This weekend we did a diving trip to Atauro and stayed on the Island overnight. The island is beautiful and very different from Dili. The population here is approx 8000, 70% of which are strict protestant, rather than the mainland which is nearly all catholic. According to folklore, when the Indonesians invaded and landed on the island, the chief from the village came down to meet them. He asked the troops ‘Who was in charge?’ And when the leader identified himself, the chief picked up his gun and shot him! So shocked by this, the troops ran back to their boat and high tailed back to Dili.
The only way to get to the island is by ferry that runs once a week (sporadically!) or by chartering a boat. Some backpackers have taken the cheap fishing boat route, but have come back with tales of endurance, sunburn, and sodden possessions, and with the weather turning now, it really isn’t a safe option. Barry runs an Eco Lodge over on the island and back in March his wife Nema was eight months pregnant with their first child. We had cyclone warnings at the time and the sea was very rough when Nema developed preeclampsia. Despite having 3 doctors staying at the lodge and the valiant efforts of 5 boats trying to get to the island, Nema and her unborn child died because she couldn’t get to medical care. In her memory, Barry renamed the resort Nema’s.
Barry is the only Malai in the village, but because he and Nema were so integrated in the community, Nema’s family and the village have supported him in developing the lodge, which now has a 4th hut being constructed. I say hut, but the buildings are sturdy two storeys affairs with a small veranda and a hammock outside. At night the lights are powered by solar electricity and the generator only goes on for an hour a day to keep the freezers cold for beer. The beer is bought from the local kiosk and resold to guests. Rather than bringing it in from the mainland, Barry would rather put the money into the local economy. Stocks brought in from Dili are transported via one of the 5 vehicle on the island (2 of which are not working!). There is only one road, so hopefully traffic lights won’t be the next UN project here!
The Timorese are very superstitious and believe an old couple in the village are witches and put a curse on Nema because she married a Malai. In Liquica this week three women were killed by the community for being witches. The UN have got their work cut out for them trying to develop this country if they are still witch hunting like they did in medieval times.
We set off on Saturday afternoon and stopped en-route to Nema’s to dive at Manta Cove. This is still up in my top 10 dives of all time, I just wished I had my camera with me, you cannot describe how beautiful the coral and sponges are. We then moored up outside Nema’s and were transported to the lodge is a very precarious dug out which wobbled with the slightest movement.
Barry gave us a tour of the lodge including his latest building which is under construction at the moment. The bathroom facilities are separate to the buildings because the toilets are dug out pits in the ground. He has built a raised block above the toilet and stuck a toilet seat with a lid on top of it, so it feels like a real toilet. Loo roll is kept in a plastic bucket next to the loo to keep it dry in the rain as the toilets don’t have roofs. The washing areas are separate again with a mandi arrangement. A mandi is a large bucket of water with a pail which is very common throughout Asia. The idea is you douse yourself with water, soap up, then rinse off. I actually enjoy washing this way and it’s much more economical on water compared to a shower.
The lodge is on the beach so it has superb sunsets and sunrises. We watched a local fisherman walk out of the water with 10 sardines between his fingers. That was the last of the fishing for the weekend, because being strict protestant they are not allowed to work on Sundays. We wandered round the village before sunset, everyone is so friendly here, they are so poor, and their living arrangements are so basic, but you don’t get the ‘One dollar Mister!’ like you do in Dili. We only spotted one IDP tent, but at the height of the troubles there were 2000 IDP’s here which increased the population by 25% and put a big strain on the natural resources.
They don’t have birth certificates in East Timor, but there is a register when a child is baptised. However, they don’t have death certificates either and the last couple of Census they tried to do here were disasters. The population is supposed to be around the million mark, but who knows without any form of registration.
We were offered a pre-dinner appetiser of deep fried tiny crabs which you eat whole, they were delicious. Dinner was fresh tuna with cassava chips, vegetables and rice followed by a sticky toffee made from boiled condensed milk, (the nearest thing they have to chocolate on the island). The room that I was sleeping in was quite hot and sticky under the mosquito dome so I ended up sleeping under the starts in the hammock on the veranda with a lovely cool breeze from the sea.
