The weekend just past was a long one for me – I decided on Thursday afternoon to take Friday and Saturday off work and go back to visit the three coloured lakes at Kelimutu again. This time I went in the company of a friend from Maumere for what turned out to be his first holiday ever. On Friday we left Maumere and took our time getting to Moni, the village closest to Kelimutu, about 95kms from here and about 1600m higher (and therefore pleasantly cooler). The place we stayed was inundated with mosquitoes and didn't provide nets so fingers crossed...... On Saturday morning we joined the tourist trail (the lakes at Kelimutu are one of the "must see" sights for any visitors to Flores) on the climb to the lakes about 15kms above Moni.
We were lucky to have about two hours of great visibility there before the clouds started to roll in.
After our brief holiday we returned to Maumere on Sunday afternoon, just in time for a day off on Monday to celebrate Indonesia's 64th birthday.
The day started with Apel (formal parade) at 7 am in the main public field in the town, with the Chief Inspector being the Bupati (regent). The Bupati is elected every five years at district level so the one in Maumere is responsible for the Sikka District, population about 300,000, of which Maumere is the principal town. This morning's 7am Apel finally got under way at 7.55 (not unusual) and consisted of a few formalities and most surprisingly, no speeches ! The main event was the reading of the declaration of independence and the raising of the flag.
The long delay and the relentless sun (even at that hour) took their toll on many of the schoolchildren on parade and I counted more than twenty fainting just in the section in front of me. As well as most of the schools in Maumere, all government departments, army and police were represented, together with the drum majorettes.
I have just tried to upload a video clip for the first time but the connection won't stay up for long enough to complete the upload - sorry !
WOW! The Lakes look stunning Mark :)
ReplyDeleteHow is the netbook holding up? All the best!
Jon