5th August - Ba'a (Roti)

Monday 5^th August

Today has been a bit more of a day of rest.

Not all THAT restful, at this anchorage; we are rockin’ and rollin’ with the best of them.  Some of the boats have left, for a more sheltered anchorage a few miles north.  Bu they will have to come back here tomorrow – there are FESTIVITIES planned, by the local people of Ba’a…

John and I left Pete alone (and happy!) on the boat this morning, working on his accounts. 

We took the dinghy up a little creek and left it in the capable hands of a gang of cheekyboys:

And off we set, through downtown Ba’a

It was a bit like Kupang, only smaller, and we weren’t treated like celebrities.  I quite missed it…People were mildly friendly, but not ecstatic in their welcome, as they were in Kupang.

Houses were much the same, ranging from shabby/rubble:

to pretty

to beautiful

Some kindly women outside a little street shop were chopping up coconuts and we asked if we could buy a drink.  NO!  No money was necessary!  They chopped off the outer bits of coconut, made a hole or two, gave us straws, and beamed at us as we very gratefully drank our milk.

They gave us another one on the way back – we gave them money but they thrust it back at us.

A neighbouring mother came so we could admire her little girl, who was terrified of us.  I sang Twinkle Twinkle, which the mother enjoyed very much, but the little girl still regarded me with deep suspicion.

I am very keen to catch a glimpse of a monkey or two – I was totally amazed to see a few, crossing the road in a nonchalant manner in the outskirts of Kupang.  (I had forgotten there are monkeys a-plenty in Indonesia…)

But all we saw was:

a proud rooster

an elegant goat

some surprisingly plump cows.

I haven’t included a photo of a wreck for a while; here is my first Indonesian one:

As we set off from our little creek in the dinghy, some people on the other side called to us and asked us if we wanted coconuts.  They sent their son up a tree and he hoicked six lovely big ones down to us.

I have had a bit of a dip in the sea.  It is a beautiful temperature but the tide is rushing and the swell is swelling so I just clung to the ladder and cooled off…I did not want to be carried away to yet another island!