Larantuka is the capital city on the island of Flores, which was a Portuguese colony at one time so 90% of the population is Catholic. They still speak Portuguese here as well as 7 other local languages. We have been warned that the further east we go on this cruise, the less comfortable the coaches we use will be, so no more air conditioning on our days out. Here we visited a local market, which had everything from fish to goats and their accompanying odors! Another stop was at the main Catholic church, complete with stained glass windows which showed Mary and Jesus with rather dark skin.
This island is famous for its Ikat textile weavings and we drove on to Mudakeptu village where we could see how these intricate patterns are made and buy items if so inclined. We were welcomed by dancers who did a couple of war dances and a lovers dance in their tribal costumes. The men had bells hanging from their waists so I thought they were like the Indonesian version of the English Morris dancers, except these guys carried swords and machetes rather than sticks. One old fellow had what looked like two shrunken heads hanging from his belt, but then he also had a cross around his neck so I thought that was a very interesting combination!
After dinner, the captain diverted the ship a bit from our course because he had been informed that there was a volcano eruption at Komba, not far from us. This was just an incredible sight! It was pitch black, except for the multitude of stars above. About every 10 to 15 minutes or so, the volcano, in what those in the know called Strombolian eruptions, would belch out huge balls of lava and fire. Interestingly enough, this was coming from the side of the volcano, not the top. These great lava rocks would then tumble down the volcano cone into the sea. The picture below is taken at a long exposure and hand held so it is not the best, but it gives you an idea of how beautiful it was with the fire reflected in the sea. I could have watched this all night, but we had to move on towards our next port after a couple of hours. It will be interesting at tomorrow evening’s recap to see what photos the National Geographic photographers on board the ship were able to capture.
