Labuanbajo, I arrived here after a long night bus, followed buy a
4hs stop over and two planes… so worth it!!!!! When I saw the tiny propel plane
I have to be honest, I was scared, but these plane took me in the most amazing
scenic flight ever, crossing all islands between Bali and Flores is a stunning
trip! I could see all the beautiful
volcanos from the top, wow and the tiny little islands, surrounded by coral
reef…. These got more impressive as we were landing... WOW! I couldn’t believe
my eyes, another paradise on earth.
These were my 1,5 resting days..
I took a nice place on the hill above the hardboard with stunning views and a
great bed and shower… and did nothing… jaja read, walk a bit and had the most
amazing juices and coffee in the 20 days I have been on the road :)
This place is the
divers paradise, the best spots on the planet are here! Wow! And I am planning
to visit Komodo, Rinca and stunning snorkeling… but later… ladies... the detail
here.. and sorry if this sounds bad, in Komodo I want to see the Komodo dragon
and hike around… but these incredible animal smells blood… and yep.. with my
period now I have to change plans and come back later as chances or attack are
higher and so not recommended... jajajaj I know.. I feel awful writing this but
this is how it works… mother nature :)
So, in some hours I am going
inlands to enjoy the little mountain town of Moni and hike my last Indonesian
volcano… for now! :) breakfast its coming… on the amazing terrace... wow!
And after the incredible bfas I
went for a walk through the local morning market…. What stood out? The deep
true, real colors of the fruit and veggies… well.. and the fish smell but so far
technology doesn’t allow me to share that J
never mind! Friendly people all around the woman with the mango and the man who
moved so I could make pics of whatever he was selling…. Which I have no clue
what it was, maybe like what I had in Yogya….
And I made it to Moni! I met a
nice German couple at Ende airport and we decided to share transport and the
coming days! J
nice people… kids, 24 and 25 years old, they thought me about biology and the
army. I love learning about different worlds!
The way to Moni was an adventure.
To start with at the airport, the guy who picked me up couldn’t take more than
one person as if not the other taxis would fight him, physically next time. So
Claudia and Mathias had to take other car until a few meters outside the
airport and then change to mine… after this the road was close due to construction
work…. For 1,5 more hours... we we so thirsty! And water was a rip-off so we
asked the driver to go to another market…. Then back and waited…
Once on the road it was pure
beauty! This is the Flores I had in mind… lush green forest, palm trees and a
super cool, chilled, relaxed vive…. The people are different and I think my
favorite J
they are darker in the skin, had big true smiles with extremely white teeth and
they are simply relaxed, with rastas in the hair and listening to reggae music,
jajajaj
We went for dinner to Santiago
place! The owner came out and explained me about the egg plant juice… as I
asked, what?!?! And in fact its like a strawberry, of course I took it and it
was delicious! He also explained that all veggies are organic from his garden...
I was in love J
and took the most delicious gado gado of the time here, absolutely love this
place!
Good night at 9PM and up at 4AM…
our Bemo was waiting and took us up to the parking of Kelimutu, yes, another volcano… YEEES! Of
course I wanted to do it all by walk but was not possible…. We did walk for
what?! 20/30 minutes to inspiration point where we met only 10/15 other
travelers… the full walk in the dark felt unique, not like Bromo or Ijen full
of people.
This was almost all for us…. And as always… colors start to change
to reveal the natural beauty in front of us and wow! Two of the incredible
crater lakes come to life with the sun on the back and the mountains around…
heaven!!!! Very windy, heaven :)
We stayed there until everyone
was gone and got wonderful pics and all for us:) we kept going by visiting other sector with two more lakes and this was my
favorite part.. we pass the fence and walked up the rocky volcano, at the edge
two magical lakes revealed... one light blue and the other deep green.. as the
sun was coming the colores were deeper… WOW, WOW, WOW.. I stood there a long
while admiring these beauty, how this is possible?! I just cannot stop of being
amazed by the natural beauty of this incredible country!
We took coffee and Claudia some noodles and had a nice visit of the monkeys of the are :) so cute, we are so so much alike!
To go back to Moni we took a hike
of 3 hours going through incredible little villages… the land its so fertile….
We saw ananas, papaya, strawberry, cocoa, coffee and lots of animals… green, palm
trees and all sort of other world plants… rice plantation, mountains and the
sea at the end… this part of the island has it all! Ha! And extremely nice,
friendly smiley people coming out of the houses! :) Loooved it… it was hot, hot, hot!
And we had no money and there was no ATM so even if I wanted to stay one more day.. I had to go back! Stupid me!!!! We drove to Ende.. got the shties hotel ever.. had to ask to change the sheets as they were sooo dirty….. then the girls came in, and we ended in a photo shoot.. I was crying of laughter….
And it was time to go back to
Labuan Bajo for another resting day… and this was my favorite flight so far….
Look at these pictures…. Simply, WOW! In 40 mins you go from volcanos to beach
and coral reef… no words, just WOW!
And I had some beach, swimming
pool, read a book and enjoy writing the blog! I am now off to the ‘’city’’ to
check how to get to Wana Rebo tomorrow.. hiking, you guessed!
Till then!
I was very lucky to find someone
to join me to Wae Rebo, a wonderful guy from Jakarta who was also trying to
find someone to share the costs. It is not easy to find people as mostly
everyone here comes for diving, not hiking which is only for the crazy ones :)
Wae Rebo is a village about 4 hours drive from Labuan Bajo,
a place you can only access after 3 hours hike up from the little village of
Dengue. Some people decide to spend a night in Dengue and hike in the morning,
other like us, simply had lunch there and hike after.
In Dengue the place to be is Blasius Monta (+6381339350775).
He has a clean and in my opinion big home stay and he will prepare the most
amazing lunch with veggies from the garden, noodles and rice. He will also help
you to find a guide as due to local traditions you cannot go alone.
Wae Rebo is an authentic old Manggaraian village, where the villagers
preserve the way they lived since the old times. The characteristic is the circular
conic houses, mbaru niang, where the roof is made of palm fibre and the rest its
bamboo and wood in the floor.
There are about 8 houses among which the biggest
one is ore the elder and respected people.
Other interesting thing is that the men here dress with a traditional ‘’ skirt’’ so the guide had to change before we moved on….
And we made it.. and it was just a big, big cloud, jajjaja!
We were invited to the main house where a very old and happy woman gave us the
welcome. They say when you are there you are not from Argentina or Indonesia or
any other place, you are now part of Wae Rebo. I liked the community feeling!
We gave a donation and then move to the guest house.
This is the best village I have ever been, like a luxury village.
Extremely clean, nice toilets and the floor bed was incredible. Not to mention
great food!
I slept early as I had a headache but my new friend told me
that the young guy from there was explaining that more and more its hard to
keep the young ones in the village and preserve the lifestyle so in the future
they may restrict the number of tourist coming in.
And the morning was beautiful, I go out to be greeted by a
blue sky and the eight houses which looked like a completely magic place. They
people were waking up and starting to work. Almost all they do is plant and
harvest coffee. So it was beautiful to see the woman going to the fields to
collect the beans, others doing some crushing and some men moving the beans to
dry in the sun… and the coffee for breakfast was delicious!
We spent a good time in the village and hike back to Dengue,
which was much faster but this time with blue sky it was a revelation of what
we have done the day before… stunning views, incredible nature, birds singing
and plants fighting for light :)
The road back to Labuan Bajo was long, but stunning with
views of the unique circular rice fields of Cancar, islands and the wonderful cotton tree, we stopped for
dinner on the road and made it home late night!
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