A new day in Kampung Mano...there's something really special about waking up to the sounds and smells of a village...I spent a long morning sitting around drinking coffee and talking more to the family...it was nice. A cute little house where family and friends dropped in and out and generally just hung around...this is life in the village!
Then we ventured off to visit a place where there was once a traditional house but it had deteriorated terribly thus the local villagers were building a traditional house to replace the one that once stood in that exact spot. The construction of the new house was at very early stages...with the beams just being placed in position.
Then we went to see one traditional house which was said to be 100 years old...it was my first time to see a traditional house in the Manggarai region. It was very different to the architecture of the traditional houses around Bajawa. The house was empty apart from a few traditional instruments hanging in the roof arches and there was no door so it was open to all.
We spent the rest of the day visiting all my friend's family members that all live within fairly close proximity of each other in the village...of course following local tradition...visitors are offered a drink and something to eat...so that meant I visited many houses and spent many hours of drinking tea/coffee (I think I alternated), eating all sorts of food and all this accompanied with lots of discussion on different topics of interest.
The second evening in the village was also a busy one...lots of visitors arriving and lots of food and drink flowing thoughout the night...as different people came and left at different times. When the 'arak' (that was classed as Number 1 - the purist kind) was bought out...and I had one tiny sip...I knew it was time for rest and leave the villagers to their favoured chewing of the betel nut and drinking 'arak'! It had been a long day.
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