From Manulalu we moved on to Moni, home of Kelimutu National Park. On the way we stopped off at the Blue Stone Beach for lunch at a spot right off the beach. The blue stones from the beach are collected and sold for home décor uses.
It was a pretty long drive to Moni, so when we reached our lodging, Kelimutu Crater Lakes Ecolodge, we were ready to relax and enjoy the pretty countryside around the lodge. At both the ecolodges we stayed at we were the only guests, so the cooks came in just to make food for us. At Kelimutu, Rita was the head cook. She had great personality, and created delicious meals for us. Her mother weaves ikan, the traditional cloth the people of Flores wear as sarongs. I bought one of her mother’s ikans, and she explained the meaning of the various parts of the weavings. For example, on the ikan you can see spiders around rice fields, because the spiders eat the insects that damage the rice.
The next morning we left the ecolodge at 4:30 to drive up the mountain to Kelimutu National park and see sunrise over the crater lakes. We were the only people in the park that early, and had the spectacular view to ourselves.
Kelimutu has three crater lakes. The local indigenous people believe spirits go to the lakes after they die. One lake is for souls of the elderly, one is for young people, and one is for thieves. The color of the lakes changes at various times, though we didn’t learn why.
The rest of the day we spent in and around Moni. We went to another hot springs. This time it was Moni’s village baths, where the community members bathe and do laundry. We didn’t take any photos, but this, too, was a unique experience. We bathed in a pool that had the hot spring water routed into and through it. There were two pools – an upper one for men and a lower one for women and children. Aristo said it was OK for both of us to be in the men’s one, and that’s what we did. It seemed like people were waiting for us to bathe before they used the pool, so we had it to ourselves, although there were women and children in the lower pool. As soon as we got out, a man got in and started shaving and doing his bathing and laundry! Again, we didn’t pay anything for the experience – we were just allowed to be local people needing to bathe.
The other thing to see in Moni is a waterfall, which the rainy season had made into a raging torrent. To get there, we had to cross a sketchy bamboo bridge.
Our last day with Aristo, we moved on from Moni to Maumere, where we spent the last two nights on Flores at Coconut Garden Beach Resort. Between Moni and Maumere you can find Koka beach, a local favorite where you can swim and enjoy fresh-caught barbecue fish. Since it was New Year’s Day, most people were off work and ready to relax with some sopi and a swim. The beach was pretty packed with families. I think Aristo would have liked to hang out longer to enjoy the celebratory atmosphere, but we were tired of the car journey and ready to relax in our own beach bungalow, so we did a short swim and carried on to Maumere.
Coconut Garden is a beautiful oasis, where the owners have thoughtfully created beach bungalows that take advantage of the view and landscaped the beach to create a peaceful retreat. The resort restaurant was very popular with day trippers for good reason – everything we ate there was delicious! We had the barbeque fish both nights. We chose the local panggang sauce for it, which was a spectacular sambal of chilis, shallots, garlic, lemongrass, and…?
Only a few people stayed at the resort overnight, and the peaceful atmosphere made these last two days just what we needed to transition from Flores back to Jakarta. The beach was alive with hermit crabs in the morning, and fishermen worked the water at low tide. It was a lovely place to just take a walk, or relax with a Bintang in the shade of our porch. All in all, our time on Flores was a wonderful discovery of people and places. We’re so glad we chose this trip!
