Stuck in Labuan Bajo - with no money

Part 1

Living is inexpensive in Indonesia, but money is hard to come by. I met Jacques, a Canadian travel agent, in Seminyak, Bali. He was flying to Maumere, Flora the next day and asked if I’d like to come along. I decided to go along, as I would get to see a part of Indonesia I had not planned on seeing. And besides, I didn’t have any plans anyway. So the next day, we went to the airport. Jacque already had his ticket, but I had to buy one at the airport. There were no seats available on the plane for that day. So I purchased a ticket for the next day and proceeded to board the plane anyway. After we passed thru security, I confessed that I was a bit scared of flying in Indonesia. I seem to recall numerous plane crashes in the past. In addition, I was fearful of getting sick. The further away you get from developed cities, the more likely you are to get malaria or some other disease.

The flight had a ½ hour stopover in Waingapu, Sumba. Here, I witnessed airport security at its worse. Everyone had to get off the plane and was given a boarding pass. In the airport terminal, there was nothing to separate passengers from the plane from people on the street. In fact we went outside, mixed with others and when we came back in, we didn’t have to pass thru any security. To board the plane, we simply handed the official the boarding pass. I could have been someone else. I could have brought anything onto the plane. As we were boarding, I saw a guy come running with a box. He opened the cargo door and put the box inside. I was just hoping he was an airport employee, the box was harmless, and he closed the door properly.

In Maumere, we’re greeted by a guy who wants to sell us a 6-day tour of Flores. But we just want to get to the hotel. This guy claims to be a taxi driver, a travel agent and a few other things I don’t remember. He did drive us to the hotel, but it wasn’t his car. It is hard to tell if Maumere never recovered from the 1992 earthquake & tsunami that killed thousands or if this is a full recovery. There really isn’t anything to see or do here, but at least there is a working internet café and a bank with a working atm machine. This is where I made my mistake. I withdrew only 1,000,000 Rp (roughly $100). I figured if this place has an atm, there would be a couple more atms on the island.

The next morning, we had a 4-hour ride to Moni by car. When we began our journey, there was 6 of us, including the driver. The car seats 6. I turned to Jacque and said, “I bet we pick up 5 more.” I was wrong, we picked up only 4 more. 3 in the front, 4 in the middle, and 3 in the back. Flores is a very mountainous place, and there is no way to significantly improve the roads. Sure you can cut away the mountain a bit to widen the roads to two lanes rather than one, but the width is not the problem. The roads twist and turn as they hug the mountainous contours. After an hour of this breakfast began to come to life. But I managed to keep it down while enjoying the spectacular views. Steep volcanic mountains with forests of coconut, banana, tapioca, bamboo, mango, and many other trees & plants I can‘t identify…. The vegetation here is just amazing.

The Lonely Planet guide mentioned the “perpetual scaffolding out in front” the Hotel Flores in Moni. They were not kidding. The scaffolding was still there. The hotel is still unfinished. I think they are able to buy a bag of cement whenever they have guests. And right now, there aren’t many tourist traveling to Flores, let alone Moni. And there are other nicer looking places in Moni.

We had a traditional dinner at Maria’s and I tried some arak, a very very very strong alcoholic beverage with no discernable flavor apart from alcohol. One sip was too much. Maria’s dinner burned on the way out early the next morning before we head out to Mt. Kelimutu. I had never been on a motorbike, and I would never get onto a motorbike. Yet here I was, at 4:30 in the morning, on the back of a motorbike, going up the mountain, on this narrow winding road - without a helmet. What was I thinking? But there was no other way to get there. At the top of Mt. Kelimutu, there are 3 crater lakes of different colors - quite amazing and well worth seeing. The best time to see them is early morning after sunrise. By about 10:00, the clouds cover the mountain blocking the view of the lakes.

The next day, we took a bus from Moni to Bajawa. The ride to Moni was luxury compared to this. We got stuck in the back row with very little leg room. As soon as the bus started to move, the girl in front of me started to puke. And she kept going for the entire 6 hours. Luckily, I couldn’t smell it and I was sitting next to the window, so I could keep cool, because I was really close to puking also. At one point we had to stop to change a tire, and twice we had to detour because of collapsed bridges. This meant that the bus had to go thru the water. There was no alternate route with another bridge. And of course a bus ride like this would not be complete if there were no live chickens under the seat.

