It was a lovely sunrise on a mirror like ocean this morning as we slid past pearl farms. Road closures necesisated another early start in order to get through on the appointed lunch hour. Another stingy breakfast awaited us at 5:30 - certainly not sufficient for a day of cycling. I've gotten used to the local spicing and not this watered-down-cater-to-the-westerners fare. But then again I imagine that they don't get too many crazy cyclists out hear!
A few fisherfolk were out and one scary looking military ship with a helicopter on deck. Apparently there is a big yacht regatta this weekend that draws boats from all over the South Pacific hence the "security."
The wind picked up as we cleared the islands making it a bumpy 1 1/2 ride back to mainland where Acok (ah-chock') was waiting with some real energy generating goodies. A tidbit that at first glance looked like a Nanaimo bar was my favourite - it had a pressed rice base with a sago layer, and was topped with grated coconut. Fully charged on rice and fruit goodies we hit the road around 8:45 just as the heat of the day was gearing up. The road terrain along the coast is not unlike what I'm used to on my Toronto trail rides so my only (monumental) challenge now is the intense sun. This and my low range of high gears limited my pace but no worries with so much lovely scenery and lovely people to take in.
Our ride was coined the pimple ride due to a dead flatline for the bulk of the trip with one sharp 200 meter rise right in the centre. Another spicy fish and rice lunch fuelled our passage through the construction mess on the pimple. The soil is very sandy here causing a good portion of the way to be walked thus making the Aussie term push-bike more understandable. Several fresh road cuts look rather unstable with lose rocks and sand rolling down - a good portion of one road cut had actually slid down into the ocean and they had just cut it back some more enough to expose the required road width. The road base is a bit suspect - no way endurable asphalt can be laid down on this sand. Very glad it's not rainy season.
Clear of the sand and dust it was flat roads with the ocean on the left, mountains on the right and coconut palms all around. Today in addition to all the "hellos" one lady shouted out out "I love you!" So of course I shouted back "I love you too!"
Our accommodation was in a lively little pit stop of a village named Bunta I'm thinking that the gas station down the road attracts all the trucks outside or, more likely, the (unconfirmed) rumour that "ladies of the evening" operate on the second floor. Classy joint!
Dinner featured lots of meat + rice + more meat. + gargantuan jars of what we call shrimp crackers at home. One dish was a pulled pork (beef?) done in a coconut/jackfruit sauce - quite possibly the best dish of the trip.
After dinner Colin invited us to join him as he had to make meal arrangements with the hotel owner who lived down the road at his other business, the local supermarket. I tagged along since I was in need of soap...not since India '85 have I seen so much skin whitener! The only thing I could find was a bath and body lotion specifically for pregnant women that didn't have the bleachers stuff in it. And also, I bought an ice cream!
Out back of the shop our proprietor had a number of side businesses going, coco beans and cloves were drying, nutmeg was dried and shaved, some gum coconut by product used in paint making was drying, all were being bagged and readied to ship to Surabaya. Cloves, I believe we're going for 90,000 rupiah a kilo or about $9 CAD. I think we pay about 10 times that at home which means someone who didn't grow collect and dry the stuff made a crap load of money.
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