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| Dollar Beach |
We headed out for a 3 day, 2 night tour of east of Dili in a very comfortable 4WD Pajero with Afonso as driver/guide. We traveled inland, over the steep hills to Metinaro then back to the coast, passing "Dollar" and "41k" beaches on the way.
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Frances giving costume jewelry and
other small gifts to local children near
Manauto |
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There was a very positive feeling
about the experience, and we all had a
lot of fun |
Along the road, we had a lovely interaction with a group of school children and with Afredo’s help we distributed the colourful jewellery and hair elastics (donated by Frances' daughter Charlotte) among the children who were incredibly happy to receive them. Afonso even gave out the plastic zip lock sandwich bags that carried the jewellery, with instruction to give them to their mothers - nothing here is wasted.
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| Pousada de Bacau |
For a very nice lunch we stopped at the Pousada de Baucau, an impressive Portuguese era hotel. As a sign of the impact of tourism to come, a young guy suddenly washed the windows of the 4WD and then demanded a dollar - Frances relented and gave him 50c, and we hoped that the rot which tourism can bring has not begun set in.
Did I mention that car ownership by Timorese is almost nil outside of commercial vehicles? Almost everyone depends on Microlets (small van buses), mini buses and trucks for transport - there are quite a few step-thru motorcycles but almost no bicycles - too hilly and roads too rough. On weekends, the roads have trucks filled with people to overflowing planning a day out. The bottom line was that almost everyone depends on some form of community transport.
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| Mural painted for the Tour de Timor |
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The empty swimming pool being prepared
for the Tour de Timor |
We discovered that the very first
Tour de Timor bicycle race was to take place in a few days -
using mountain bikes rather than racing bikes because of the heavily
pot-holed roads.
After lunch we Alfonso took us on a short tour around Bacau. It's small as cities go, and to us, looked quite run down. The spring-fed town swimming pool was empty and being cleaned in preparation for the Tour de Timor cyclists - no swimming, much to Frances’ disappointment.
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| Main street of the New Town markets |
Alfonso took us to the markets in the New Town (in name only) which, although the largest markets east of Dili, consists of a collection of low sheds mostly made from whatever materials are cheaply or freely available.
We are again reminded of how poor the country is, as the goods on display are mostly food and utilitarian goods, and the stalls had only limited stock available.
Interestingly the fresh food was all sold in small groups or stacked in pyramids - you don’t buy by weight, just pick the pyramid that is the size and quantity you want.
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Vegetables sold by group,
not by weight |
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Young girl selects a group
of carrots |
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Groups of fruit stacked
in
pyramids |
