when they heard them performing. It's a shame most people only stayed one night so they could see the sunrise as the area was so beautiful and some of the guests were lovely. One evening we had a plague of white moths as we sat (its all open in the restaurant, just a canopy) which was horrendous - I was under the table as I hate moths! In a gibbering state all I can recall is people saying "its ok Mama, they can't hurt you" Of course they can't but I had fluttering in my hair and moths were all over me! We ended up turning all of the lights out and continued our party in the pitch black . After half an hour or so there wasn't a moth in sight and I ventured out from under the table to raucous laughter by the family.The three dogs (Bintang 1, 2 and 3!) had a field day chasing them and eating them up - it was disgusting to watch! The boys thought it was hilarious. The following day I decided to walk to the waterfall up the road and down a path, only 20 mins away. After promising I would be careful, and no I wouldn't slip over and yes I would be back at a certain time, I swam at a gorgeous secluded waterfall and only had a few locals walk past with wood for their fires, each shouting their hellos to me. It was heaven, so peaceful and so calming. I felt really lazy and that day just sat and read and did basically nothing overlooking the gorgeous countryside. When I returned the family were upset and said there had been a horrific road accident. The next day Udin took me to Koko Beach 2 hours away and I had asked if he could take me to the nearest ATM which was in fact 23 kilometers away! We only had to make a small detour to achieve this. The ATM was not working that day (apparently some days it does and some days it doesn't and I hit it on an off day) but I wasn't too worried because I had enough for living and could get some another day. The journey to Koko Beach was lovely but we were extra careful because a fatal accident had occurred the previous day on the road to Ende with the side of the mountain crashing down on a bus full of local people. Many were killed and Uncle Tobias had witnessed it which was awful for him. You can't actually go fast on the Flores roads anyway as they are too windy. The last bit of the journey to Koko beach was not on a road....it was boulders and stones! I think I lost quite a bit of weight by the time we arrived at the beach! Two coves of pure white sand, turquoise sea, pointed rocks out to sea, backed by palm trees - perfect. the most perfect beach I have visited so far. It was in the middle of knowhere with no evidence of a village. After swimming, two scruffy little urchin boys appeared from the trees and Udin asked if I wanted a coconut juice....mmm I love it! So this little lad with a huge machete bigger than himself ran up a palm tree bear feet and cut a few down then proceeded to cut them open for me to drink! They were really laughing at my concern when he was at the top leaning out to reach them! I had to be calmed down! Poor lad was then sent up again to get some more (he made a few pence so he was happy). They then calved a spoon from the skin so I could scoop the soft coconut from inside. Yummy. Where they came from I will never know. I went for a long walk in the sea and left Udin picking up rubbish - it really is a problem over here. He loved Koko Beach and had arranged litter picking parties there before with his friends, camping on the beach overnight. I wondered how much of the rubbish was left by their last litter picking party! On the way back we stopped off at his friend's cafe for a late lunch and two very young English girls appeared. One came straight up to me and said they needed my help (motherly instinct jumped in). They did not like their driver and they had been having problems with him all day. I heard from the owner of the Cafe that this driver was hated by the Flores people - he stole from tourists and tried to get money out of them. The authorities were trying to get rid of him and his friend - two of them operated. So we sent him packing, and arranged for a car to come and pick them up and take them to our place. We couldn't get 4 on our scooter (having said that I have seen 6 on a scooter!). Got a free Bintang that night! They were lovely girls and I felt sorry their experience of the island had been damaged by this horrible man. They quickly realised Flores people were not all like him. That evening a professional footballer called Cesar Cruchaga who played for Osasuna in Spain turned up and and Oh if only I had been 20 years younger! What a lovely interesting (and good looking) man he was, really good company and full of fun. The family invited us to join them at a local wedding in the next village the next evening, they had an invitation for them and also their guests. I had absolutely nothing suitable to wear and the girls and I had a good rummage thought their bags and came up with a long skirt that would do fine. Sarah was ok because she had a dress she had attended her cousin's wedding in Australia a few months earlier - she even had high heeled shoes (her bag weighed 29 kilos - mine weighs 10 kilos!). So everyone was spruced up - and Uncle Tobias drove us all in the Bemo - it was so packed that there were lads sitting on lad's knees in the back!) but I am always told I must sit in the front! (Shame, I would have quite liked to have had to sit on Cesar's knee!!). He drove extra carefully and being a Catholic family, they all crossed themselves and prayed before we set off! Pulling in at a local shop, we all had to fall out and buy something there to get small change ( a 20,000 note) to give to the bride and groom. Simple task you would think but it took an age to organise them all to just buy a bottle of water or something! I was exhausted when I climbed back into the Bemo and we had been in the shop sweating buckets for about half an hour! They don't appear to ever think ahead, suddenly someone thinks of something, then you stop in your tracks, then a discussion takes place, then they try and follow it through! Its so funny to witness. The blue tarpaulin that made a marquee cover was above an area of scrub land in this little village. Everyone was there from the local villages around. We were greeted by the wedding party's parents and made our way to the raised area where the bride and groom were seated on decorated chairs. A house shaped box with a slit in the top was by their side and we each in turn posted our money and shook their hands. The bride was wearing a beautiful gold dress with traditional golden head dress and so much thick makeup it was hard to tell if she was naturally pretty. I think not! I was introduced to loads of people (they all look the same to me) and they all wanted to dance constantly. I dont