11-24 November 2013
It was only a four day work week so I could spend more time
with Claire. It was nice to come home to
a cooked meal after a day in the office.
Unfortunately, my knowledge of esoteric matters failed the team at
Tuesday’s quiz night where we came second last.
Claire got to meet some of the EWB crew working in TL – it is always
good to put faces to names.
On Wednesday night, Claire and I went to “A Guerra da Beatríz”,
which is the first TL made movie about the Indonesian occupation and the
eventual independence of the country as told by the main character Beatríz. The film was well made with plenty of cultural
nuances throughout the movie, we recommend its viewing when it is in Australia
(or where ever you are reading this).
Funnily enough a lot of the scenes were filmed just west of Tibar where
we drove around the week before. The
camera work also made the country side look considerably cooler than it really
is. The Timorese have done a remarkable
job in transforming the country from essentially nothing when the Indonesian
left to a bustling country of today.
It was fortunate that work did not get in the way on Friday where
Claire and I went to the Beachside Hotel for breakfast. This was the first place I came to after
dropping the bags off at the hotel three months ago. Has it been that long? And no I am not counting the days…
(breakfast, view for breakfast, Atauro
Island, the destination for Sunday)
Claire arranged to meet a woman called Natalie, who has been
volunteering in TL for over four years in the disability sector. Natalie outlined what she had achieved as well
as discussing some of the health-related challenges still facing TL, which
interested Claire greatly. The lunch
time venue was Café Aroma which is run by an NGO that assists women survivors of
domestic violence recover and develop new skills to support themselves. Domestic violence is a major problem where it
is considered acceptable to “resolve issues” in the family home. This is yet another generational change
challenge for the country.
The parading of Claire with the volunteers continued on
Saturday, where we had lunch at home (Palació do Rob do Santa Cruz) with
Bhavani. Many things were talked about,
laughed at etc making the afternoon pass very quickly.
Time with Claire in TL is passing quickly so we could only
afford a day trip to Atauro Island on the Sunday. There is a dedicated water taxi service to
the island which is about 30 kms away.
The water taxi dropped us off at Barry’s Place which is the only
beachside accommodation on the island.
The boat trip there was considered relatively quick - it only took about
an hour and 20 minutes and the sea was relatively calm.
(beach at Atauro, tuk tuk ride and not
challenging land speed record to Vila)
On the island, we bought some of the local crafts made by
the women on the island as well as some jewellery made by locals who are deaf, and
I did some snorkelling (no diving yet, but soon) in the afternoon before
heading back with seven others. What a
ride back! Several of the passengers
were sea sick – I thought being green with sea sickness was something out of a
Warner Brothers cartoon - one of the passengers struggled throughout the
journey. Even seeing a dolphin feeding
frenzy on the way back did not distract her from her woes. Unfortunately we did not see any whales,
apparently they are passing through the Wetar Strait before heading to
Antarctica.
Two hours later, we finally get back to Dili and I would
have to say that it felt like being in a washing machine for two hours, the
rough roads I have complained about are smooth in comparison. Claire was glad that I mentioned to her that
the ride back will be rough as we cruised along on the leeward side of the
island before we hit the rough stuff.
After making that crossing it puts William Bligh’s sail back in a boat
smaller and lower in the water than the water taxi from Tahiti to Kaupang in
West Timor after the mutiny all of those years ago into better perspective, it
was an impressive feat.
(the morning calm of the Dili
foreshore, some of the shaken and stirred passengers returning from Atauro and water
taxi skipper and crew mate (not Gilligan))
Claire reckons the St Christopher medallion I have been
given might have had something to do with our good fortune on the way back,
Claire thought that we were going to capsize and drown (and she said that all
she could think about was “at least we will perish together”)! Maybe the good fortune can be attributed our
friend, Richard. Richard left me the St
Christopher medallion, the patron saint of travellers, as Richard unfortunately
died from cancer 2 weeks before I left for TL.
I was deeply moved when his partner, and our dear friend, Boris handed
me the medallion at the celebration of Richard’s life (he was very clear that
he didn’t want a funeral); this is the story behind the medallion:
Richard saw and bought the medallion on a whim at flea
market of sort in London in the 1960s.
Soon after, Richard, his travelling partner, Warwick, and the medallion
started a long journey, driving an ordinary station wagon (long before the show
Top Gear was created) overland from London to South East Asia via Europe, the
Middle East and India, en route meeting at parties, luminaries such as Rudolph
Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn. In India they swam in the ocean and had dinner with
Vivien Leigh, who had gone to India, her birthplace, one last time before she
died, together with her publisher Hamish Hamilton.
The journey took them nearly two years to complete and they
saw a very different world to the one we know today. Richard’s passing has left a big hole in all
that loved him and being far away in TL makes the pain feel at times harder to
bear. I am sure he was watching over us
on the ride back from Atauro…
