Stories from the Tropics #3

Prior to starting my blog I used to send my missives via email to those interested in hearing what I had to say. This is the third installment of the 7 I sent prior to starting the blog.

January 22/09

I always thought I was a reasonably intelligent man - however that is in doubt after burning my face for the second time in as many weeks. Maybe I'll learn - god only knows what I could do to the rest of my body in this wicked son. Despite some of my own shortcomings the exploration of east timor continues.

Have I mentioned the heat? Not to gloat in anyway - quite the contrary - when the sun is out it is a scary thing and the shade becomes your best friend - just watch the locals they seek shade like a dope addict to a crack house. Unlike when I would go south in the winter where you cherish every moment of sun and everyday of warmth, here that 'addiction' is aleaveated. You look forward to the early morning and evenings where it is still warm but the sun is down. If it gives you any comfort back home always remember you can dress for the cold (oh Big Jim I miss you!) but what can you do for heat? The A/C in our office has been on the fritz of late (and getting a mtce guy is a week long task) - when it goes out the sweat comes and the malyes go for a ride in the airconditioned car.

While the numbers don't mean much to me my GPS shows my home in Wpg as:

N49 51.787
W97 06.072 Compare that to my home in Dili:

S08 33.328
E125 31.269 which means two things to me - I'm a long way from home and the interesting part is the S08 - 00 is the equator S being south of it. Say heat!

My Aussie buddies are telling me that there is a heat wave in the south (Melborne, Adeliade) with temps in the 40's - but like we joke about at home they say it's a 'dry heat'.

Last weekend, Saturday, we followed the coast for approximately 45kms to a spot know as K41 - known for snorkling and diving. We were there to do the former. However like all things in this country getting there is half the fun. The so called highway is a what we would call a single lane road thru a mountain pass that must serve as the main highway to get to some of the villages - I would be lying if I didn't admit to being freaked out more than a few times as we shared this tight, twisty blind corner road with buses, trucks (material and military) and of course the ubiquitous scooter. We ascended some 400 ft (according to the GPS) and down again - enough to give my ears a few pops. Along the way passing several little villages where the houses are built right up to the road which also serve's as the main path for people to commute within the village. As one of the photos show we did stop so Don could buy a few bundles of wood for his BBQ. Malyes pay more than timorese but five or six bundles cost us $5 - we only wanted one but communcation was difficult. Despite the adventure of the journey the destination itself did not disappoint - the place was spectacular - long stretches of deserted, pepply beach where divers and snorkelers congregate - we happened to be the only snorklers that day but I did chat with two separate groups of dive parties. I'm not much of a snorkler but when in Rome. . . . whoa - although difficult to get in the water on account of the rocky shore once in the results were spectacular - I felt I was in my own little national geographic documentary - schools of beautiful, colorful fish none of which I recognized, against wonderful coral formations and then a cliff into the abyss where fish came and went from. Being a rookie I was very impressed only to be told by my travel mates that it was not a good day as a result of the rough surf due to the wind. In a couple of weeks were are going to drive to Jacko which apparantly is another step up again on the snorkling hierarchy. As it is a day drive it is an overnight thing is some small village - so again the adventure is in the journey, the destination is just a bonus. Again I should no better but the lasting legacy of my first snorkling adventure is yet another infected ear. I will check out the SOS medical insurance today.

Sunday we hiked up the mountain behind our complex which is somewhat of a religious pilgramage for locals as all the way up there were crosses and religious inscriptions - which culmunates at the top with the three large crosses. While that did little for the agnostic like myself the view of Dili and the other side of the mountain was spectacular. Check out the photos and judge for yourself. Remember the burnt face?

Dinner that night was also neat - a little open air grill with our table maybe 10 m from the ocean - and like some places in Canada where you pick your steak and grill it - here you look in a freezer full of ice and the catch of the day - we picked a 6lbs red snapper for $15 bucks which was then promptly gutted and grilled for us on the open grill and the two halves served up on a plate - head and tail included at no extra cost. With bintangs and appetizers the bill was $28 for both of us.

As has become somewhat of a ritual we debriefed yet again in the shade on a clear, hot sunny day over cold Bintang/s. Don let me in on an aspect of international work that I hadn't really assimilated in my own mind: weekends are 100% leisure time and given that we make good cash the world our oyster. Back home the weekends are great but before entertainment comes chores - be it cutting the grass, shovelling the drive, cleaning the house or doing laundry - here we have all that done for us so all our time is for what we want to do, rather what we have too or must do. Very sweet and one reason why people get hooked with this lifestyle. Have I mentioned the novelty of folded underwear!

Now if I may jump on my moral soapbox I see some striking differences between NA kids vs. kids over hear. Timor is one of the poorest countries in the world, with little descent infrastructure, poor housing, the list is endless but unlike some regions in Africa the children seem fed and happy with a normal family structure (normal being a relative term). While I am not suggesting there are no broken families here - the pressures and strains on family life are totally different from our own NA perspectives - at home we say we don't, but insidiously we all compete with those around us - who doesn't want to give there kids a Wii at Xmas, go on family vacations, etc. etc. - here you are starting from the buttom up vs. the middle. Everyone is in the same boat - desparately poor but not unlike all your neighbors - a common bond that is not common in our neighborhoods where your next door neighbor maybe has a nicer house than you but maybe can't make the next payment or buy the new car. Children who in almost any part of the world are oblivious to such consderations are even more so here because most are in the same boat. There are no worries about getting a bike or nice soccer shoes as its just not possible for most families (avg wage is about $200US/mth coupled with approx 50% unemployment). There are no distended bellies and hollow, empty eyes but bright happy children that will wave and smile with no prompting and follow you happily, take a picture show them the image after and you have a friend for life. Don who has been here longer than I routinely makes big bags of popcorn, goes to the beach (he stays at a different complex nearer the ocean than myself) and gives it to the kids that play on the beach - they are thrilled not only with the treat but also the interaction with us. They have nothing, but have everything to give. If I tried that at home someone would call the cops to come and pick up the pedifile in the park. Different for sure - better or worse I don't know.

Any way sorry for the transgression - much too deep. The important thing is the contrast of different worlds - and this is a different world - yet rich in its own unique way.

Take Care. Remember summers it coming for you and winter is coming for me - which is good for both of us!

Obama day has just past and we to missed most of the hoopla as we had two strikes against us - the time difference (Dan accidental happened to wake up in the night at 2 am and caught it then) and while this is a big deal anywhere in the world it would have got the coverage NA would have got. CNN the next day did have some taped coverage. The hype about his speech was daunting as the media has put huge pressure on the man and his staff in the expectation he will deliver one of the 'great' speeches of the presidency - like those from Lincoln, FDR and JFK. I read the speech and while powerful and good don't know if he had the catch phrase like the famour JFK "Ask not what you country can do for you, but what you can do for your country!"