The next days diving took us to Barstool, then made our way back to Dili. Sailing through the channel between the two islands we were surrounded by dolphins as far as the eye could see, there were hundreds of them. They were jumping and somersaulting, I’ve never seen dolphins jump that high out of the water, it was spectacular.
The only way to get to the island is by ferry that runs once a week (sporadically!) or by chartering a boat. Some backpackers have taken the cheap fishing boat route, but have come back with tales of endurance, sunburn, and sodden possessions, and with the weather turning now, it really isn’t a safe option. Barry runs an Eco Lodge over on the island and back in March his wife Nema was eight months pregnant with their first child. We had cyclone warnings at the time and the sea was very rough when Nema developed preeclampsia. Despite having 3 doctors staying at the lodge and the valiant efforts of 5 boats trying to get to the island, Nema and her unborn child died because she couldn’t get to medical care. In her memory, Barry renamed the resort Nema’s.
Barry is the only Malai in the village, but because he and Nema were so integrated in the community, Nema’s family and the village have supported him in developing the lodge, which now has a 4th hut being constructed. I say hut, but the buildings are sturdy two storeys affairs with a small veranda and a hammock outside. At night the lights are powered by solar electricity and the generator only goes on for an hour a day to keep the freezers cold for beer. The beer is bought from the local kiosk and resold to guests. Rather than bringing it in from the mainland, Barry would rather put the money into the local economy. Stocks brought in from Dili are transported via one of the 5 vehicle on the island (2 of which are not working!). There is only one road, so hopefully traffic lights won’t be the next UN project here!
The Timorese are very superstitious and believe an old couple in the village are witches and put a curse on Nema because she married a Malai. In Liquica this week three women were killed by the community for being witches. The UN have got their work cut out for them trying to develop this country if they are still witch hunting like they did in medieval times.
We set off on Saturday afternoon and stopped en-route to Nema’s to dive at Manta Cove. This is still up in my top 10 dives of all time, I just wished I had my camera with me, you cannot describe how beautiful the coral and sponges are. We then moored up outside Nema’s and were transported to the lodge is a very precarious dug out which wobbled with the slightest movement.
Barry gave us a tour of the lodge including his latest building which is under construction at the moment. The bathroom facilities are separate to the buildings because the toilets are dug out pits in the ground. He has built a raised block above the toilet and stuck a toilet seat with a lid on top of it, so it feels like a real toilet. Loo roll is kept in a plastic bucket next to the loo to keep it dry in the rain as the toilets don’t have roofs. The washing areas are separate again with a mandi arrangement. A mandi is a large bucket of water with a pail which is very common throughout Asia. The idea is you douse yourself with water, soap up, then rinse off. I actually enjoy washing this way and it’s much more economical on water compared to a shower.
The lodge is on the beach so it has superb sunsets and sunrises. We watched a local fisherman walk out of the water with 10 sardines between his fingers. That was the last of the fishing for the weekend, because being strict protestant they are not allowed to work on Sundays. We wandered round the village before sunset, everyone is so friendly here, they are so poor, and their living arrangements are so basic, but you don’t get the ‘One dollar Mister!’ like you do in Dili. We only spotted one IDP tent, but at the height of the troubles there were 2000 IDP’s here which increased the population by 25% and put a big strain on the natural resources.
They don’t have birth certificates in East Timor, but there is a register when a child is baptised. However, they don’t have death certificates either and the last couple of Census they tried to do here were disasters. The population is supposed to be around the million mark, but who knows without any form of registration.
We were offered a pre-dinner appetiser of deep fried tiny crabs which you eat whole, they were delicious. Dinner was fresh tuna with cassava chips, vegetables and rice followed by a sticky toffee made from boiled condensed milk, (the nearest thing they have to chocolate on the island). The room that I was sleeping in was quite hot and sticky under the mosquito dome so I ended up sleeping under the starts in the hammock on the veranda with a lovely cool breeze from the sea.
The next days diving took us to Barstool, then made our way back to Dili. Sailing through the channel between the two islands we were surrounded by dolphins as far as the eye could see, there were hundreds of them. They were jumping and somersaulting, I’ve never seen dolphins jump that high out of the water, it was spectacular.
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