This is the overnight ferry that runs twice a week between the two islands. It was seething humanity just buying the tickets. School holidays so everyone was going home as well as livestock, trucks, cars etc. when we arrived into our economy section- there was just no space. Most people anticipating the full ship were there early hired their mat or brought their own- it is a way of marking your territory on the bunk arrangements for sleeping. I was standing with our gear by a stairwell and Thomas had a wooden seat. This was going to be a very long night.
Being the only Bules on board as there was nowhere for me to sit when checking the tickets they asked us if we wanted to come up the top –open air and room to lie down. How lucky can you be!!!
They even gave us some cushioned mats-gratis!
We were able to see the preparations for meals for over 400- is there something religious in that or did I get the numbers wrong!!!
As the night wore on I went down to the toilet it was located below in the area of ‘seething humanity’, people were chatting, sleeping coiled around luggage, sleeping with arms thrown back on their mats, smoking, sleeping sitting up, not much air, warm/hot and this is 12.00midnight –seven hours to go. I go up to the cool deck with the fresh air and wonder about the analogy of this the privileged few the most who do it exceedingly hard and why one is one and not the other? and why is it like that?
On arrival at Larantuka the bemo hustlers were out in force to get a full bemo/minibus and make the trip to Maumere profitable. In the back of the minibus they expect five people to sit across one row of seats. Thomas’s shoulders take up at least the width of one and a half - pity for all of us in his row. It was steamy hot until the bemo started moving and then we were plied with ‘duff-duff’, Indonesian love songs, bad western boy band music and Celine Dion at full blast. The roads were windy and there were road works but they didn’t drive fast!! Albeit conditions were squashed our nerves were jangled with the loud music we arrived safely.
Arrived at Ankermi – a small diving accommodation close to Maumere run by a Swiss lady Claudia and her Javanese husband Kermi – it’s the classic simple bungalow accommodation simple open bathroom mezzanine with mattress and double bed with mosquito net on the ground. Clean, subtle, great food, the gentle lapping of water 15m in front of your room AND ‘duff-duff’ free!!!
Woken by roosters but that was good, Snorkelling was nice big soft corals and sponges and a turtle but spoke too soon we exchanged the ‘duff-duff ‘music for ‘duff-duff’ motor noise-aduh.
Still this was an island of non-culture, a mini-western break in the sea of this Indonesian holiday/journey.
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