Near Hoga is a stilt village, home to the nomadic Bajau people. They are a community of sea gypsies that, due to the government pressures to educate their children, were forced to base themselves in one place. So they built their entire village on stilts over the sea. We met a Dutch woman, Gertrude, who has lived on Hoga 14 years and is helping these people as they get little government support. We felt we could directly support by contributing towards getting a young boy to a larger centre to have tests done on a large tumor he has growing between his eyes. I cannot imagine what it must be like to not even know the cause of your child’s tumor or the possible solutions. It is hoped that he can have it removed. Our visits were intriguing and hundreds of photos now support the experience. We have a lot to learn from these happy people that have so little.
Daryl had a drive in one of their diesel powered longboat. Honestly, they are so tippy I wondered that he was going to keep the thing upright. Apparently they cut through the water really efficiently and the Bajau people don’t seem to have a problem balancing!!! But you should have heard the squeals across the anchorage when the cruisers got in!!!
We have some tips for cruisers that come to this area. If you want to buy fresh squid -park closest to the village so that the canoes get to you first. If you cruise with Japanese couple, definitely get closer than them!!! But seriously we are very grateful to Toshi and Sayuri for educating us about squid. I can make tempura squid to die for and we are now trying to source squid at every stop.
Each evening we made our way ashore with a chilly bag of drinks and tasty nibbles to watch the sunset and chat away the evening by firelight. The locals believed the island to be haunted so we had it all to ourselves.
While we were there Gertrude invited us to paint a mural on a wall at her friend’s resort. So some of us dabbled with our artistic talents onto the concrete block wall. During the finishing touches the boat names were added so forever more our visit will be recorded.
We have had a crew change. Lydia swapped onto another boat going in a different direction so she could go and visit friends at Kupang. In exchange we gained Dave and Ann who are keen divers. They are great company and have similar interests. Some confusion though as we now have two Davids aboard- Kiwi Dave and Aussi Dave.
Another highlight as we sail south was stopping in the village of Karompa Lompo, a fishing village in a remote lagoon. They were extremely welcoming and obviously had seen few cruising yachts. We’ve learnt a handy Indonesian phrase ‘jalan jalan’ which means have a walk and a look around. Once we have that established a possi of adults and many children will wander with you for as long as you like.
This village was typical of others being very ordered with most houses defined by a fence. The area within the fence was spotlessly clean. Here most homes are using large pottery urns for water storage. We feel we can see the Dutch influence in the architecture. But like all villages we’ve seen there is a big issue with the long term disposal of rubbish, plastics and effluent which at the moment all ends up in the sea. We have watched as every leaf and bit of rubbish is swept from the section -straight into the ocean. To get ashore we invariably have to wade through all sorts of questionable debris. We are snorkelling with plastic bags and bits of polystyrene floating by. It is such a shame.
At the moment we are in Labaun Bajo at the western end of the Flores. It is a typical Indonesian city where we can catch up on internet using frustratingly slow connections. Supermarket shopping included a stock up on snacks - crispy beef skins and crispy chicken intestines – watch this space for the taste test!!! The Darwin provisions are just starting to run low and we realise that things like margarine and cheese are not going to be replaceable until Bali. Local products seem to be full of sugar, msg and other indescribable nasties. But on the whole fresh food is cheap and easily available. We are eating out fairly regularly and seafood is readily available so the meat in the freezer will last a while yet. We are pleased with the decision to buy a breadmaker in Darwin and, with five mouths to feed, there even isn’t much chance to over indulge on the fresh loaf. The bread here is sweet and locals eat it more as a treat than as a lunch.
We are pleased we did the miles and took the less trodden path up north and back down again as we do enjoy the more remote locations. We are now back in the more touristy part of Indonesia and look forward to visiting the Komodo and Lombok area in the next few weeks. Aussi Dave has a spot locator so I’ll give you his blog site. From there you can go into the tab marked ‘location’ and from there the boat position will come up on google earth. He updates it daily. How cool is that. Quite a handy little tool/toy and we might just have to invest in one!!!
http://waterrat43.wordpress.com is Aussi Dave’s blog address.
