We rented a car and driver for 5 days and he would bring myself, Nicole, Malin, Javier & Ramiro around Flores with our final destination Kelimutu, this amazing volcano with coloured volcanic lakes.

Our driver was a young fella who called himself Harry Potter and wouldn’t tell us his real name so we went along with it and called him Harry. (by the way his boss was called Tony Blair!!) He was shy in the beginning but the Spanish boys soon drew him out and it turned out that he had this mad manic laugh which was really funny – at least in the beginning…..

So our first stop was Ruteng and we found it really difficult to get a hotel so Harry offered us beds in his brother’s house which was really nice of him. It was one of those tin houses and his family were really welcoming. We also got our first taste of Arak – the local brew made from palm trees. It was sooooo cold though and of course I had no warm clothes with me or my light sleeping bag which would have been really handy. So it got to sleeping arrangements and the boys got one room in the house and the three girls were to share a double bed in what could loosely be described as indoors 🙂

Wake up call at 5am!!!! We thought it would be around 7am but this dude came into the room, switched on the light and pulled back the mossie curtains. So we made haste and got ourselves ready, only to discover that no one else was up!!!! Eventually Harry surfaced and he thought we should let the boys lie in until 9!!! No frickin’ way man!!

Off to Bajawa we headed. Took us until the afternoon to get there as we stopped in a market along the way. We went to some hot springs, which would be the only hot water we’d get this week so some of us decided to have a wash there too along with all the locals. Feeling clean and refreshed, we headed back to the hotel which had been the cause of some controversy. Harry wanted us to stay in a place we knew and we didn’t like it all that much so we asked him to take us somewhere else. He got into a bit of a strop and wouldn’t talk to us for the rest of the day!!!! I should say a few words about our hotel, it was pretty grim. Check-out was at 11am but if you stayed past 8.30 you would surely die from the diesel fumes coming from the Bemo (local bus) that parked outside outside our room!!

The bathroom is also worth a mention. Bathrooms in this part of the world often come with a mandi instead of a shower. A mandi is basically a big tank of water with a scoop to pour water over yourself with. you also use the scoop to flush the toilet. So in this particular hotel the mandi was a dustbin and much to the horror of my “tour” group I went in there in my BARE feet – I just wasn’t thinking!!! We also had a visitor there, Nicole went for a shower and myself and Rum (Ramido) heard a yelp. Nicole either wasn’t bothered or is made of tougher stuff because she just said “oh there’s a big spider”. Myself and Rum went to investigate and we screamed like little girls!!! 🙂 One of the hotel staff came to get rid of it – I really had to know that the spider was dead. He was the big grey meaty kind – gross, gross, gross!!!!

That night after very, very cold mandis, we headed out for dinner and met another couple who were on the boat trip with us. The locals were harping on that we should go on a trip with them, really cheap, etc, etc. So my defense mechanism involved putting on a really obnoxious generic american accent….. “oh no, honey we’re on a tour”. Okay you kinda had to be there but it became somewhat of a catchphrase with us by the end of our trip. I do believe the dutch couple videoed it and it may be circulating somewhere on utube but I’m afraid to look!! After many beers and a few Araks (to warm us up!!) later we wandered to find a bar and ended up gate-crashing a local wedding, complete with ladyboys which was loads of fun. We were somewhat of celebraties there and I don’t think I’ve ever starred in as many strangers’ photographs!!

The next day, after a breakfast of banana pancakes, tea and diesel fumes, we headed for Ende where and on our way we went to a traditional village which was really nice, unfortunately our now mute guide still had the hump and wouldn’t explain anything about it.

We also went for a stroll on blue stone beach which was really amazing. The stones there are all blue with a couple of yellow ones dotted here and there. They are exported around the world and we took one or two as momentos. Hopefully my technical difficulties (camera wise) will work themselves out so I post up some pics.

That night we stayed in Moni and were due to climb Kelimutu volcano the following day. Moni is a funny place, again really cold and damp and the electricity only comes on at 6pm until 7pm the following morning. There also isn’t an indoor restaurant to be found there. Cold, cold, cold!! These places are just not built for tourists which makes a nice change.

After a foggy start we were expecting Kilimutu to be a wash-out but by the time we got up there the sun was splitting the stones. The coloured volcanic lakes around Kelimutu are amazing. In particular the turquoise one is just breath taking. The lakes change colour at different times of the year. It was definetely worth all the driving. Also should mention that Rum kindly lent me his runners as I only had flip flops with me so thank you Rum.

 

Back to Ruteng for more fun the next night and then back to warm dusty Labuanbajo the next day. We had a really fun week. Our driver’s behaviour stayed pretty much the same for the journey, manic laughing or all picture, no sound which went hand in hand with speedy driving. The five of us got on really well so we were lucky.  We did give the spanish boys a lot of stick, so phrases like “ah in (e)spain, we don’t like the (e)spiders but we love the hot (e)springs. 🙂 Ah it was too easy. They also inherited a couple of nicknames, Javier became Pork Star,  as whenever we saw some pigs he used to say “hey look at the porks”. Rum was christened Broody due to him getting gooey eyed everytime he saw some kids. 

I’m glad that Nicole persuaded me to stay as the surrounding scenery was really lush, loads of rice terraces and bamboo everywhere. We ate in local Padang restaurants which have all the food in the window and you just point to whatever you’d like.

The bathrooms there weren’t the nicest though, here’s an example……

The other four were staying on to do some diving and I was due to get the dreaded boat back the following evening. We had a nice dinner (more tuna mmmmmmmmm) and then drinks in the Paradise bar which is a bit of a hike in the pitch dark but worth it when you get there.

We had a blast and it was great to spend time with four really great people. We had some craic for the week and I’ll be lucky to meet people as relaxed and as nice as this again. I only got one photo of the five of us but technical difficulties strike again so I’ll have to procure one from someone. So gutted about my camera 🙁 Boo.

 

More photos on http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157606555095376/