Friday, 9 October 2009
books
meanwhile i finished reading "l'etranger" in french :D and loved it!! somehow the 4 books i ended up reading on the first half of my trip make a lot of sense together, and at this particular time, while traveling, now. before this book i had read "the blindfold" by siri hustvedt and she did it again... the woman touches me in a really strong way! i love her writing :) reading good books is so amazing!! when you close it after the last page and you look around and the world has changed, you have changed, everything is different and you look back at the pages and wonder... it's words, letter by letter.. and they gain such life, such power, they act so trongly and so sharply and all of the sudden nothing is the same anymore xx
3 hours away from the ferry to timor :)
in one hour i will be taking a motorbike to the harbour in waingapu to get my ticket and hopp on the ferry to kupang. it goes via flores, so the route is waingapu - ende - kupang, and it should take a day and a half :) so i'll be in west timor on sunday!
i might go to the little island called rote just southwest of kupang because it looks so peaceful :) and then i'll start going east to timor leste until i hit dili xx i'm so curious with that part of the world!!
the trip by ferry will be an adventure itself, as they always are :) there is a communal area where entire families and everyone else sits down with all their luggage and also with chicken, goats, cabbages, tabacco and anything else you can think of. that is also where everyone sleeps, on the same ground :) and you have breakfast, lunch and dinner on the same spot. it's quite an event! and i can't wait to board it!
i might go to the little island called rote just southwest of kupang because it looks so peaceful :) and then i'll start going east to timor leste until i hit dili xx i'm so curious with that part of the world!!
the trip by ferry will be an adventure itself, as they always are :) there is a communal area where entire families and everyone else sits down with all their luggage and also with chicken, goats, cabbages, tabacco and anything else you can think of. that is also where everyone sleeps, on the same ground :) and you have breakfast, lunch and dinner on the same spot. it's quite an event! and i can't wait to board it!
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
the food
it's time to reflect on food ;) makan, in indonesian :)
indonesian makan is really good!! but very very repetitive! in parts of the country it's fried rice for breakfast lunch and dinner, sometimes without anything but fried onion and chillis added to it! if you're lucky you might get a variation... fried noodles!
then if you are super lucky you get nasi campur. and nasi campur is usually a delight :) it's a plate of rice to which you add a bit of everything - the restaurants or food stals have a variety of bowls with vegetables, fried fish, fried and boiled eggs, tofu, tempe, meat, and always some sort of soup. you point at the ones you like and then enjoy the yummy meal :) in some parts of indonesia this can be really great!! in the poorer areas it's often just rice, a green vegetable and 2 fried eggs. the best nasi campur is in bali where you sometimes have 20 different bowls to choose from :) and you always get toasted peanuts on top :) and prawn chips :)
in sumatra, java and bali the food is really great and there is MUCH more choice! lots of vegetarian options and really different tastes :) in lombok in the touristy places the food was excellent and in the non touristy countryside it was the basic fried fare and somehow close to tetebatu a family managed to feed me 11 eggs in one day!!! (at some point of my life i didn't eat eggs remember?! so that was quite something!)
anyway, everywhere around here it's the kingdom of carbs!! as in the last 3 years i have not been eating much carbs at all... i see this as a way to even things out and find the balance for carbs! i know a certain chinese medicine doctor who'll be very happy to know i'm eating rice and noodles every day now :)
so far, ubud in bali is the place where you can find anything around here - from carrot cake with sugar topping to great sashimi and morning croissants and korean energy juices and spirulina cakes and lasagna and skippy peanut butter and illy coffee and great apple pie... and i have to say i miss it! i have been craving a sandwich for about a month now!! i dream of bread... dark rye bread... and if while in sumatra, java and bali i couldn't face the sight of another pancake... now that i've been in 2 islands where they don't know what pancakes are... i crave them! and somehow i even miss those displays of chocolate bars in british shops... hmm, would love a sneakers bar right now :) i haven't seen one in the whole trip!
i'm actually quite hungry at the moment so i'll stop writing about food and go eat some ;) :) padang makansar it will be!
indonesian makan is really good!! but very very repetitive! in parts of the country it's fried rice for breakfast lunch and dinner, sometimes without anything but fried onion and chillis added to it! if you're lucky you might get a variation... fried noodles!
then if you are super lucky you get nasi campur. and nasi campur is usually a delight :) it's a plate of rice to which you add a bit of everything - the restaurants or food stals have a variety of bowls with vegetables, fried fish, fried and boiled eggs, tofu, tempe, meat, and always some sort of soup. you point at the ones you like and then enjoy the yummy meal :) in some parts of indonesia this can be really great!! in the poorer areas it's often just rice, a green vegetable and 2 fried eggs. the best nasi campur is in bali where you sometimes have 20 different bowls to choose from :) and you always get toasted peanuts on top :) and prawn chips :)
in sumatra, java and bali the food is really great and there is MUCH more choice! lots of vegetarian options and really different tastes :) in lombok in the touristy places the food was excellent and in the non touristy countryside it was the basic fried fare and somehow close to tetebatu a family managed to feed me 11 eggs in one day!!! (at some point of my life i didn't eat eggs remember?! so that was quite something!)
anyway, everywhere around here it's the kingdom of carbs!! as in the last 3 years i have not been eating much carbs at all... i see this as a way to even things out and find the balance for carbs! i know a certain chinese medicine doctor who'll be very happy to know i'm eating rice and noodles every day now :)
so far, ubud in bali is the place where you can find anything around here - from carrot cake with sugar topping to great sashimi and morning croissants and korean energy juices and spirulina cakes and lasagna and skippy peanut butter and illy coffee and great apple pie... and i have to say i miss it! i have been craving a sandwich for about a month now!! i dream of bread... dark rye bread... and if while in sumatra, java and bali i couldn't face the sight of another pancake... now that i've been in 2 islands where they don't know what pancakes are... i crave them! and somehow i even miss those displays of chocolate bars in british shops... hmm, would love a sneakers bar right now :) i haven't seen one in the whole trip!
i'm actually quite hungry at the moment so i'll stop writing about food and go eat some ;) :) padang makansar it will be!
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
midpoint
i just came back from rua :) amaziiing place! when i left the internet place last time i walked to the bus terminal to look for the bemo to rua and suddenly i heard 'Rita!' i turned around and the guy from the internet place was driving a car and told me he would drive me there as he likes to travel. ok then, i told amjad, and off we went :)
on the way there there were a few ladies in the jungle wearing nothing but their sarongs and holding babies on their topless chests. the road to rua is gorgeous, passing through many little villages and offering glimpses of some of the tribes that live around here.
when we got to rua and after amjad had bought me water and cookies and coca-cola (which i later gave to some kids as i really don't like it)... i found out that all the info on the lonely planet was outdated (nothing so new in remote areas in this part of the world...). so there was no homestay there. and actually... it made me happy :) it meant i'd be looking for another family to stay with :) i found one with 8 kids that wouldn't leave my room and we went through the whole indonesian-english dictionary ;)
the beach in rua was perfect! and south of there there is nothing :D sumba is so dramatic!! it took 1h15min to walk the whole stretch of sand and today as i walked it in the morning i met a father and a son both wearing their huge tribal knifes around their wastes. after using all my bahasa indonesia with them and running out of things to say, i tried to sit down and write my journal. they got closer to me and stared and stared and went on talking in indonesian. we sat there for about 20min and i think we talked about an amaerican called lucy who once visited rua :) soon after that as i walked in the direction of the harbour a group of 5 fishermen offered me 2 fishes they had just grilled on a fire made with coconut wood. that was lunch :)
suddenly i felt the urge to get back to waikabubak xx got an ojek to the junction and got a truck to drive me back here where i met amjad for dinner :)
today is the midpoint of my trip. 55 days have passed :) and there are 55 days to go!
on the way there there were a few ladies in the jungle wearing nothing but their sarongs and holding babies on their topless chests. the road to rua is gorgeous, passing through many little villages and offering glimpses of some of the tribes that live around here.
