June 6th, 2016

Day 67: Journey to Moni

This morning as we woke up and started packing our bags for the flight to Ende, we realized something terrible had happened. Lindsay’s couple of boots were missing. Tracing back our steps, we realized that she had set them down in the taxi the night before, and didn’t check the seat before getting out. We had no way of finding the driver again, nor would he be able to find us even if he did volunteer to bring them back.

TRAGEDY. I lost my boots!

Lindsay was super upset for the rest of the day, over the loss of her beloved boots. We had no choice but to keep going according to schedule. So we boarded the flight and took off for the next adventure.

Once we arrived in Ende, we were once again greeted by the sound of a dozen taxi drivers, each insisting he had the best price to Moni. Since all of them were shouting prices, we didn’t even have to really haggle – we were more like auctioneers calling out each driver’s price, letting them bargain themselves down. We got the price down to 300,000 IDR for a one-way trip to Moni and headed off. The trip normally takes 2 hours, but due to construction on the mountain road, we waited an extra hour in the late morning heat. We had to insist that our driver turn the AC on.

All the cars and ojeks waiting for the road to clear

We finally arrived in Moni and checked into the AntonEri Lodge – one of very few accommodations in Moni available for booking online. It was pretty basic, but clean. However, when Igor saw that there were no screens over the decorative tiles above the door, he insisted that the manager give us a mosquito net, otherwise we would find a different lodge. The manager (the owner’s brother) complied and we had a very nice net set up for us.

 

We’ve had enough of mosquitos after Kakadu – we don’t need malaria too. The net helped us sleep soundly (literally)

As the main attraction for the area is Kelimutu Volcano – best seen at sunrise – we didn’t have much to do during the day. We wandered over to the Rainbow Café – a “resto” pointed out by our taxi driver as we came into town. We ordered a couple of cold sodas, and while we were relaxing in the shade, were soon joined by Cristo – a local who had noticed us coming into town, and gently started asking us questions: “Where are you staying?” “Are you going to Kelimutu?” “How are you getting there?” He informed us that he was an ojek driver and could pick us up in the morning to take us up the mountain to see the sunrise. As we were bargaining on a price, we were joined by Rolf – an Australian tourist travelling solo, who was Cristo’s current client. We chatted with both Cristo and Rolf over lunch and got a good feel for Cristo (especially when he realized Lindsay didn’t have any hiking shoes and immediately ran home to loan her his old sneakers! They were a size too small, but they were better than sandals) so we booked him for sunrise the next day.

 

A common sight in Flores – people tie up their livestock (cows and goats mostly) on the side of the road and just leave them there to graze all day. This one was particularly friendly.

 

Exploring the outskirts of Moni – many dirt roads to pastoral neighborhoods. Very few people own cars or trucks in Flores (ojeks are the main form of private transportation), but the few that do give everyone a lift.

Across the street from the Rainbow Café was the trail to Murondao Waterfall, so we headed over to check it out. After admiring the falls in silence for about 15 minutes, a group of about two dozen villagers came down the trail – apparently it was laundry-day! All the women had carried down loads of clothes on their heads, and all the children started jumping into the water for bath-time. After observing the spectacle for a while, the villagers eventually realized they had an audience – which made them ask us for pictures! Unfortunately, we have no way of giving them copies of these pictures, but they seemed pleased to know that somewhere, someone was admiring their poses.

 

Walking past so many tropical fruit trees on our way to the Muronado Waterfall

 

Locals coming down to the waterfall for laundry & bathtime

 

The kids noticed we had a camera and immediately starting yelling, “Mister! Picture!”

Unfortunately, Lindsay had been developing a migraine throughout the day as a result from getting so upset over her lost boots, she had to lie down in the lodge to try and sleep it off, leaving Igor by himself for the rest of the afternoon. He spent a good couple of hours chatting with the hotel manager, asking him questions about Indonesia: religious make-up of Flores vs Bali vs the rest of the country (90% Catholic vs 90% Hindu vs 90% Muslim), police corruption (you have to pay 100M+ rupiah to become a police officer because the profession is so lucrative due to the ability to shake down bribes), and tourism (during the high season, the entire town sells out and you would not be able to come to Moni without a reservation – you would have to sleep in the street! Hard to believe when we were the only ones staying in his lodge). Just before sunset, Igor took a short walk to try and find dinner, but the only restaurant with Wifi said it was only for guests of *their* hotel, so he came back to the room at 6:30PM to join Lindsay for a *really* early night (Hey! We’re getting up at 3:30AM the next day).

 

Igor was shooting the breeze with the hotel manager while Lindsay took a nap at the AntonEri Lodge

 

Exploring the outskirts of Moni just after sunset