Lembata - delayed due to network coverage

The beautiful and active Ile Ape volcano

Delayed due to network coverage 10-13 August Lembata 08 21 South and 123 24 East part of the East Nusa Tenggara province. An interesting and very picturesque island from the boat…It has active volcanoes both on land and at sea and is placed on the path where Earth plates constantly move. A somewhat dangerous spot where the locals still honor the traditional spirits to protect them – very wise. We were anchored near Lowoleba which is the capital of this Island with a fantastic view of the beautiful and imposing as well as active Ile Ape volcano. We spent a few days here.

Definetly active...

 I guess this might be an opportune moment to tell you a little about the Sail Indonesia Rally and how it all works. It is a very important project for the Indonesian government and the provinces so in each place there is a lot of preparation before we are due to arrive sometimes those preparations stretched a little so at times we found ourselves walking up stairs which were being still hurrily constructed while we were walking up them. Quite funny sometimes concerning matter and that is Indonesia. So after finding our way to the destination which at times was more than challenging because we were given the wrong information or read it in the wrong book or the information in the book was just plainly wrong. Yes …understand this is confusing…YES…we got 3 guide books on arrival in Indo and than we were asked to throw away 2 and which 2 was not clear so we threw out 1.Well each boat threw out a different one so we all had different combinations of books and it didn’t matter really as most of the information in those books was lets say not quite right. To add to the problem there is the challenge of several different names for the same place. This is not easy to find a place! Anyway back to our Sail Indonesia Rally. All places we visited were always decorated with large flags which was great because it was sometimes the only way to find the place. Than there is the welcome ceremony side tours and the gala dinner. So far these have been very different in each place.

That is the "Pasar" the market obviously not built for guests like us.

Coming back to our Lembata-Lowoleba experience we laughed marveled we were disgusted saddened sorry and I had a personal challenge. The two very consistent things still present – the friendly Indonesian people and the rubbish. As we arrived rather late by design just in time for the welcome ceremony which was lovely and than proceeded to the gala dinner celebration which was a short walk away accompanied by all people and children and bikes from Lowoleba and surrounding areas. We were each presented with a little box with rice water and a roll and had the pleasure to listen to ALL children from ALL schools in the area sing and dance which lasted well over 3 hours followed by long speeches most in Indonesian – oh well. The kids were delightful. And then another gala dinner of what we thought a surprise of beef and rice unfortunately the beef was char grilled and had large bones so we all concluded that it must have been fish indeed.Most food has been like this so far. We had many experiences in this town we laughed at the gala dinner and when we went to the local produce market which was so hot and was built so low that our heads were sticking way above the roof lines and we laughed when the local paper was being read on loud speakers and no one could hear anything at the market and than when we took the wrong bus to go back and ended up on the local bus

The bus experience going to somwhere...

Well we clearily could not fit this pig inside...than I guess if we really tried....

 going somewhere with people kids ducks geese eggs huge loud speakers and than THE PIG yes a live one tied to a stick. Well there was no room for her inside so on the roof she went LOL because the roof was hot enough to roast her decision was made to place her on fresh leaves and cover her with them too. We also laughed when 6 of us went to the local restaurant decorated with ornate tablecloth and toilet paper for serviettes for dinner and ordered food. All but Robert finished eating. We wondered what happened to his meal. Well someone ordered it with their cousin in town because they did not have it at the restaurant and than they forgot to ask their friend to get on the bike to pick it up because they were on the phone talking. That by the way is quite normal here. Oh he did eat late that night. The sad things well they need to be mentioned the market and some other areas like the fishing village where lots of people live had the smell of death mixed with rot dried fish and sweat with rotting rubbish everywhere How people live and I am not sure that it is a choice for them was so so sad.

This looks lovely and believe me this was not a pretty sight.

What a beautiful spot and boats...one could say a perfect spot on a perfect day.

This is the other part of this story. The picture was taken from here at the restaurant
with rubbish and...everywhere. Every picture tells a thousand stories....

 I have seen many such places in the world and this one actually had an incredible impact so much so that I could not eat an ice-cream on the street as I felt the dirt and despair was going to stick to me. I remember coming back to boat and washing the few veggies in water with disinfectant…hmmm

The rush hour in the bay.The whole of Lembata goes fishing in the morning.

The fish is so small and the spirit that drives these people...GREAT

Beautiful moments – the whole city going fishing in their boats early in the morning. Such a spirit between them. Priceless Overall experience good or bad? A great one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!