Monthly Archives: January 2008

The Crater Lakes at Kelimutu

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The alarm went off at 0200. Since we have just come off a passage, our sleep schedule is all messed up anyway, so getting up at that hour was no big deal. Had we taken the tour after our bodies had adjusted to an 8 hour a night sleep schedule again, it probably would have been much tougher to get up.

We were being picked up for our tour at 0300 to go to the summit of volcano Kelimutu to see the famous colored lakes in the craters around the top of the volcano. Each lake is a different color, and the lakes each change color over time. Currently the lakes are turquoise, dark green and chocolate brown. A few years ago they were blue, maroon and black, and a few years before that they were blue, red-brown, and light brown. One of the lakes has warm water, one cold, and the information provided didn’t mention the temperature of the third. Kelimutu is sacred to the locals, and they believe the souls of the dead go to the lakes.

When we walked onto the back deck to get into the dinghy, we saw Continue reading →

Welcome to Ende City, Flores Island, Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia

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08′ 50S by 121′ 30.8E – Flores Islands was conquered by the Portuguese prior to being taken over by the Dutch, hence the name. Flores, like Timor, has a large Christian population as a result of Portuguese missionary efforts. Before the Portuguese arrived, the natives of Flores had already been conquered by the kingdom of a nearby island, Sulawesi. The natives of Flores comprise five separate cultural groups that did not have a lot of interaction with one another due to the rugged terrain that made travel between areas extremely difficult.

The island of Flores came into view several hours before we arrived. At first it reminded us of the Marquesas, with large, dramatic volcanic mountains, the highest of the peaks enshrouded in mist. But as we got closer we saw that, while green with a lot of vegetation, the mountains are not nearly as lush as the Marquesas. Ende is a port town on the south side of the island with 80,000 inhabitants. It is nestled in a bay protected by a peninsula that juts out. As we rounded the peninsula, we were amazing to see that there was a smoking volcano next to us on the shore. The highest peak wasn’t the one smoking, it was a smaller peak only half the size, maybe 500 feet tall. The smoke has a yellowish tint. There are yellow stains around the crest from the sulfur and a jagged line of reddish looking dirt with no vegetation that runs down the face, likely from where lava once flowed down.

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Once we rounded the corner Continue reading →

Selemat Jalan (Goodbye) Kupang

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Last night when we got back to the boat, it was rocking so much we felt like we were on passage in the South Pacific. This morning when we got up we were still undecided as to whether we should leave Kupang today or tomorrow. On the stay side was: after 8 days at sea, it would have been nice to stay anchored longer. There were more sights we could go see in Kupang to entertain ourselves. Eric’s eye was looking better after using some drops we had on board that soothe irritation, but it wasn’t completely healed and could need a different medicine. On the con side: it was rocky on board, the beach landings were not fun, and we were more interested in seeing sights in other places.

We headed to shore at noon where Continue reading →

Contest – What is in the Bottles?

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We thought it would be fun to have a little guessing contest for all the blog readers out there. The winner will get a small souvenir from Indonesia as a prize.

Here are the rules:

1. One guess per person.
2. Post all answers in “comments” on this blog post.
3. First person to post correct answer wins the prize. We will get an address to mail the prize to you through e-mail.

We have seen these little stands everywhere on our tour of Timor, Indonesia. What is in the bottles they are selling? Be as specific as possible, such as a specific flavor. We obviously know it is a yellow tinted liquid. Do not bother trying to read the labels, the picture is not high enough resolution.

Click on the image for a larger version.

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Timor Tour – Waterfalls and Spectacular Viewpoints

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Continued from yesterday”¦ It was time to go. We braved the scary mountain road, bumping and bouncing along. Not too far after the road became relatively nice pavement, we turned off down another road to go to the Niki Niki market. The area we were in is mostly rural villages, and once a week they all came together to trade their goods. It is also a big social outing, where young people look for perspective dating partners. In the village of Boti, they have a day of rest every ninth day. Today happened to be their day of rest, so they had to miss out on the excitement of market day this week.

As we approached, we saw Continue reading →