think I sat down once from going in to coming out (apart from taking rice and beef) and danced solidly. The older women were the best fun, giggling and laughing all night they were trying to teach me their local dances which included hand movements. Made more friends. I apologised to Sarah about the soaking wet state of her skirt but she was just as bad as me and didn't seem to care. I had decided that I would not drink alcohol all night as I was concerned about getting back to Moni at midnight in the Bemo along the dark treacherous road. I wasn't convinced that Uncle Tobias would stick to his non alcohol promise and thought that at least I could drive them all back. I was not going to have anyone who had drunk anything like Araak to drive me! As it happened, Uncle Tobias did not drink a drop all night as promised and so I did not need to drive (phew). Good man. At midnight we all left, fanning ourselves with cardboard from the boxes laid around but felt the night was still young. On the way back in the Bemo, in between singing, a decision was made that we should continue our own party at a cafe up the road from Bintang, opposite the path the the waterfall! I think one of the boys lived there, but to this day I'm not sure how this was achieved. When we got there the poor owners got up from their sleep, produced drinks and delicious nibbles, salad and such like for us and the amplifiers were switched on so the dancing could continue. I was given numerous beers and Araaks to make up for the earlier abstinence! 2am and we gave in to sleep! We all walked back to Bintang and crept in like naughty children so as not to wake anyone up. I'm sure they would have heard the music from there anyway! A good night was had by all and one I wont forget for the rest of my life. It's quite strange the reaction I am receiving from everyone when I tell them of my travels. A lot of people have said I am an extraordinarily courageous woman! Not so, I am just observing life in other countries and enjoying my experiences. The girls and Cesar had a plane to catch at 7am from Ende 2 hrs away so the boys sat up with them until they were picked up at 3am! The following morning I had a lie in until 8am (Ive been getting up at 6am most mornings as the days start around 5.30am in Indonesia) and a bleary eyed Billy told me that the car taking them to the airport had a flat tyre 15 kilometers from home in the middle of the dark treacherous road. No spare tyre! Cesar had run back (he was so fit) and had woken Billy up, he slept on the floor in the restaurant every night, to ask where he could get a spare tyre? They had then both jumped on the scooter and travelled a further 10 kilometers to a Tyre Doktur who travelled to the broken down stranded car with the girls in! I never heard whether they made their flight but can't get over Cesar running that dangerous road in the pitch black with rockfalls when he had been drinking all night. One courageous guy. I had a rest day so that I could help the family as the boys were tired and the sister who was called Ann ( funny brother and sister called Billy and Ann, same as mine!) was grateful for me helping serve the food to clients as that was the boy's job. We did some clothes washing and generally lazed around. Later in the afternoon Udin took me to the ATM as I now hadn't enough cash to buy an air ticket to Bali but the machine was broken! Nobody accepts plastic so I desperately needed 1,500,000 cash (crazy currency)for a ticket out! The family thought I should stay with them and work behind the bar....another job offer! They even threatened to confiscate my passport! Although very tempted to stay for the rest of the year, I was due to meet Chris in Vietnam in a few weeks time! Family to the rescue, the next day I was taken by Bemo by Uncle Tobias 2hrs away and when we reached the part of the road that fell away, workmen were trying to repair it so we were held up in a queue of about 8 cars and numerous scooters for over an hour. An Army/police car escorted us past the dangerous bit and we had to do a little prayer and look above us as we drove to check for falling rocks. I was pleased when we were through and could relax! Success at the first ATM I drew enough cash to last me forever! I purchased my ticket at the airport for 2 day's time and took uncle Tobias for a slap up meal which he kept thanking me for for days! I bought a few little gifts for the family and we returned to a much relieved family who were worrying their socks off until we returned! Two more young girls had arrived from Germany and were really friendly and we soon got to know each other well. They were only staying one night but soon changed their minds after a night with us! Andy, Billy and Udin wanted to take the three of us on the back of their scooters the next day up into the hills to a sauna! What? ! None of us really knew what they meant but head off the next afternoon on three scooters until we stopped high up in the hills on the side of the road, miles from anywhere. We had to walk up a hill and across rice paddy fields on the raised bits less than 1ft wide in flip flops, up another hill until we spotted steam rising from the ground! Hot bubbling lava beds had to be crossed with instructions not to touch any rocks with our feet! Helped by the boys, we all made the crater and sat on a rock (not hot) with the steam enveloping us....great sauna! We had a large bottle of water with us that Billy had carried all the way up on his head! What an experience and we had such a lovely time. As it was my last night I wanted to do something special so thought we could have a BBQ! I asked where I could buy some live chickens and Udin took me to collect a couple! Carrying two live chickens on the back of a scooter was another first for me! The deed was done and two headless plucked chickens were cooked over an open fire for what seemed an age (you can't be too careful!) And Ann prepared some delicious vegetables and roast potatoes. That evening the family ate, sang and made merry and the boys sang my favorite songs. I have to admit to a few tears as they finished off with their rendition of "I'm leaving on a jet plane" Rastafarian style! ...and lots of hugs.
Packed and ready to leave after breakfast, we all said our goodbyes with promises of me visiting again (I will) and Uncle Tobias drove me to the airport. He kept thanking me for being part of his family and would not leave me at the airport but remained for 2hrs until the plane took off (I think he was making sure I went!). A happy and sad departure of a beautiful island and people. Such wonderful memories and ones I will never forget. Flores is going to take some beating and I wonder whether it will be spoiled in years to come with mass tourism, hope not.