« Pureman Village | Main | Head Hunters of Old »
June 21, 2005
Fossil Footprints + Skeletons
DAY: 7
LOCATION: Mataru village - Alor Island
NAUTICAL MILES TODAY: 20
NAUTICAL MILES TOTAL TRIP: 64
LATITUDE :08degs, 23.52'S
LONGITUDE: 124degs, 41.21'E
Gifts were exchanged with our friends at Pureman village before we paddled away. The chief was given a baseball cap, some insence sticks and one of our x360 cards (with map + route etc) that we had printed up specially in Darwin to give out to people along the way. In return we were given a beautiful piece of local 'tais' ( local weave - not sure what the Bahasa word for it is yet) and six hen's eggs.
Staying with the people of Pureman will I think stick in our memories as a one of the highlights of the trip: it was the first village we hit on the archipelago, and as it turns out the seat of the first King of Alor back in ancient times - King Pureman. So it was a fitting place to start our Indonesian odyssey proper.
We started looking for a place to camp at 3pm, but the coastline of south Alor is quite treacherous; sheer cliffs dropping straight into the water and sharp volcanic rock lining the coast preventing easy access to the beach. So we had to paddle an extra 5 miles down the coast until nearly dark to find a safe spot to land. The locals clearly don't have any problems in their dugouts which can take a real beating compared to our fibreglass equivalents.
We are quickly learning that every single square inch of beachfront property is populated, in particular sandy beaches that allow an easy entry and exit by dugout canoe. So we have pretty much resigned ourselves to zero privacy and hordes of inquisitive people staring at us wherever and whenever we land.
Tonight we are being put up (or rather allowed to stay on the beach) by the Mataru village of 600 people. Again the people are very friendly, and the second chief (introducing himself as 'Matt') came down and made us feel welcome. He showed us a fresh water spring on the beach that we were able to wash in and tomorrow morning he has offered to take us to see a place of cultural importance to his people. I'm not entirely sure what it is, but it involves something to do with a giant's footprint in the rock and the remains of a skeleton of one of their ancestors. Sounds intriguing.
Posted on June 21, 2005 2:54 PM