when we got to rua and after amjad had bought me water and cookies and coca-cola (which i later gave to some kids as i really don't like it)... i found out that all the info on the lonely planet was outdated (nothing so new in remote areas in this part of the world...). so there was no homestay there. and actually... it made me happy :) it meant i'd be looking for another family to stay with :) i found one with 8 kids that wouldn't leave my room and we went through the whole indonesian-english dictionary ;)
the beach in rua was perfect! and south of there there is nothing :D sumba is so dramatic!! it took 1h15min to walk the whole stretch of sand and today as i walked it in the morning i met a father and a son both wearing their huge tribal knifes around their wastes. after using all my bahasa indonesia with them and running out of things to say, i tried to sit down and write my journal. they got closer to me and stared and stared and went on talking in indonesian. we sat there for about 20min and i think we talked about an amaerican called lucy who once visited rua :) soon after that as i walked in the direction of the harbour a group of 5 fishermen offered me 2 fishes they had just grilled on a fire made with coconut wood. that was lunch :)
suddenly i felt the urge to get back to waikabubak xx got an ojek to the junction and got a truck to drive me back here where i met amjad for dinner :)
today is the midpoint of my trip. 55 days have passed :) and there are 55 days to go!
Monday, 5 October 2009
sumba
this island is amazing :D again, no tourists! and a coastline that is totally breathtaking!
on the boat to waikelo i had the company of 2 very nice men - an old man traveling with his nephew who was coming to sumba for the first time. when we arrived to waikelo we had coffee together and then each of us got an ojek (motorbike taxi) to waitabula. they paid for mine and helped me get a bus to pero, the westernmost point of sumba.
i got to pero and looked for the only official place to stay. the rooms were beautiful but the girl who worked there was not nice... and she wanted 150.000 rupiahs for the room, breakfast, lunch and dinner. i thought that of course i could afford the 10 euros... but it didn't feel nice and it didn't make sense that i would come to a village that feels like the end of the world and pay more then the double of the most expensive room of this trip do far... so i left. i knew there was no other guesthouse... but there's always a nice family ;) so i used my indonesian and told a nice man "saya perlu murah kamar" - i'm looking for a cheap room :) and that took me to a family house with a big courtyard and suddenly i had a cute baby on my arms and a little girl playing with my hair :) they didn't want me to stay because they thought their toilet wasn't good enough for me (i tried to say that was not a problem!) they insisted i'd stay with their cousin who soon arrived and we got on his motorbike to go to his house :) lovely place with mango trees and a monkey as a pet - kiki who was incredibly jealous of me...
the same day after a great shower and amazing fried noodles he took me to the 3 villages that make up the kodi district. on the first one i was invited by the chief of the village to go and live there and not go back to portugal as i should stay and live there. he said he'd offer me animals. i passed and we went on to the next village after watching the ocean for a while.
on the second village, my host's village, we took part in a celebration. someone had died so they were slaughtering one pig and one water buffalo on that person's honor. i had a rush of emotions going through me with the passing of the last minutes before they started to kill the animals. for the pig they got a big spear and they hit him a few times until the animal was contorting with pain and finally fell on the ground and went from very quiet moments to having crazy spasms and then quiet again and lots of blood coming out of his mouth... and making a strange noise. while this happened, just next to it they killed the buffalo. they used a big knife. a strong man went close to the animal and hit him on his big neck. blood came out. the animal shake his big face. the man went to the other side and hit him there twice. blood came out from the sides. the man hit him 5 or 6 more times. lots of blood came out. the animal fell down. and got up again. there was more blood. and the man hit him twice more. blood was coming out of the neck with bubbles, pouring out. the animal fell without any control of his legs making lots of noise. blood and more blood came out and it made a huge puddle of blood. the animal had big and strong spasms at the same time that the pig was moving and getting quiet and making noises. and they lay there dying. i was surrounded by about 30 children. i was greeted by the old people of the village. they were now waiting for the animals to die and each would take a piece of meat home to eat. we left. i sat in the motorbike thinking. mixed feelings. i closed my eyes and felt the curves and the bumps and the sun and the shadow and the air, the smell of papaya tress and coconut trees and a dragonfly hit me. and i felt the place where i am, so close to timor :)
we went on to the last village. i signed the visitors book, made a donation and we went on. this village had a group of people gambling. they were gambling quite a lot of money on a strange game with special dice being thrown by a young kid who was gathering up all the rupiahs that people lost... i had so many young kids around me there... something like what happens if you arrive alone to a little village in tibet :) we went on exploring a more quiet side of the village and we met a convoy of 5 men and 3 children taking a very fat pig and two water buffaloes across a stretch of water to get to another side of the village and offer the animals to the girl that one of their friends fancies :) the pig was lazy and wanted to rest after every 10 steps... so this took forever... we spent about 1 hour with them, the kids playing in the water, the buffaloes bathing, the adults talking under the HOT sun and the pig running back to rest under a shadow. the family of the girls wants 15 animals so it will take a while until the boy can get the girl - these were the first 3. the brother of the guy who offered the animals took my hand and he wouldn't let go. i needed help to get free from it. and we went on. back to the motorbike and on to visit a friend. lovely family.
