Ende, Moni and swimming

It's now Thursday and today (unlike yesterday) at least some people appear to have come back to work after the Idul Fitri holiday. This coincided with First Communion day in Maumere (which is largely Roman Catholic) and there were many parties all over the town on Tuesday - many people were invited to at least ten and I did quite well for a newcomer with five invitations. 

On Sunday, I headed off to Ende which is on the south coast about 160kms away, journey time about 4.5 hours plus a couple of stops for lunch and saddle relief. Ende is overwhelmingly Muslim so my timing was not very good as everything was shut for the holiday on Sunday (the end of Ramadan is marked by family visits to friends and neighbours houses). The small hotel I found fortunately served evening meals as all the restaurants were shut and, even better, had fish and chips on the menu ! Ende is surrounded by hills and is approached by a steep descent down a river valley with spectacular scenery - the town itself is pretty unremarkable.

On Monday, I left Ende and headed back towards Maumere at a a leisurely pace,intending to stay in Moni (the village near the coloured lakes at Kelimutu). As you enter Moni, there is a waterfall with bathing pool near the road so I stopped to cool off just as a truck and bus full of visitors from Ende arrived.       

I followed them down to the waterfall and joined them in the pool, so it was not the most peaceful or relaxing dip. The novelty of having a bule (paleface) in their midst who was able to speak a little of their language meant that I had to have my photograph taken with every single one of them, usually individually. They were especially intrigued by my chest hair ...

   

On my back to Maumere on Tuesday, I was able to understand how travel becomes very difficult in the rainy season, which I have yet to experience. Although it has not rained in Maumere for weeks and weeks, higher in the mountains there had been a little rain over the weekend. In at least four places this small amount of rain had caused some minor landslips - I can't imagine what it will be like after three months of rain !

In one of my earlier posts, I wrote about typical houses but didn't have any photos to hand at the time. Here's one I passed on my way back to Maumere which is a cut above many others.

 

Last photo group of this post : the swimmers were in action in the harbour yetserday with some spectacular jumping and diving displays !