Riding the waves

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…