so much had happened in a day. i went to the beach to watch the sunset. kilometers and kilometers of some of the most beautiful coastline i've ever seen. i hit my left big toe on some dry reef. a chunk of meat got separate from the rest of the toe and lots of blood came out. i went on walking and the blood made the sand light red. i washed it in the ocean and sat there looking at the waves and to the horizon behind the waves. there's no land after pero until you reach africa. the north of madagaskar or tanzania xx
now i'm in waikabubak just for the ATM, the post office and the internet. on my way to rua, on the southern coast of sumba :)
soon i'll be taking the ferry to timor!
on the boat to waikelo i had the company of 2 very nice men - an old man traveling with his nephew who was coming to sumba for the first time. when we arrived to waikelo we had coffee together and then each of us got an ojek (motorbike taxi) to waitabula. they paid for mine and helped me get a bus to pero, the westernmost point of sumba.
i got to pero and looked for the only official place to stay. the rooms were beautiful but the girl who worked there was not nice... and she wanted 150.000 rupiahs for the room, breakfast, lunch and dinner. i thought that of course i could afford the 10 euros... but it didn't feel nice and it didn't make sense that i would come to a village that feels like the end of the world and pay more then the double of the most expensive room of this trip do far... so i left. i knew there was no other guesthouse... but there's always a nice family ;) so i used my indonesian and told a nice man "saya perlu murah kamar" - i'm looking for a cheap room :) and that took me to a family house with a big courtyard and suddenly i had a cute baby on my arms and a little girl playing with my hair :) they didn't want me to stay because they thought their toilet wasn't good enough for me (i tried to say that was not a problem!) they insisted i'd stay with their cousin who soon arrived and we got on his motorbike to go to his house :) lovely place with mango trees and a monkey as a pet - kiki who was incredibly jealous of me...
the same day after a great shower and amazing fried noodles he took me to the 3 villages that make up the kodi district. on the first one i was invited by the chief of the village to go and live there and not go back to portugal as i should stay and live there. he said he'd offer me animals. i passed and we went on to the next village after watching the ocean for a while.
