Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Some kind of nature

It's been awhile, and the last week was busy. This post will be a little long.

I managed to get my visa paperwork figured out, and after a slow weekend in Dili, I now find myself in Oecusse (here's a page that talks about Oecusse, it's linked to an article about Timor too).

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The main way to get between Dili and Oecusse is an overnight ferry, which is like taking a train in India, except more expensive, slightly more spacious, and with less variation between the most comfortable and least comfortable situations.

I was not surprised to find the ferry packed way over capacity, and ended up sleeping on the deck surrounded by Timorese who were also sleeping on the deck.

It didn't help my peace of mind that there were two lifeboats and a bunch of inflatable rafts whose cases were unsealed and weren't marked with previous or next maintenance dates, on a boat that had perhaps twice as many people as it should have on it. But I made it!











loading up the ferry at the dock










the lower deck, crammed full of stuff. the price of the ticket includes anything you can fit on the ferry along with yourself.


Not long after setting out, a man started talking to me, giving me my first chance to practice the local Tetun language I've been trying to learn. My pitiful vocabulary limited our conversation, but my faint understanding of Indonesian helped a little (people here mix Tetun, Indonesian and portuguese like red, green and white bowtie pasta). Maun --the word for referring to and addressing a man, lit. "brother"-- was very friendly, and offered to share his dinner with me.











upper deck scenes. besides sitting all over the place, you'll notice people sitting on top of the life raft cases and outside the safety railings.










It rained on the high seas, and I was fortunate that both my bags were waterproof. These later became pillows as I lay down on the deck after it had dried. After watching a cockroach crawl over a wall with nervousness and trepidation (there is nothing that more fills me with fear), tiredness took me and I fell asleep. It was just like sleeping on the floor of the Bangkok train station two years ago!











boa noite!

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The sun is strong here in Oecusse, and the heat and humidity can get oppressive by the early afternoon, but the weather can be surprisingly comfortable with the cool sea breeze blowing. It's also been raining, which is uncharacteristic of this time of year.











welcome to the lost world. this is the view literally fifty yards from the building I stay in.

Oecusse is quite an undiscovered treasure. It has a stunning natural beauty (clear, unpolluted water and dark sand beaches), friendly residents, and fast internet. I don't think I've ever been able to amuse people so easily. All I have to say is "Bondia mana/maun" (good morning, miss/mister) and people burst into wide smiles and rapid speech I don't understand. They probably think I look funny.

This weekend I'm thinking of tagging along on a trip with some new friends who work with a local organisation, to go beyond the lush, steep hills that rise suddenly from flat ground a little way inland, and see the districts and villages further inside the enclave.

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Last night, I followed Merita and FEEO staff to another NGO's office where they were celebrating loron feto: women's day. FEEO is the NGO that Kopernik is working with locally here: more on that real soon.

It was a little awkward at the "party", not being able to understand anything people were talking about or really talk to anyone. There were a few things that were neat to see:

-women and men talking loudly, laughing and interrupting each other
-women and men eating with hands from the same plate
-women and men drinking the same booze!

I realised that there was a pretty good representation of NGO's headed by women there: FEEO by our very own Merita, Centro Feto (the women's center), and the host organisation, FFSO, and that may have something to do with it.

A last, interesting observation, as the night grew darker, and the men put on some tunes crowded round to finish the booze:

-music from Timor sounds the same as music from Ghana sounds the same as music from Tanzania and so on...
-men from Timor dance like men from Ghana dance like men from Tanzania and so on...

Which is to say they dance well! Cute little gestures with their hands and heads, and very nimble dancing with their hips.

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