Fai Tira picture blog Friday 22nd October 2010

 Sawu, Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia

 

 

We arrived at Sawu in a cloud of uncertainty after being told to leave Kupang by first light, due to the fact that we couldn’t obtain customs clearance.

 

 

 

Hans from Natibou and myself went into the town of Seba to see what the reaction of the officials would be.  As it turned out we had no problem and presented our paperwork and passports.  We reported back to Jaume on Bionic and arranged to meet up in town a little later.

 

We went looking for the local school English teacher who was mentioned as being a guide in the Rough Guide travel book.  He had moved back to Kupang, but his replacement - called Hans - was really helpful, and after asking another teacher, pointed us in the direction of a guide called John.

 

John arranged transport in the form of a bemo or mini bus and we headed off to John’s traditional village which was lovely.

Our bemo or mini bus.

 

The roads were very basic and hanging on for grim death was called for, as Monica and John are doing here.

A typical village house.

 

When we arrived we were told we couldn’t take photos without first seeking permission from the village chief.

Here is one of the village chiefs. Apparently they have a number of chiefs (7), each of whom has a speciality. E.g. Rainmaker, Doctor, Sacrificing, Disputes, etc.

 

He was later joined by the number one chief who turned out to be 94 years old. Note the cool shades!

 

We bought some of their crafts.  They weave the garments they all seem to be wearing.  The stones in the background are where they sacrifice animals to their gods at each full moon.

 

This was our guide John’s auntie Elizabeth.  She was keen show her handiwork and try to get us to purchase some. Jeremy did and got a great deal.

 

 

 

The village houses made out of the local tree, Lantar.  They reroof every thirty years.  Pretty good, eh?!

 

 

 

 

This rock was carved when Capt Cook visited Sawu in the 1700s.

 

After a basic lunch back in Seba we headed for a ruined Portuguese mansion.  The Portuguese were here before Cook discovered Australia.  

 

Not much left of it now. This is a watchtower in the garden

 

 

We returned to John’s house for a beer and a relax. Here is John’s wife Astuti with her granddaughter.  

Our John decided to go to another village with guide John, on the back of his bike. 

Here are some of the photos he took.  

 

 

 

The 20 kilometre trip bisected the island, and took me through many communities, John seemed to know someone in each one of them. These were the good roads, they soon became quite scary, but some of the views were fantastic

 

We ended up at another traditional village, but this time much larger. They harvest a sugary substance from the tops of these trees, a very long way from the ground. The access is up the trunk and the same way down......

If you’re skilful and lucky!

We arrived back just before dark to a very busy town and jetty......

 

When we arrived back at the dinghy the tide was out and the sea had retreated three hundred yards. We had a dilemma how to carry two heavy dinghies across the sand to the sea.  Well, a quick shout to the local young lads had them in fits of laughter as about twenty of them grabbed any part of the boat they could, to help.

 

 

Here are some more of the lads, but we weren’t the only ones who had a problem.  These local fishermen were waiting for the tide to come in before they could go off to work.

 

 

Great day.