when someone sees a whale in lamalera they scream "bleo, baleo!" and the men get together on a little wooden boat and go off to chase the whale and kill it with a harpoon made of bamboo :) this is the last place on earth where this happens! and the village is truly special! i stayed at mamma maria's house down there and everyday i ate merlin cooked with tomato and whale oil :) yumm! maria is an awesome cook! but the best present she gave me was... a new and healthier way to walk!! when i got to lamalera i had been on the ferry from kupang for 15hours and then on the boat to lewobata for 4hours and then on a motorbike over a really baaaaad road for 2hours... so i told her how everything in my body hurt, and especially the left hip - knee - foot... she said "i will bring the lady who fixes it" and i said "that would be great, bagus bagus!! terima kasih!" i thought i would be getting a massage... so they brought in the teacher from the secondary school in lamalera to help with the english and with him came mamma roberta. she was a big lady who looked really strong, chewed a lot of betel and had a huge chin. mamma maria sent us to my room with a bamboo mat that i laid on the floor and then i waited for instructions :) berta was apparently half masseuse, half witch ;) and she rotated my left femur and the hip bone to a position that is SO MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE from where it has been for the last 2 years!! (terima kasih mamma berta!)
and if you are in this corner of the world go and visit lamalera, it's truly magical!
also... on the ferry back to larantuka when i left lembata island... i met a really nice malaysian who had been spending his holidays there with relatives and he told me how just the day before they had seen a mermaid! i looked surprised and he said "it is not uncommon here"
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