Five days travelling for a party
on Really Out There Experience (Indonesia), 30/Dec/2009 08:53, 34 days ago
1– 6 DecemberThe number of volunteers in Indonesia continues to fall with another group leaving before Christmas. There was at least good news this week in that the Memorandumof Understanding (MOU) has finallybeen signed between the Indonesian Government and VSO. This means that volunteers who have been temporarily at home pending visas should be able to return at the end of Januaryanda new intake are due to arrive at the end of February.Festus a Kenyanvolunteer who has been based in Ruteng– Flores for the last two years sent out invitationsa while ago toeveryone for his leaving party on 5 December. Thisseemed an ideal time for me to catch upwith many volunteers before Ialso have toleave Indonesia. Flights to Ruteng are rather expensive so I decided to fly into Maumere and then travel across Flores sightseeing on route. I had to fly out of Ruteng to get back to Kupang as I was leading a study tour starting 09:00 on 7 December so therewas not time to travel anywhere else for a cheaper flight.This was a week of early starts:-Tuesday 1 December–To KupangI was up early to finish packing and shutting up the house to be away 2 weeks– this includes making sure all the water reserves are emptied so I do not return to a house teaming with mosquitoes. I travelled as far as Kupang today, where I stayed with Sam.Wednesday 2 December–To MaumereI had to get up at 04:30 to get to the airport for my flight to Maumere. I was staying with Teresa another VSO volunteer and arrived at her house before she had eaten breakfast! I took the opportunity of a rainy day to visit RSUD Maumere and was able to talk to their head nurse and have a tour of thehospital– much bigger than Baa. In theevening four of us metup to eat and chat.Thursday 3 December– To MoniThis was a very civilised start not wakinguntil 06:45. A friend of Teresa’s was travelling to Bajawa in a hire car so I joined him asfar as Moni. The road was generallygoodbut very steep and winding with a few places where it was narrow due to landslides.The views were amazing. My sightseeing in Moni wasalso curtailed by the rain butat least I had time todo some of my studying.Friday 4December– To Kalimutu and BajawaI had arrangedto be collected from the homestay at 04:00– yes totally insane. I had hired an ojek to take me up Kalimutu to see the three coloured crater lakes at dawn. When I had flown over these in April they had been three different colours, unfortunately at the moment two arevirtually the same colour but still fairly spectacular. There was a distinct lack of tourists and initially there were more guides, coffee and ikat sellers up at the summit than tourists. It was a clear morning and I had a good view of the sunrise. I eventually got back to the homestay in time to have some breakfast before getting a bus for the next stage of my journey to Bajawa. This was about 4 hours away but we did get astop in Ende for lunch. I was to stay with friends of Teresa’s in a small village just outside Bajawa. Philip is a local our guide and in the afternoon took me round his ancestral village. The villages have two ancestor spirit homes per tribe in the centre of the village. The parasol– ngadhu – is the home of themaleancestor’s spirits and the miniature house – bhaga – is the home of the female ancestor’s spirits. There are also large stone slabs near the center of the village – which are used for sacrifice. The houses are arranged in two rows either side of the centralcourtyard. There are high roofed thatched houses on stilts, thathave various symbols on the roofs to indicate the status of the head of the household (woman) in the government of the village. The houses with ordinary roofs are for other families.Saturday 5 December– To RutengA very civilised start at 06:00 today– Festus had made quite a lot of friends in Bajawa through water projects he had done there and two car loads of us set out on the 4 hour drive to Ruteng. Just outside Ruteng one of the party phoned a relative of his there and invited us all (10) to lunch. The meal was excellent and was served within 90 minutes ofour arrival. When I complimented the wife on the food all she could do was apologise we had to wait so long for it. How many of us could prepare a meal for 15 in under two hours– which would have undoubtedly entailed a trip to the market as well? The sopi drinking started immediately after lunch with a litre swiftly disappearing. We then went to where the party was to be held as one of the group was responsible for BBQing the goat– we had to try to local Ruteng ‘gin’. We also had to deliver 25 litres of sopi which had been flavoured with cinnamon. The rest of us went to the homestay we were booked into and the drinking continued with a mixture of beer and sopi flavoured with vanilla. We did eventually go to the party to start the serious drinking and dancing.. Part way through the evening the goat was ‘served’. It was placed in a large dish with a sharp knife and youjust went and hacked off what you wanted– it was excellent.Sunday 6 December– Back to KupangIt really was hardly worth having a room for the night as I had to be at the airport for 06:00 for my flight back to Kupang, so woken at 05:15. I did at least get breakfast three times– at homestay, on plane and at Sam’s. I then went to bed to catch up on all the sleep I had missed this week!