Goodbye Mano

14th December 2010

I awoke with mixed feelings about leaving the village...but it was time to head back to Labuan Bajo with a few stops along the way.


After another long, relaxed morning of drinking coffee and sitting around chatting (true Indonesian style!)...it was time to pack up and hit the road again. It was sad to say goodbye to my friend's family...they had been very gracious hosts...I felt at a total loss for words to thank them for their kind generosity of accepting me and allowing me to stay in their home. It was a very unique experience.

The journey back to Labuan Bajo was broken up with a few stops...first in Ruteng at the new catheral. Then we stopped at 'Compang Ruteng' - a traditional village, just outside Ruteng, which has a 'compang', a traditional ancestor alter of a raised stone burial area and two renovated traditional houses. The traditional houses were built architecturally the same as the traditional house in the village, both being Manggarai traditional houses, but these ones were huge...one was the ceremonial meeting house. Our third stop was to view the spectacular spiral rice fields, apparently the only ones designed in this way! It meant a long, steep walk up a big hill to be rewarded with the picture perfect views...and it was worth it! Looking down on the rice fields, they looked like big round pies all with equal cut slices. The rice field crops are deliberately divided in this way, as the locals believe that it ensures equal quantity for all.

We arrived back in Labuan Bajo at dusk...it had been a long day. One last night at the Bintang Flores and tomorrow morning I was flying back to Bali.