Coromandel Quest

July-August 2010

29 July 2010  Kupang This morning a group of officials came on board - customs, quarantine, immigration and port authority.  The quarantine lady took our temperatures with a device which looked like a bright orange plastic gun - bird flu appears to be a real threat here - and at least three forms were filled in.  We were then visited by Graeme and Gillian of Kathleen Love, and were able to hand over the parcel we had collected for them in Darwin.  On their advice, we then moved closer inshore, just astern of them.  Then we went ashore and the real form-filling started.  Documents were signed and stamped with a flourish - I've no idea what they said, but signed them anyway - and we passed from one set of smiling officials to the next, all done with great good humour, many photographs, and us practicing the four words of Indonesian that we knew -  selamat pagi (good morning) and terima kasi (thank you).  The whole process took about half an hour, after which we had a welcome Bintang, the local beer, which was our first introduction to the thousands of rupiah which everything costs - a litre of beer is 30,000 rupiah, which is about £2.30.  We then had a short exploration of the town.

Kupang is the capital of the East Timor Province.  It has a peculiar charm in its ugly, dirty, dusty streets, and reminded us a lot of La Libertad in Ecuador where we spent so many happy months.  The shops were tiny, and there were many of the same kind - clothes, shoes, groceries, vegetables, hardware, electronics, jewellery etc.  Andy treated himself to a new watch, another 30,000 rupiah - what extravagance!

In the evening we attended a gala dinner just a short distance from the anchorage, being welcomed by a group of dancers and being entertained by other singers and dancers.  It was all a little overwhealming.  There were a number of dignitaries there, including the President of the province, so we felt honoured by this, and it made me realise how important Sail Indonesia is to the people of the islands.  Each crew member was given a beautiful woven sash, some in bright colours, others more subdued.

30 July 2010  Today was our 16th wedding anniversary and we took a "cultural tour" visiting one of the hill villages.  Yet again we received a very warm welcome, with singing, dancing and a sort of war dance, accompanied by music on bamboo pipes, drums and bronze gongs.  We were presented with woven sashes, mine being in gorgeous shades of mauve and purple.  Many of the adults had bright red lips and teeth from chewing betel nuts, and later we were give the opportunity of trying this too.  It must be an acquired taste, like kava, because I found it dry and bitter, and spitting is not something I'm used to.

There was also a demonstration of the process of cotton spinning and weaving, teasing out the cotton threads into rolags which were then spun on a drop spindle.  I wondered how these processes had somehow skipped the Polynesian islands, yet was found again throughout the Americas, given that received wisdom says that diffusion was from west to east.  For me, this was probably the highlight of the visit, seeing ikat being woven and then having the opportunity to talk to some of the ladies about this tradition, assisted by a kind young man whose English was very good and who was intrigued at my interest in the processes of spinning and weaving rather than in just the finished product.  Andy then bought me a beautiful ikat sash, in cream and indigo, as well as a bright orange bead necklace - to add to my collection of ethnic jewellery!  Sadly, the only thing I'd bought for him was a new hand pump for the fresh water.

Hitchhiker

Kupang Welcoming Committee

Kupang Waterfront

The Welcoming Dance

Village Dancers

4 August 2010 Kalabahi We went ashore early and took our seats under an awning to watch the welcoming ceremony and see a performance of dancing and singing in the form of a competition, complete with adjudicators.  Once of the dances was slow and stately, the other more upbeat.  The third gave us an insight into the customs surrounding the "reading of the will" - to use an English term; what happens after someone has died, how his goods and responsibilities are shared out among the relatives.  I was intrigued by the differences in the costumes worn by the groups, but all were of gorgeous weavings and ikat.

