Saturday, May 19, 2012

Lembata

Lembata is just on the tourist trail.  After a 4 hour ferry ride we arrived at Lewoleba, the main town.  We hired a motorbike to look around. 
We then took the bus to Lamalera, a small village where they still go whaling. 
The people here are very poor.  We have walked around, and visited the local high school.  Very Roman Catholic, huge church, huge cemeteries.
No whales yet this year, so no whale meat out drying. But they are catching dolphin, manta ray and fish.
Some tourists go out on the fishing boats, but not us.
The roads have reached a new low point.  Could best be described as a 4wd track.  The bus took 4 hours for about 40 km.  The bus was good, the driver excellent, but it was the worst road we have ever been on in a bus.