Bajawa

Had the whole day in Bajawa. Originally we had thought about travelling further north or east than here but as we’ve already done about 200km and we need to go back we decided this was our end point. So we decided to spend the day.

First we wanted to do a small hike to see some volcanic lakes. We had a little difficulty finding the start of the trail but a local stopped to help us. After our experience yesterday we decided to trust him and follow him to his garden/small farm where he said we could park our bikes. It’s so hard because in most touristy places you always wonder what they want from you/are you being scammed but in Flores because tourism is still so small it really feels like people always want to help. So we left our bikes and walked about 90 minutes- good trail and not too steep. View was quite nice and then we walked back. Bikes and Ricky ( the man) were still there (phew) and he had made a fire as he wanted to give us his home grow coffee. He had chickens and a pig too- he wanted also to kill a chicken and cook it for us but we said no!

We did boil us some fresh eggs which were amazing and after a while we left (gave him 50k) for his hospitality! Quick stop at the homestay and we drove to the hot springs which we finally found! They are amazing- hot water mixing with cold and all natural! Met 3 guys there - Chilean, Spanish and Austrian who all planned to go to the same sunset spot (Wolo Lobo) so we all drove in convoy.

When we got there it was completely in the cloud, so we weren’t too hopeful but about 15 minutes later a whole layer of cloud cleared and we had the most amazing view- impossible to even describe. Probably the best sunset I have ever seen. The bad thing about sunsets is that you then have to drive back in the dark- 10km back to town but the convoy was helpful for seeing where to go and our bike lights are pretty good.

Had dinner at a Warung opposite and played some more monopoly deal.Read more