The Hobbit or There and Back Again

Hello All! Photos are up!

Time for another update! I am writing to you from the port city of Lebuan Bajo on the far westerly reaches of the sprawling Flores island. There has been a lot of adventures since our last posting and I will try my best to hit on the best moments... BUT FIRST... a new trivia question! (drum roll) Why is The Hobbit or There and Back Again an appropriate title for this blog entry? There are two reasons that this title makes sense. Of course the first person to get the answer wins some amazing treasure from Indonesia!

Our boat trip from Lombok to Flores was an amazing time! We slept on the upper deck of this ship (this is actually not ours but one similar to ours) as the waves gently and sometimes not-so-gently rocked us to sleep. We stopped at many small islands on the way and hiked, swam, snorkeled and held a small diving meet off of the back of the boat! We all agree Chris wins the toughness prize which is similar but a bit different than Dani's smoothest entry prize. Ha! Anders, being the most experienced diver/snorkel-ateer among the group informed us that this was the best snorkeling he has ever seen. We all agreed. The reefs were healthy and vibrant and among the list of sighted beings were: sea turtles, colorful eels, huge blue starfish, sting rays, crabs, flounder, trumpet fish, an eel garden, and even a cuddle fish!

On our way we stopped at Komodo National Park on both Komodo and Rinca. Rinca was far more successful in our Dragon hunting. These creatures are huge! This one was around 9 feet long and must have weighed... a lot! They are very dangerous hunters and prey on game as large as buffalo and the occasional human! We all remained at a safe distance but were able to take some amazing photos. Unfortunately the best group photo is on Dani's camera.

We continued East to Lebuan Bajo and spent one more night aboard our boat in the harbor. The next morning we strapped our bags to the roof of a van and split for the heart of Flores, Kelimutu. Mt. Kelimutu is a volcano playing host to 3 large and unique crater lakes. Each lake has its own color.

The drive through Flores was intense! The narrow, serpentine road was expertly navigated by our driver Mus (moose) but lets just say it took a few pills of Dramamine for a few of us! On our way we stopped a two different villages. The first was a small rice farming village just off the road and they had developed a unique system of sharing the land. Behind the boy in the tree you will see the village's unique rice terracing system. Our guide called it the spider web rice terraces and we could see why! The reason they organize it this way is because of the vast number of children in the history of the family. Like a piece of pie they split the land from the center out and everyone will be happy!

The second village we stopped by was Bena. Bena is a village that very much holds onto its traditional animistic rituals and way of life along side a more modern stance of being a Catholic community. Tourism is their source of income and tradition seems to be their way of life. They live in tall thatched homes and one of their goods is the intricate weavings they make and sell. In the center of the village each of the 10 families has a pole to represent the grandfather and a small shack to represent the grandmother. For important ceremonies such as weddings there are also Megaliths. These are spikey rocks reaching up from the ground to the sky and one large flat table-like stone. During a ceremony an ox heart is an offering and is rubbed into the smooth stone on the megalith. The village elder spoke fluent Dutch so our traveling friends, Stan and Hedwick from Holland translated for us. It was amazing to see this exchange and it was great to have so much explanation of the things we were seeing!

Arriving in Moni, we picked our way across rice terraces as the sun fell to the local Air Mamu meaning hot water. We sat with over a dozen locals in a hot spring in the middle of a rice field! It was awesome! The next morning we rose early at 4:30 and drove to mt. Kelimutu and then walked to the top and watched the sun rise over the triplet lakes. It was truly a sight to behold! One lake is currently aqua blue, the other is brown, and the last is coal black. Apparently these colors change from time to time. We enjoyed ourselves for an hour or so at the top and then like any good tourist at a high place overlooking a body of water what did we do? We threw rocks. It kept us entertained as we watched them plummet for seconds upon seconds to their shattering destinies in the water below.

Then we got in our van and drove 13 hours straight back to Lebuan Bajo.

Alas, Dani and Benjy will be leaving our company of five. We watched and waved yesterday as our beloved friends stepped up the stairs into their airplane and headed back to Denpasar Bali for their connecting flight home. We took a few minutes in the terminal to share our favorite moments together and saw them off. They will be sorely missed as we continue our travels, but we are also excited for them to start their new life in Colorado this year. We know that Dani will be an amazing Medical Student and no doubt Benjy will find the perfect way to use his myriad of skills and leadership ability. Thank you both so much for joining us! We will think of you often. Safe travels friends!

Look for updates soon as we head off to Bali in a few days for a whirlwind SURFARI!

Much Love, Scott, Anders, Chris