COGNAC SAILING: Maurole AND TRIBUTE TO IT'S PEOPLE

Maurole as we arrived. Last years umbrellas on the ground. All happy.

(delayed due to coverage)22nd to 27th August As Maurole 08 15 South and120 45 East Ende Regency was only a short distance away from Maumere and so scenic we decided to make our way there in one trip and have more time just to relax. And we missed it! Something to do with the wrong set of coordinates we have been given (like looking up the wrong place in street directory). Thankfully we met up with a couple who were lost too and had the right coordinates from some friends who travelled the route year before us. We have heard nothing of the place so really had no expectations or little expectations based on previous experiences. Well this was different? Maurole was like coming home to people who expect you and welcome you in a most relaxed way. Nothing was ready which was fine. The preparations were in full force for the gala dinner tent and landing “bridge”. This was a clean little town with a thousand of the happiest children. People actually worked here unlike other small towns. They grew crops of fine things like chocolate cashew nuts cotton like plant not to mention the rice. The first time we went for a walk on shore a wonderful young man/guide took us around and let us see what was pretty normal to him and totally new experience for us. We ate chocolate plant sweet and juicy really yum (wish they served it for gala dinner) and the cashews that grew in a most unusual way. A little nut attached to a pretty large fruit with the taste of tropics. We tasted as much as we could and fed the rest of the cashew fruit to goats (just with I had a camera) unforgettable. Imagine a goat backlit in afternoon sun eating hurrily a piece of very juicy fruit squishing the juice droplets everywhere.

We have seen and experienced a lot here…nice all nice. Man washing their horses on the beach in the evening. The evening fires like big bonfires. Kids playing ball with “the boys” and tired kids sleeping on cool graves it was hot HOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTT HHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOTTTTTTTT.We had dinners at restaurants which turned out to be private homes with a simple menu and they had a menu Nasi Goreng their national dish of fried rice. Had new neighbor a man on his boat that was just centimeters bigger than his body who come to Maurole for 3 weeks from their village far far away to fish. This man fished cooked slept and did all he had to to survive on his little boat. Robert wanted to give him frozen chicken for dinner one night. I stopped him thinking he did not eat it frozen chicken - wish I had not! I went on a photo trip to the village and played with kids who screamed to have their photo taken and delighted when I showed them their images. Than there was this graceful old lady. She was shy and agreed to have a photo taken when she saw the image she cried…my feeling were she cried for what she become from what she remembered herself to be…at the end we both cried. Life….simply perfect...and so fragile

Here we also went on the trip to Kelimutu Lakes.

The kids had fun at gala dinner - relaxed

At gala dinner with Burgen from the boat Blue and Friends from Apsara.

Oh everything but the last 3 steps of the “bridge” got ready on time for the gala dinner which was the best one so far. Thank you to all the wonderful people of Maurole for a wonderful experience!!!!!!!!!
Capitain's Note: Nothing really