Flores:::: Drive to Moni & lakes of Kelimutu

Moni is the a very small village in the mountains. It is main claim to fame is that it is the shooting off point for seeing the famous Kelimetu lakes. As there is not a lot going on in Moni we were invited to have partake in a traditional Moni style indonesian meal- we were more or less brought (not without paying of course) to a home for this meal where we waited three hours as they prepared the meal (meanwhile we played uno by candlelight).....Did they have to kill it first you ask.. oddly enough they asked our indonesian friends to kill the chicken (not us luckily) which we would all be eating for dinner... afterwards we listened to stories about the lakes and learned about the (odd) beliefs held by the local people and their relationship to these mystical waters. a final view of the great volcano on our way out of Bejawa a small coastal community who gathers and sells these special green stones which are used as building materials around the island
a game of dominos in Ende (where the losers wear clothes pins on their ears!!)

a small waterfall spotted along the jungle covered mountain sides
this river/stream reminded us of the salmon river areas.. minus the palm trees and rice paddies of course.

a young native girl takes a shower in a waterfall
we woke up at 3:30am (aahhh!!!) to begin the journey up to Kelimutu in order to watch the sunrise... after a 45 min drive up hill and a short hike-- we then headed up the thousand step climb to "inspriration peak" (seen in the picture above)

Kelimutu is known for three lakes formed inside volcanic craters that change colors. Currently they are bright turquoise, red-brown, and black. They usually change colors every few years, becoming as odd as maroon, due to the mineral deposits in the water--or most likely the sediment at the bottom. However, the locals say that no one has ever seen the lakes start to change, they change immediately over night- or in some mysterious split second no one has seen.

They also believe (although nearly all of them are catholic) that the lakes hold the souls of dead. Each lake represents different afterlifes, depending on how strong your supernatural powers were on earth. The local boy explained to us that people carry on in these lakes just as they would on earth and that there is even a king and queen of the lakes as well.

We also heard many other odd stories... a mangy lion-esque kelimutu man who's photo diasappears off cameras.. lucky color changing kelimutu rocks that make you immune to any weapons or bad luck...music and party sounds coming from the depths of the lakes....

as it slowly made its journey over the horizon the lakes began to take on amazing hues.

Ferry, Joe, Bimbang
The red-brown lake
Joe and I with the turquoise lake & black lake in the distant right



As the sun moved higher into the sky the water became a spectacular color
the walls of the crater are very steep and dangerous- both tourists and locals have plummetted to their deaths- so it is advised to stay on paths and behind the guard rails

some local (and scrawny!!) doggies warming up in the morning sun