Maumere, Flores Island

Bob is up early and takes a picture of the volcano Mt Lewotobi, East Flores which erupted just over 2 weeks ago. There is a heavy haze in the area from the eruption.

Looking out once we have docked we can see a bustling town which is the capital of Flores Island. There is a beautiful mosque and lots of people, noise, cars and motorbikes. Clearly a major port because just off the beach is a collection of abandoned vessels. This place sees few if any tourists and there. There are a number of people on the dock watching and taking photos of the ship. They've also laid out, or rather taped to the ground, red material for us to walk on, their version of a red carpet I expect.

Our trip starts early. We have a 1 and 1/2 hour bus ride to a small village in the mountains above the main town of Maureme. The drive takes us through the township which is prosperous and busy. We see lots of school children and commercial activity of a style you see often in Asia. Interestingly, the children wear waistcoats or skirts made of cloth typical of the weaving that is done in this area. The drive up the mountain is very beautiful. There are no towns along the way, just dense tropical forest. The bus has air conditioning but some of the passengers decide it's better to open the windows, a bit annoying because we're in the middle of the bus. I have no windows that can open so it's a bit hot. It's fortunate it's still early in the morning.

The village we are going to is very small. We are greeted by the chief of the village and behind him are the performers. As with other villages we've been to, they are dressed in traditional costume waving a weapon a large knife and carrying a shield. The villagers' performance involves many dancers, one performance involves a man climbing a pole held up by several other men, when he reaches the top he balances turning around lying on his back and then on his stomach. Another performance was when a prospective son in law comes to the village and presents a drum to the parents by way of bride price. We are given fruit, a cake-like sweet made from coconut I think, an alcoholic drink brewed from something and local cigarettes which some guests smoke. I left the alcohol and cigarettes alone.

All the performances are accompanied by music and chanting. There are men playing gongs, some play very rough stringed instruments and the women have bells around their feet.

We have another opportunity to buy woven material. In this area blue is the color and they are famous for this. We can see someone weaving a very complex pattern which is interesting. I do find a piece of blue material. Bob has an interesting style of bargaining or establishing a price, they suggest a price and then he opens his wallet and lets them take the currency they are happy with and amounts to the amount we are paying. I actually have a money changer here which was a bit of a surprise given how isolated and small this place is. Women are cleaning and spinning cotton. I have little doubt that the fabric we have bought has been made in a way similar to this. It's a remote place.

The ship sails but after a relatively short period of time it stops. The captain has decided that we might like a swim off the back of the ship, the marina. This involves setting up or roping off an area with zodiacs strategically positioned just outside the roped off area. We're told the water temperature is 30°. For me. That's way too hot. I don't want to swim in a bath, Bob however takes the plunge. The captain stands at the marina watching everybody in the water, everybody looked like they were enjoying themselves. I really wasn't tempted.Read more