We shared a two hour taxi from the Ende airport to Moni with a Dutch man who we had met earlier in the airport ($120,000idr per person/ $11usd).
Aidan at the Ende airport:
The taxi drivers (flys) anxiously waiting and pounding on the windows of the airport exit in hopes of business:
The drive was beautiful with sheer cliffs on every side of the road and tons and tons of hairpin turns. Since the town of Moni is located in a mountainous region, the weather was is less humid and much cooler than other areas in Indonesia. It was really refreshing being able to escape the overwhelmingly hot weather for a few days.
The driver pulled over to let a funeral service pass by- hundreds of cars and motorcycles drive together:
We arrived at Bintang Lodge and checked into a nice and fairly large room with a fan and hot water ($300,000idr/ $25usd). Afterwards we moseyed down the street to check out some of the village.
A local woman sitting on the ground at our hotel:
The waterways throughout the entire town:
That night we ate a delicious meal of vegetable soup ("shit soup"), nasi goreng, and fried noodles and then hit the sack early so we could wake up at 4am to hike Kelimutu the following morning.
Day 2 we woke up at 3:45am, dressed ourselves in the warmest clothes we had packed in our backpacks and then jumped in a taxi with three other tourists that drove us 25 minutes/ 13km up a windy road to the base of Kelimutu. Along the way we passed a woman who was walking alone in complete darkness and was carrying something on her head...the driver assured us that she did that every single day and preferred to walk.
The entrance fee to hike Kelimutu was a whopping $20,000idr/ $1.70usd and took us 20 minutes to hike to the top in pitch black dark. Aidan and I made it to the peak first and I have to say it was a little eerie all alone up there in the darkness, and unsure what was around us. However, as the sun began to rise and more people began to show, the experience and beauty was overwhelmingly beautiful and special.
According to the local people, the three lakes of Kelimutu represent a final resting place for the spirits of their ancestors.
The lake that the spirit goes into depends on the person and several different factors.
Watching the sunrise:
As it became lighter out, that lady who we had seen walking alone in the darkness popped up the mountain carrying hot water, cups, tea and COFFEE! Apparently she walks 25km (round trip) everyday to Kelimutu in hopes of selling a few cups of coffee to the tourists.
Coffee woman setting up camp:
The two lakes (turquoise and dark green, sometimes red):
The solo lake (blue, but sometimes red or white):
After watching the sunrise and taking 1000 pictures of the lakes, we ventured over the rail to view the two lakes closer up. They were massive!
The two lakes at a different angle:
We left Kelimutu at 8am, which we though was plenty late as we had been there for 3.5 hours, and drove back to the village, and of course stopped at some rice fields to take pictures along the way.
When we returned to Bintang Lodge that morning we enjoyed an "omlet" with cheese and tomato and then took a nap for a few hours. When we woke up and walked down to the lobby/ restaurant area, we noticed that no one was around except some tourists and young local girls who spoke very broken English.
We found out that a local man had passed away the day before, under suspicious circumstances, and all the locals were at gathered together nearby for his funeral. This meant that absolutely no restaurants were open and the entire village was essentially shut down. We contemplated catching a bus and leaving the town of Moni that morning, but felt the need to stay for one more day to truly soak up what the village had to offer.
The locals leaving the funeral:
The parade of cars, motorcycles and people leaving the funeral:
Not knowing what to do in the middle of the afternoon in the tiny village, we decided to grab a few Bintangs from the only open shop in town and sat around and sipping them on our balcony.
The real ethnic and indigenous feeling of the town kicked in when we saw two people carry a squealing pig by its legs to kill for food I presume. The night before we watched a young kid carry two squawking chickens into the kitchen of the hotel... I guess the reality of it all was too close for my personal comfort. Unlike what I am usually exposed to, grocery stores, etc., the local people have to kill the animals that they raise in order to survive because many other food options are not readily available for them.
Aidan did console me however, by explaining how the animals that are being killed in very indigenous areas have probably had a better and much healthier life than the animals that we consume from supermarkets in the states. Enough said.
Later that afternoon we walked across the street to observe the Catholic Church, which had a very basic interior and exterior.
We then made our way down a pathway, passing many locals' homes and to the outskirts of the village. We saw lots of animals hanging out around the village huts, including beautiful cattle and tons of baby pigs!
Some graves in the village:
Their hut homes:
We stumbled upon some kids that were playing soccer in a field outside of the village and were very delighted (flirting with me) to see us when we passed by. We also ran into two young ladies who were assisting their grandmother with moving tree branches from one area to the next via their heads. The young girls were extremely outgoing and introduced themselves to us and asked us our names and where we were from.
That evening we sat around with some tourists and Billie, who runs Bintang Lodge with his family, and ate dinner, drank beers and tried to figure out Billie's made up toothpick tricks.
How do you make the tooth picks equal 4 by only moving one tooth pick? (You can't move the 4 or the equal sign):
How do you make more than one pig by only moving two toothpicks?
The next day we decided it was time for us to leave Moni and move onto the last leg of our trip, a week vacation in Bali :) we crammed ourselves into a mini van (literally), two people even sat on the roof, and drove two hours down the windy road to the Ende Airport.
A kid selling fish at the airport:
We originally planned on booking a flight from Ende to Denpassar that day, however there were no flights available for Denpassar until the next day, therefore we had to spend one more night in Labuanbajo.
We went back to Gardena Hotel, where we had spent three nights before Moni, and found out that their only available rooms were view rooms for a little more money, but we decided to just book the room rather than searching for homestay in 100 degree weather. We didn't realize however, that the view room actually meant we had to hike to the literal top of the hotel lot, a ten minute walk up the winding, concrete stairs. Let just say it wasn't a pleasant hike with 15kg backpacks on, but the view was out of this world.
The view:
The sunset that night:
We went back to the "Made in Italy" restaurant that night and Aidan ordered a pizza with gorgonzola and mozzarella cheese and sausage, and I ordered homemade potato filled ravioli with shrimp. They were both delectable dishes and made the extra night in Labuanbajo well worth it.
The next day we headed to the Labuanbajo Airport AGAIN, and caught a flight to Denpassar at 11:30am. Now on to the "vacation" leg of the trip.
The view leaving Labuanbajo:
