Flores, the First Few Days, Part I

We arrived on Flores on July 19th, I think, to the port town of Labuanbajo. We flew, and it was a prop plane of the kind that would make Jonny & Mike have nightmares for weeks. I could almost hear them emit a girlish shriek from LA as we took a hard one-bounce landing that had all nearby passengers gripping their seats...

The Labuanbajo airport was a sign of Flores to come. The arrivals 'terminal' was one open room, and immediately outside there were goats tied up grazing on the lawn. The town itself is small and quite charming, in a homely sort of way...a beautiful bay, some ramshackle buildings, and gorgeous sunsets. Upon arrival, Alison and I rented a moto (our new favorite pasttime) and checked out the area. One note on that: when we asked the guy at the travel office if moto rental was possible, he said "of course," then proceeded to walk into the street and flag down drivers-by until he had a taker willing to swap his bike for our bucks. No forms necessary. This is not Bali.

After trying to run some errands (and failing to find internet for the first but not nearly last time), we cruised the surrounding area, waving at locals and taking in the view of the bay from above the town. On our mind: how would we get from Labuanbajo on the west coast to Maumere (where we had return travel booked), nearly on the east coast, in just over a week? We wanted to make sure we could see Komodo dragons (a day-trip off Labuanbajo), but the journey across Flores is a long one and we didn't want to have to jam it out too quickly. Also, we had heard horror stories of the buses across the island--long hours on windy roads in packed vans with no AC or ventilation and locals who chain smoke when they aren't puking in your lap. However, hiring a private driver seemed beyond our budget, so there was no real choice...

But when we returned the moto to the rental guy (read: the random guy who gave it to us), as luck would have it we were approached by a family of three who were looking for people to share a car & driver to Maumere. This would reduce our costs by 60% and made private travel possible. As luck would further have it, their time frame was similar to ours. As luck would still further have it, they were a really nice & fun couple and a sweet daughter of 12, and we spent almost nine days with them, becoming fast friends.

Their names are Laurent, Maria and Esther, and they are French & Polish--Laurent from France, now living in Warsaw (Maria is Polish, obviously). We had lots of fun over the next week, but at the time I left off in this entry, we were just getting to know them.

Originally we met for dinner to discuss a plan (and, I think, to feel the others out, to make sure we could get along on a long journey). Having a few laughs and realizing we had many things in common, we agreed not only to split a private car (SUV with three rows of seats) across the island, but to split the costs of an overnight boat to Rinca and Komodo as well...

More details in the next post, as this one is getting quite long...