In Bajawa, we were back on the back of motor bikes - this time with helmets. In 2002, a new volcano erupted about 1 hour ride from Bajawa. This was an interesting site to visit. You also have to hike about 1 ½ hour from where the bike stops. While looking at some of the older craters, I thought it would be cool to roll down the sides in a large inflatable ball. After the volcano, we visited a hot spring. This was really amazing. The hot spring is located next to a river, and flows into the river. You can stand in hot water in one location, move 2 feet and you’re in cool water. It is really awesome.

It was the rainy season - not the best time to visit. And on this day, I got wet. On the way back from the hot spring, it rained, and I did not have a raincoat or poncho. I didn’t mind getting wet. I like the rain, but while riding on a motor bike, it felt more like hail hitting my face. After lunch, we visited 2 traditional Indonesian villages. At one of the villages, there was an old lady who kept talking to me. Since I have never studied Indonesian, I had no idea what she was saying, except for when she mentioned Jesus Christ. Flores is mostly Christian, while most of Indonesian is Muslim. I asked my driver what she was saying. He said he wasn’t sure, because she is crazy. It rained again on the way back to Bajawa.

Earlier, in the morning before we went to see the volcano, we had given the hotel staff our laundry. The next morning before we left, the hotel staff brought us our laundry, which except for the shirts were dripping wet and now bore the marks of a rusty metal clothes line. Doing laundry is difficult here. There are no dryers, it rains often, and at night it is cool and humid. The shirts were dry only because they ironed them dry.

Our next stop was Ruteng. I decided to just rest in Ruteng. I had been going constantly for several days and needed a rest. My clothes were still not dry when we left Ruteng for Labuan Bajo the next day. In Labuan Bajo, we hired a boat to go to the island Rinca. Rinca is part of the Komodo National Park and World Heritage site. It takes 2 hours on a small boat. It is advised that you check to boat first to be sure it is sea worthy. Some have sunk with tourists on board. We had no such trouble.

When you arrive on Rinca, you are greeted at the docks by a large komodo dragon. A short walk in-land to the ranger’s office and there were 4 more dragons. The entrance fee was a whopping 195,000 Rp for foreigners! That left me with not much money. It was very hot and we hiked for about 1 ½ hours looking for dragons. It is not enough to see the dragons at the ranger’s office. That is little better than seeing them at a zoo in Australia. You have to see them in the wild, in their natural environment. On this hike we saw monkeys, a buffalo, lots of buffalo poop - complete with dung beetles, and a number of dragon nests. Finally, we saw a dragon and followed it for a while. It was cool. Before sailing back to Labuan Bajo, we went snorkeling at a Beach on Bedadari. It is a really nice beach with white sand and clear water. It felt like home.

I had been thinking of taking a dive course in Labuan Bajo. At about roughly $250 (2,200,000 Rp), this would be a really good deal. I would be able to start the 4-day course the next day. But first I needed to leave a 500,000 Rp deposit. I didn’t have anywhere near that much money. So I went to the only ATM in town. It would not give me any money. It was now after 6:00 on a Friday, and the bank was closed. The banks won’t open again until Monday. Was it a problem with the ATM or was it a problem with my card or did my bank freeze my account and cancel my card? Even if I didn’t do the dive course, I didn’t have enough money to go back to the ATM in Maumere or onward on the ferry to the next ATM, that may or may not work, on Sumbawa.

With nothing to do, the next morning, I tried to study some Indonesian, but soon fell asleep. For the past 2 days I’ve been feeling mildly sick. I’m worried that I’ve got malaria, but with no fever, I’m probably just dehydrated. I was awaken by the midday call to prayer, and after eating lunch, I tried the ATM again. Still no luck. I stopped by the dive shop, and the girl, eager for business, called to bank to find out if there is a problem. They said the ATM is working fine. The problem is with my card. I needed to call my bank to see if there is a problem with my account. But how? There are apparently 2 places in Labuan Bajo where you can make an international phone call. One place, which charges 20,000 Rp per minute, was near the hotel, but was closed. The other was 1.5 km out of town and probably closed also. Some guy offered to take me there for 70,000 Rp. I decided to go to my room and write this story instead!

At this point, I have no idea what I am going to do. Can’t get money, can’t make a phone call, and remember that internet café back in Maumere? That was the last opportunity to get online. The internet cafés here have no connection. It has been months since they’ve had a connection.