The day after the excitement of the dragons, we turned up at Maumere, population 80,000, on the island of Flores. The reefs in this area were once considered some of the finest diving in the world. Sadly, a 2007 report found that 75% of the coral reefs had been significantly damaged or destroyed by the practice of bomb fishing, the use of toxic chemicals in fishing, and due to earthquakes.
We were loaded into a coach and driven for an hour up into the hills and to a small village. Here we were welcomed with some traditional dancing and music. Optionally, we were given some betel nut to chew as well as their local hard spirit. The betel nut is the fruit of the areca palm. It contains a mild alkaloid stimulant which is released by chewing it with calcium hydroxide (slaked lime). I had a nibble but it did not taste too good and I was not too sure about putting slaked lime in my mouth. The local spirit tasted like a grappa.
I was not too sure about the dancing. Clearly it was put on for our benefit but I was dubious about the extent to which it genuinely reflected local culture and customs. I am pretty sure that as soon as we left that the locals would put their proper clothes back on and go back to work. Some of the others in our group loved it. I imagine they thought we had penetrated deep into the unexplored jungle and were the first white people to be witnessing these rituals. By the side of the bus was a group of lads hanging out with their mopeds, smoking cigarettes and facebooking on their mobile phones.
The last part of our visit was the ubiquitous carpet shop. The women were hard at work spinning cotton into thread by hand. Next to them were a couple of looms and beyond that an awful lot of fabric hung out for display. They appeared to be doing a brisk trade.
The rest of the day we were on the ship sailing towards the town of Kalabahi on Alor Island. Our ship, Le Soleal, was built in 2012 in Italy. It is run by the French, Compagnie du Ponant. It is slow. Typically, we only do around 7 knots. However, it is remarkably quiet, stable and comfortable.
Next morning we were up early again for a zodiac landing. Fortunately, they could put us ashore on a stone jetty. We did not need to get our feet wet. In something of a repeat of the previous day we were loaded into some small and battered coaches. The trip to the village was a shorter drive but then we had to walk. Not too far. Just a couple of hundred metres up a steep slope. Here we found a carefully laid out market area and beyond that a cleared area with seating around it.
There was a lot more dancing. More whooping and waving of spears and rusty swords. I wandered around the village a little while this was going on. The construction of the huts was quite interesting. The lowest platform was over a metre off the ground. This gave a big living space, open on the sides. In the centre was a fireplace. The posts supporting the roof and attic had wooden barriers to prevent rodents getting up into the top section. The roof was steeply sloping to be effective with the heavy rain that often occurs here.
I spent a while photographing the dancing. For the most part, I was not very comfortable doing this. For a start, it feels quite invasive. I know the dancing is put on for us but even so I am not sure about pushing a camera into someone’s face. Also, I was having to fight with all the other photographers, mostly taking video using their phone. Why do people do this? Hundreds of hours of small, shaky video that nobody will ever watch.
Eventually, it all stopped and we got to spend time in the make-shift market. Eventually, that ended as well and we walked back down to the coaches. I thought we might get back to the ship then but instead we were taken to a market. This one really baffled me. A market selling fruit, vegetables, fish and meat. The fish and meat was getting rather revoltingly smelly in hot tropical sun. There was also a lot of rubbish.
Next we were taken to a museum. They have a bit of a thing about drums in Kalabahi. In particular, Moko drums, which are ancient and valuable bronze kettledrums. The Moko drums are believed to have originated from the Dong Son culture of North Vietnam, possibly imported to Indonesia by traders between 600 BCE and 300 CE. Their exact local origins remain a mystery to the Indigenous people of Alor. The museum has a large and diverse collection of drums which they are very proud of.
