It was still dark and nobody was around when we reached the parking area, we only met three other people when we were almost at the crater of the two first lakes. Kelimutu is a volcano with its famous three colored crater lakes. The lakes are changing their color throughout the time which can be scientifically explained (will not try to explain it here :-P). But somehow the local people believe that the color changes of the lakes means something special will happen (in Indonesia generally). These lakes are also a sacred place for them, they believe that the soul of the dead people will go to one of these lakes. The first two lakes that we approached are Tiwu Nuwa Muri Koo Fai (Lake of Young Men and Maidens - the turquoise lake) and Tiwu Ata Polo (Bewitched or Enchanted Lake - the dark red lake). They are separated by a wall which in the past could be passed by people, but not anymore now, the crater wall is quite thin. I could not stop watching the turquoise lake with its 'unreal' color. Going a bit farther, there is a staircase to the Inspiration point to see all the three lakes, the third lake is Tiwu Ata Mbupu (Lake of Old People - dark blue/black lake), located a bit separated from the two lakes. We spent some time at the Inspiration point, taking lots of pics, watching (and enjoying) the sunrise and the beautiful view, chatting with a Norway couple that we met there. Yes, finally I had a nice sunrise experience at the crater (that's even very true for Ole)!!
Leaving Kelimutu, we returned to Moni and dropped by at the small waterfall close to the village. After having breakfast, taking shower, and packing our stuff, we visited Moni's traditional market. There were some nice ikat woven clothes, but it's still a bit overwhelming for me to buy one of them. We met some school girls who adored Desy so much :-) and had an interesting time with them.
We also visited a Lio traditional house across the traditional market before left Moni around 1pm. We stopped by to Jopu village in Nggela region which is famous with its Ikat clothes. Initially we wanted to see the weaving process but that day we only found one girl doing it. I finally bought my first Ikat shawl here.
We then continued our journey to Maumere and managed to visit Sikka village, a coastal village with a pretty Portuguese style church and the home of Sikkanese weaving. It was a bit quiet when we arrived at the village and we decided to visit the church directly. But when we went out, there were quite a lot of women offering their Ikat in a house close to the church (since we wanted to see their Ikat clothes). I bought myself an Ikat sarong, I did not intentionally want to buy a sarong, only found a nice Ikat sarong and then gave the woman the price I would like. I did not think she would give me, but she followed me and after some bargaining process, I was still 'tough' to not display my interest, but when she said that she wanted the money to buy rice for Christmas... I was not that strong anymore and decided to pay the price she wanted...that's how I bought my first Ikat sarong.
We confirmed our Merpati flight tickets right away after arriving in Maumere. After that, our usual activity to find accommodation made us touring Maumere. We finally decided to stay in Wailiti hotel, kind of resort hotel by the beach (indeed we increased our accommodation budget every day :-P).
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