5 August 2010 Takpula Village  We decided to take another cultural tour, this time to the village of Takpula just a short drive from Kalabahi.  Our first stop, though, was at the museum where we spent about half an hour looking at cultural artefacts - and five minutes in the textile section!  Ikats and weavings glowed in their cases, but we were hurried out, Andy having to drag me away.  The village was a short walk up a steeply inclined path, and we were told that they had elected not to have electricity, wanting to maintain their traditional way of life.  The dances were slow and stately, and I noticed particularly the weavings of the ladies' sarongs.  These were mostly black or dark blue, with coloured bands around the bodice and hem.  They were secured at the waist with a leather belt, and each lady carried a straw basket on a long string.  At the end of two dances we were invited to join in, the steps being easy to learn.

It was here in particular that I became increasingly aware of the intrusive nature of the camera.  Wherever you looked there was someone with a camera - and I have to acknowledge that I was no exception.  But when we were dancing in a circle, one chappie stood in the middle video-ing his girlfriend and so spoiling anyone's chances of getting a shot with no cameras.  After that I put the camera away and just watched instead.  Just as when trying to photograph dolphins one misses a lot of the action, so it was with the dancing.

The Anchorage at Kalabahi

Welcoming Dance from Kalabahi

Dancers from the Elementary School

Beaded Head-dress

Yet again the welcoming ceremony was colourful and the feast a delicious blend of rice, noodles, vegetables and fruit, all washed down with some ice-cold Bintang beer.  There were speeches of welcome, speeches about tourism in Lewoleba, and a speech of thanks from Tony of the yacht Amazing Grace.

There was some excitement the following day when contrary tidal flows had yachts dancing figure-of-eights around their anchor chains, and Andy and I joined others in helping out as two of them collided.  Being further inshore meant that we avoided this predicament, but several people decided to give the village visit the next day a miss, just in case it happened again.

Although I'd said that I really didn't want to go on another cultural tour, it seemed mean-spirited not to attempt to repay some of the hospitality, so next day I went off to visit the village of Petuntawa with about 20 other yachties.  This was reached after a journey of about one hour across very bumpy and dusty tracks, but was well worth it at the end of the day.  We were greeted with betel nuts and cigarettes - I managed to dip out on the latter - then offered tastings of palm wine and arak, which is distilled using bamboo poles.  There was an insight into the tradition of gift exchange at a betrothal, but here the price included ivory tusks, many years old and glowing a golden amber.  Then there was more dancing, but this time we joined in, raising huge clouds of dust as we stamped our feet as the dance became less dignified and much faster.

I was particularly pleased to be able to see cotton yarn being dyed using indigio and powdered root, and to see the warp threads being tied to produce ikat.  In this village, red-brown, cream, black and dark blue are the traditional colours used, and the sarongs were a joy to behold, although rather too expensive for my purse; there were no small pieces, such as the sashes I'd seen before, just large sarongs which take several months to make.

Andy should have gone to see the volcano on the following day, but Finn of the Norwegian yacht Hilde came along at about 2200 hrs to say that as only he and Andy were going, the trip had been cancelled.  So we decided to leave for Adonara the next day instead.

The Anchorage at Lewoleba

Village Scene, Petuntawa

Village Transport

Things became a bit roly overnight as the tide came in and the cay was covered, much as it can get roly at Newton-by-the-Sea when the swell comes over the reef at high water, so we moved to a place more sheltered by the reefs.  I finally decided to have another go at snorkelling, but although I saw some lovely fish and quite a few different types of coral, I can't quite summon up the enthusiasm I have for trees and flowers.  So I did a bit more fossicking on the beaches and sand cay.

In the evening I put out a call on the VHF and suggested to those in the anchorage that we had sundowners on the sand cay, and we had an excellent gathering, with a dozen or more people - Aussies, Americans, a couple of Kiwis and us Brits.  Sadly the sunset was nothing to write home about.

On the following day we were extremely lazy, reading in the cockpit, snorkelling and fossicking, but had a bit of excitement in the evening as it grew dark and I saw that the smoke down the side of the Boling volcano was in fact a series of lava upwellings, rather like a fissure eruption.  How exciting!  However I also recalled that Krakatoa, which had exploded with great violence in the late 19th century, wasn't all that far away.

Coromandel and the Boling Volcano

The Sand Cay with Ili Wariran in the distance