Position: South 08*29'304 East 119*52'433
We've been here in Labuhan Bajo on the west coast of Flores for a couple of days now and are finding it hard to get used to the hustle of a big town and the constant dust that covers us wherever we walk! We're anchored right inside the port surrounded by local fishing and charter boats that use the town as a base for the Komodo area. The view from Blue Moon is great with a busy shore line scattered with loads of little houses and an array of strange looking vessels. There's one main street running parallel to the waterfront where everything takes place including dive shops, restaurants and kiosks that sell everything you could possibly need! It's still an extremely poor area and most people are living in very basic conditions but as always have time to smile and say hello. There are quite a few backpackers here so we're back to feeling like just another group of tourists. There are some great little restaurants here where a plate of Nasi Goreng (fried rice) or Mie Goreng (fried noodles) costs around 15,000 Rupia or $1.50, A large bottle of Bintang is $2 so our drink bill usually comes out much higher than the food...Where else can six people go out for dinner and drinks and pay less than $25?!
Labuhan Bajo is another scheduled rally stop so we are supposed to check in with the port captain, however, Eli & Joern off s/v Silene had a really bad experience with them. After stamping their paperwork one of the officials started demanding 250,000 Rupia (roughly $27), It may not sound much but that's a fortune here especially as we're not supposed to pay anything. Apparently the guy got extremely angry and started shouting that he hated stupid Europeans, that they should go back to where they came from but now that they're here in Indonesia they have to do as they're told!!...Luckily Eli made a quick phone call to our rally representative who smoothed the way enough for them to grab the papers and get out quickly. I guess this means we won't be checking in as I don't think they're ready to see how an American would handle the situation....Jimmy admits it wouldn't be pretty!
Since we arrived We've been inundated with guys on 'Panga's' or Long boats coming up to the boat and trying to sell us souvenirs from Komodo, I have to admit we did crack under the pressure and ended up buying a couple of wooden dragon carvings. They're extremely persistent and couldn't figure out why I didn't want to buy one of their strings of not so great Komodo Pearls! So now we're just keen to get out to the islands to see some real dragons for ourselves, tomorrow we'll head over to the island of 'Rinca' which is supposed to be a better place than Komodo to see the big monitor Lizards and other wildlife in the wild...very exciting!! We've really enjoyed Labuhan Bajo and found it a great stop to re-stock on Fuel, Water and groceries.
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