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Selamat siyang from Ende, a city on the south coast of Flores island. Since my last log, we packed our bicycles and traversed Flores from north to south.
As you can imagine, there are a lot of stories to tell already. As an overview, we cycled 203 kilometers in 12.5 hours, during which we climbed 2,359 meters altogether. Yes, Flores is hilly. A fellow cyclist who cycled from England to Flores apparently claimed Flores to be the most challenging of his whole trip. And we started here without training and with way too much gear. Yes, we are suffering at times.
The first ride from Maumere to Paga Beach was steamy hot and covered some 618 meters altitude. At first, we answered most of the 'Hello Mister!' and 'Halo Bule' shouts that we encounter on a VERY regular basis and sometimes out of the thickest jungle. But after a while, there was simply not enough breath left to waste on politeness. The final downhill to Paga Beach was fun and our night's accommodation was basic but right on a secluded, beautiful beach – all for a full AU$ 8.20. (Sorry for referring to prices in Australian Dollars – but that's what our funds are in and matters to us.)
The next day from Paga to Moni was shaping up to be our first real test with up to 1200 meters gain in altitude. After 10 kilometers dabbling in the foothills, I had a flat. This wasn't good. I already had a flat in Maumere and the tube was punctured at a very unusual spot: on the rim side, not the tire side. This new flat had the same reason. This was bad news. Usually, punctures through the tire are just plain bad luck and our Schwalbe Marathon tires should prevent most of those cases. But having punctures from the rim indicated a real problem.
Anyhow, I fixed the flat under the supervision of the whole village's youth and off we went....for two kilometers, then the tire was flat again. So, I put in a new tube (again, under the watchful eyes and much commenting by the locals) and off we went again. Riding off, we decided that if I'd have a flat again, we'd flag down a bus or bemo and ride to Moni this way. Erika jokingly said she was hoping for a flat, as we still had a good 1000 meters in altitude to conquer. And just at the start of the climb, the tire went flat again. So, we unloaded the bikes and sat on the side of the road and waited for some sort of transportation to show up.
While this was disappointment from a riding point of view, it also proved a blessing because for the first time, we encountered the real kindness of the locals. No money involved, expecting nothing but a conversation, some answers to their questions and a good story to tell later. The inhabitants of Waluneso offered us shelter, food and water and helped us find transportation and negotiating a price. And of course, they thought we were crazy to ride our bicycles from Maumere to Labuanbajo.
Eventually, we got our bicycles and gear in and on top of a bus and drove up to Moni. Let me tell you, what a spectacular ride! Flores is stunningly beautiful with jagged and overgrown peaks dropping down to the turquoise Flores Sea. If you ever have the chance, come here.
In Moni we put on our McGyver hats and started fixing the rim. I won't bore you with the details, but you'd be astonished what you can do with writing block! So far, the rim hasn't punctured the tube anymore. Let us hope it stays that way.
Moni itself is the base for excursions to Mt. Kelimutu, a volcano famous for its three differently colored crater lakes. (See picture.) Usually people hire a care or rent a scooter to drive the 16 kilometers up to the summit. But having missed out on the big climb from Paga to Moni, we wouldn't let this one get away from us. Long after all tourists (of which there are very few on Flores) have returned from the top, we set out to conquer the 825 meters vertical meters. It took us 2.5 hours...and was absolutely worth it. First of all, we were up there absolutely alone. It was quite and serene. The craters themselves are as impressive as the famed lakes and the view across the jagged and partially clouded peaks below us was breath taking. And breathtaking was also the furious ride downhill. What took us 2.5 hours going up, took us 30 minutes flying down. What an adrenalin rush!
The next day, we set out to ride from Moni to the city of Ende on the south coast of the island. First, we had to summit the pass – which was a 14 kilometers climb that covered almost 400 vertical meters. After that, it was 40 kilometers more or less down hill. As we were flying down the mountain we came past stunning sceneries of steep hill flanking beautifully valleys with jungle vegetation only to be interrupted with the odd village that cultivated rice in paddies. Stunning.
At this point, I need to apologize. Usually, my logs are not this long. This one was supposed to end at the last paragraph. But then, when we got to the internet place, the power went out right when we walked in and I wasn't able to post it.
A few days have past since Ende. First we rode to the town called Boawae – our toughest ride so far. We rode for 6.22 hours and covered 88.5 kilometers in distance and 1291 meters in altitude. Frankly, we weren't sure if we were going to make it. After 35 kilometers along the shore line, which took us 2.5 hours because of the many outcrops we had to climb, we had to start the big climb of the day: 12 kilometers of pure climbing, covering over 600 meters in altitude. And all of that in 35 degrees heat. Tough stuff. But again, some of the views we got were just amazing – especially after reaching the summit. The high plateau we traversed after that was one of the more beautiful places I have ever seen. The whole scene is overshadowed by Gurung Ebulobo, a still active and constantly smoking volcano of almost perfect conical shape. Flores is definitely quickly shaping up as one of my favorite places on this planet, despite the hardships that we are putting ourselves through on the bikes.
We stayed in a day in Boawae; one reason being to give our legs some recovery time after the 1291 meter climb as the next ride to Bajawa would again be mostly going up. Another reason was that we wanted to inquire about climbing Gurung Ebulobo. Asking the losmen's (guesthouse) manager, we had an offer to go next day for a 130k rupiah, including transport to the base of the mountain. However, it was not to be. Late that afternoon it started pouring. I don't know if you have ever witnessed a tropical downpour, it is quite an impressive sight. Often these rainy sessions stop after half an hour, but not that day, it kept pouring all afternoon, creating a veritable pool in the garden of the losmen. We were then informed, that the rain would have softened the ground on the mountain too much and that climbing it would not be advisable, even if weather would clear up. Bugger. How cool would it have been to climb to the top of a smoking volcano.
Now we are in the town of Bajawa. Today, we had another ride with a 1012 meters total climb. But...we seem to get stronger. I don't feel half as devastated as I would expect to feel after such a ride. We almost drowned on the road today. It wasn't raining, it was just pi@#ing down. At one point, we had to pull under a roof, simply because we couldn't see anymore with all the water running and dropping into our eyes. The owner of the house then invited us in to warm ourselves (we were at 1200 meters, it gets a bit fresh at that altitude...around 25 degrees) with a cup of coffee. What a star.
Let's hope this rainy patch passes overnight. We would like to go exploring a bit tomorrow. This region is famous for its relatively traditional state of the tribes people – apparently bulls are still sacrificed around here. Gory.
So long, Adrian |
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