The volcano from the boat, hardly Krakatoa, but the only one you're gunna get.
We could not have sunblocked more than we did, and were only uncovered for no more than15 minutes, but the sun is pretty fierce and with the reflection of the coral sand, and clarity of water, we were a little bit lobster like, by the end of the day, even Litje was looking a bit flushed.
The next day, Sunday, was a bit of a late start, with a quick trip the the base, to replace the EMPTY water container, so some of us could have a cup of tea.
The water bottle in question, that was EMPTY...not that there is any issue at stake here.
Leisurely breakfast of toast, and fruit, then Sandie went to the hospital for a surprise tour.
The remainder went for a walk the km or so to Kusuri. Whilst it is clear we should have been at church, it was facinating to see all the local people coming to and from church. I felt guilty..... No not really. Most of the locals were dressed to the nines, some with 3 inch high heels( the women mostly)
The louder the better
I have asked many of the locals, and the expats, what the fascination is, in this part of Indonesia, with LOUD music. And I mean very loud. The 'blue' taxis, and many of the trucks, and most of the 'private taxis' ( cars that have their right hand indicator on all the time and honk at every other opportunity, and go really really fast)) have music that, in volume and choice of music, put our home doof-doof cars to shame. These vehicles have external speakers, some affixed to roof racks, where the music is clearly audible for half a km before and after their passing.
Conversation, and the worth of honking one's horn at them would appear to useless.
But it does not stop there.
Many of the homes have speaker walls, at times 4 m x 2 m in size, line their front porch, with thousands of watts of sound which can be heard throughout the village. But there are several of these within a small area....
The blue taxi, speakers on top.
A typical (but small ish in size) front porch, woofers and tweeters included
Not only loud, and competing, but also all day and night. There must be serious damage being done here to the hearing of the Halmaheran people. What? What? There must also be quite some concern, relating to the millions of rupiah that are spent on these extravagant sound systems, when there is no other furniture in the home.
The beach visit.
Another experience of Indonesian timeliness, was the proposed visit to the beach, leaving after lunch.
At 1500 hrs, we finally managed to leave the base. Getting to the beach was not important, but it seems to be the way of things here. There seems to be a disappointing acceptance of this manner of making things happen, on time and organised properly, as just the way things are done here. This can be very confronting if not downright annoying to the ' western' visitor/ volunteers.
Now we went with a number of children, and Hannah and Litje, to Boree beach, in the back of the ute. The water was quite rough with a good rip, so the ones who went into the surf were kept close to shore and well supervised.
Olan, who is the housekeeper of the guest house, as well as the medical outreach worker for the clinic, has a roadside stall outside the guest house, and amazingly, on the roadside. We were going to travel into Kusuri, to see the Bakso man, for our evening meal, and in passing told Olan.
In her polite, and reserved way, made it quite clear to us that this was akin to asking to be poisoned.
She tried to describe where we should go instead. This not working all that well, we convinced her, her husband, Chalice, and son JJ to climb in the back of the ute, and show us.
Heading north to the next village( a Muslim village) we were introduced to the bestest fast food place in these parts.
Lisa, Olan, JJ and blurry Nathalie in the ute.
The fast food shop in the next village.
Now here we had the local dish of Bakso, and Garda Garda, and the food for six cost $8.00.
Hansen's Disease
Olan runs the outreach clinic, visiting people in the area who have TB, HIV and leprosy, dispensing medications and applying dressings particularly to the leprosy patients.(hansen's disease)
With little notice, we were advised that Olan was visiting several lepers around Tobello, so we went.
We did have to have a second lunch with Ato the driver and Olan. It was mie goering again, but shared , as we had just eaten at the base.
Just out of Tobello is a small neat, peaceful seaside fishing village, which has serval long term lepers. Olan visits usually once a week, so we were privileged to go with her. Leprosy here, is totally treatable, and in early stages entirely curable. The Schwann cells have something to with it
Not withstanding they were jumping not at all, upon our arrival, several chairs were brought out, and basins, filled with watrer, and feet soaked in them, waiting for Olan to dress them.
If someone can inform the author what epididymitis is you will be able to equate Lisa's description of the jackfruit, of which two were collected from Olan's in-laws house and sapped all over us for the return journey from Tobello.
Washing the leprosy affected feet, before the dressings
Then there were the kids.....lots of them, and bubbles, toy cars, hair ties, and balls were distributed.
It was apprent there was a bit of relative poverty happening here.
The kids in the fishing village just loved having their photo taken.
Some of the kids with Kevyn.
The troubles.
Hearing rumours of local troubles in Kao, three quarters of a hour south of here, further enquiries have it that it is a boundary dispute between two villages. It seems to have sorted itself out, and this was evidenced by the ten of so riot type trucks, and troops seen hurtling back towards their base in Tobello.













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