Mesalembu

Again we travel overnight and arrive at this very small island.  We are greeted by very friendly locals and Brian befriends a local man.  We visit his home in a tiny village of 15 houses, chooks, goats, cows etc.  Each house is raised on stilts and we wash our feet at the bottom of the stairs before entering.  News travels fast and we are quickly visited by many children and women.  They laugh and giggle at us. 

We leave the dinghy at the village beach

Our hosts in their loungeroom

Coconut shell bike seat - luv it!

On the front verandah. The women change into their best clothes and some put lipstick on to sit and stare and giggle at us.  Our clothes are a bit grubby and sweaty – a bit embarrassing really!

Heather with the kids and mums

We give the children pencils and Heather draws a mud map explain our journey from Australia.  They are bright-eyed and we suspect some of the children haven’t seen white people before.  Mothers send their children off for an outdoor wash from their well and clean clothes.  

The island has completely run out of petrol – they hope to get a delivery in 10 days.  Brian is accosted by the local harbourmaster with an empty petrol can – petrol is worth more than cash it seems.  We give our family 5 litres of petrol and borrow their motor bikes so we can head into town about 5km away.  It’s a 30 minute ride with our family entourage through muddy tracks, puddles and rocky, bumpy roads.  The family escort us to the local market. 

Fish from the local market - small tuna we think?

We eat breakfast with our family at a warung.  There is one item on the menu - fish soup with fried tofu and a boiled egg.  It is seasoned with chilli and kecap manis.  We also pay for our friends – each meal is AU$1.00 including a drink of water.