on the second village, my host's village, we took part in a celebration. someone had died so they were slaughtering one pig and one water buffalo on that person's honor. i had a rush of emotions going through me with the passing of the last minutes before they started to kill the animals. for the pig they got a big spear and they hit him a few times until the animal was contorting with pain and finally fell on the ground and went from very quiet moments to having crazy spasms and then quiet again and lots of blood coming out of his mouth... and making a strange noise. while this happened, just next to it they killed the buffalo. they used a big knife. a strong man went close to the animal and hit him on his big neck. blood came out. the animal shake his big face. the man went to the other side and hit him there twice. blood came out from the sides. the man hit him 5 or 6 more times. lots of blood came out. the animal fell down. and got up again. there was more blood. and the man hit him twice more. blood was coming out of the neck with bubbles, pouring out. the animal fell without any control of his legs making lots of noise. blood and more blood came out and it made a huge puddle of blood. the animal had big and strong spasms at the same time that the pig was moving and getting quiet and making noises. and they lay there dying. i was surrounded by about 30 children. i was greeted by the old people of the village. they were now waiting for the animals to die and each would take a piece of meat home to eat. we left. i sat in the motorbike thinking. mixed feelings. i closed my eyes and felt the curves and the bumps and the sun and the shadow and the air, the smell of papaya tress and coconut trees and a dragonfly hit me. and i felt the place where i am, so close to timor :)
we went on to the last village. i signed the visitors book, made a donation and we went on. this village had a group of people gambling. they were gambling quite a lot of money on a strange game with special dice being thrown by a young kid who was gathering up all the rupiahs that people lost... i had so many young kids around me there... something like what happens if you arrive alone to a little village in tibet :) we went on exploring a more quiet side of the village and we met a convoy of 5 men and 3 children taking a very fat pig and two water buffaloes across a stretch of water to get to another side of the village and offer the animals to the girl that one of their friends fancies :) the pig was lazy and wanted to rest after every 10 steps... so this took forever... we spent about 1 hour with them, the kids playing in the water, the buffaloes bathing, the adults talking under the HOT sun and the pig running back to rest under a shadow. the family of the girls wants 15 animals so it will take a while until the boy can get the girl - these were the first 3. the brother of the guy who offered the animals took my hand and he wouldn't let go. i needed help to get free from it. and we went on. back to the motorbike and on to visit a friend. lovely family.
so much had happened in a day. i went to the beach to watch the sunset. kilometers and kilometers of some of the most beautiful coastline i've ever seen. i hit my left big toe on some dry reef. a chunk of meat got separate from the rest of the toe and lots of blood came out. i went on walking and the blood made the sand light red. i washed it in the ocean and sat there looking at the waves and to the horizon behind the waves. there's no land after pero until you reach africa. the north of madagaskar or tanzania xx
now i'm in waikabubak just for the ATM, the post office and the internet. on my way to rua, on the southern coast of sumba :)
soon i'll be taking the ferry to timor!
thanks :)
just a quick message to thank you for worrying and sending me your positive energy by phone, email, smoke signs and those invisible waves of friendship and love :) you're the best! and with you all around the world caring, how can anything bad happen?!
sumbawa & the earthquake in sumatra
i was at the bus station in bima, sumbawa, sleeping on a stopped bus around midnight when i heard about the earthquake through my sister in the algarve! that day i had left lombok in the early morning and when i arrived in sumbawa i got on a bus decided to cross the island and get on a boat to sumba because they only go twice a week and i didn't want to get stuck in hot and dry sumbawa. my bus only went as far as bima and it was run by a really nice group of guys :) one old man and 2 teenagers - all of the fans of Figo ;) the old man told me to sleep on his bus until we'd leave for sape at 4am. it sounded crazy to me... but i did as he said. was setting the alarm clock on my phone when i heard it ringing (wow, hadn't heard that sound for ages!!). it was catarina with news from sumatra. i was fine, as sumbawa is really far from sumatra. but i'm really worried with many of the people i met in that beautiful island! funnily enough... if i had gone to mentawai where i wanted to meet the tribe and make the mythical tattoo... i would have been right at the center of the big mess xx news of the earthquake only reached sumbawa the next day and people were devastated... the only thing that made people smile was the relief of not having a tsunami following the earthquake. then things slowly got back to normal.. as they're so used to the earth shaking around here. i was a bit worried with taking the overnight boat and n was great in finding out the last updates for the tsunami report and all that by sms (obrigada n!) but it turned out the boat would only leave the following day at 10pm. so i was stuck in sape, sumbawa for a whole day and 20 hours! and it turned out to be GREAT :)
sape is a super dry and desolate harbour city without any tourists or tourist sights and it's filled with nice people with great smiles who are happy to just chat with you and talk about the world in general, politics and love and education and the riches of each country and religion and the weather and football and music and anything else :) i enjoyed the time in sape :) and then got on the night boat to sumba xx
sape is a super dry and desolate harbour city without any tourists or tourist sights and it's filled with nice people with great smiles who are happy to just chat with you and talk about the world in general, politics and love and education and the riches of each country and religion and the weather and football and music and anything else :) i enjoyed the time in sape :) and then got on the night boat to sumba xx
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