Island Hopping through Nusa Tenggara
Part Three: Flores
Flores Island is situated to the east of Sumbawa and Komodo Islands. It has a well-deserved reputation as a tranquil, peaceful and welcoming island. Though we did not travel into the interior to see them for ourselves, one of the most spectacular features of the island are the three crater lakes of "Tiwu Nua Muri Koohi Fah" ("the lake of young men and maidens"), Tiwu Ata Polo ("the enchanted lake"), and "Tiwu Ata Mbupu" ("lake of the elders"). The three round lakes sit atop the same volcano, Kelimutu, but are remarkable because each of them has a different colour, caused by the varying amounts and types of volcanic gases percolating through them, and also by differing mineral composition of their beds. All the more remarkable, the lakes change colour over time, so that what may have been bright turquoise on your last visit might be deep red on your next. A 2001 eruption of another volcano - Wawo Muda - has produced a further five bright red and orange crater lakes, so Flores is certainly a top destination for surreal landscapes.
1 - Robek
So. Enough of what we didn't see on our journey. 
Our first port of call in Flores was Robek, a tiny fishing village on the north coast of the western side of the island. The villagers, knowing of our arrival in advance of course, were dressed in their finest ikat cloths and headgear. Our arrival was honoured with the sacrifice of a chicken in a brief ceremony precided by the village chief (the doomed chicken can be seen in the hands of the girl in the photograph on the right).
Having been selected as a 'regular' stop on itineraries such as ours, the people of Robek have gone to great lengths to entertain their foreign vistors. As a simple fishing village, Robek offers nothing much in the way of "sights" as such (other than its beautiful seaside setting), but the villagers more than make for this in their reception and entertainment of guests during their short visit. After the chicken sacrifice ceremony, we were presented with an impressive programme of dance performances by very young children. To our untrained eyes, the correography was faultless.
Of course the villagers of Robek were equally entertained by us; the sight of lanky 
pale people wearing bizarre clothes was especially amusing to the children, and when a particularly tall member of our party stood up at one point, a chorus of raucous laughter erupted from nearby (the somewhat blurry photograph on the right depicts this very moment).
Around the clearing in which these were held, hundreds of the finest ikat cloth had been draped for visitors to purchase. While obviously commercial in intent, the visual effect was stunning, and of course ikat is highly desirable.
There are numerous variations of ikat cloth, found in many places throughout Indonesia, but particularly in Nusa Tenggara. The allure of ikat is in the complexity of its manufacture. The textiles typically have intricate patterns woven into them, 
but extraordinarily, these patterns are created by dying the individual threads before weaving them. The best ikat cloth is invariably expensive, but it is well worth the cost considering the effort involved. It is also becoming increasingly rare as a craft; mass-produced machine-woven ikat is what one typically finds at low cost in tourist shops in Bali, for example. It is no comparison to the real thing!
From Robek, we continued our way eastwards along the north coast of Flores, towards Maumere.
2 - Maumere
Maumere is the largest city on Flores, but has the laid-back, tranquil feeling of a large village. The Portuguese came here in the 15th century and Maumere somehow retains a kind of latin atmosphere. Perhaps it is the bouganvillas. The diving off the coast in this part of Flores has always 
been considered amongst the very best in the world. However, on 12 December 1992, an earthquake centred in the sea just 35kms north-west of Maumere triggered a tsunami which caused numerous deaths along the northern Flores coast, and damaged the reefs. It is reported that the reefs have rapidly regenerated, and once again rank as amongst the best in the world.
We were taken to a village on the outskirts of Maumere to observe a few cultural activities (most likely staged), such as rice-pounding, ikat weaving and basket weaving. One thing that was not staged or simulated in any way was the strong arak we were served on arrival - a couple of sips set one's head spinning in a comfortably numb kind of way. I have no idea what was in the bottled carried by the women in the photograph above, but their jovial disposition suggests it might have been more of the same!
