Good Friday

Tweet It's been six years since I've lived in a country that celebrates Easter. In Timor-Leste, Easter is a really big deal.

In Dili, for instance, the city is quiet -- shops, restaurants, night clubs, virtually everything is closed today. At home, people don't watch television, don't listen to music, don't spend a lot of time on the phone -- as a colleague told me, if you are watching television or listening to music -- your neighbor is likely to peck on your door and ask you to turn it off.

My colleague says Good Friday is quiet in Timor so that everyone can pay their respects to Christ -- and reflect on what happened.

As I was driving back from Maubisse today, on three different occasions I saw Good Friday processions along the roadway. Mostly young people walking and singing their way to church. I snapped this photo about 90 minutes' drive outside Dili, the capital.

Water Buffalo Relaxing Near a Rice Field

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The Magic of Maubisse

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For me, Eric Weiner's book, The Geography of Bliss, and the village of Maubisse, Timor Leste will always been linked. Weiner's book is about his search for the happiest places on Earth. I happened to read it while I was in Maubisse -- a three hour drive from Dili, the capital. Maubisse doesn't make it in Weiner's book, but I think it could be there.

I've been to Maubisse twice now -- and both times the place felt magical. The stress of Dili seems to melt away as soon as we get to the outskirts of town -- the roadway is almost overgrown by coffee plants. The forests are lush, birds are singing from atop the tall trees that provide cover for the coffee plants. The roadway is packed with people -- many smile broadly and/or wave as we slowly drive past. People are very poor in Maubisse, but they appear to be happy, genuinely happy. I see happy in their eyes when I speak with them.

I think it has a lot to do with living off the land -- growing their own fruits and vegetables as well as their livestock. I grew up similiarly -- near Asheville, NC, a town that did make it into Weiner's book.

Just like Asheville, Maubisse sits in a bowl surrounded by mountains. The temperature has been pleasant both times I've been there -- and I'm told that's the way it is -- almost always. Nights can be chilly -- a refreshing break from the constant heat and humidity of Dili.

One of my favorite stops is the market. It's always alive -- this time -- there are lots and lots of beans, pea size tomatoes, cabbages, potatoes and tangerines. Oh, the tangerines are absolutely awesome -- homegrown with loads of juice and packed with flavor.

Guava, too, is in season -- we bought a couple of kilos for about one dollar. My colleague told me that guava boosts the immune system -- and protects against the mosquito-borne Dengue Fever. I don't know if that's really true -- but if it is -- I am well-protected. These guava are about the size of a golf ball and have a sweetly-bitter taste.

The carrots in the market are huge -- some are as big as those small glass bottles of Coke. Carrot in the Tetum language is "senoura" -- pronounced like Senora. I'll take a couple of senouras, doc!


(Can you tell which of these two guys is from Maubisse by his smile?)

Home Sweet Home!

Tweet Found this photo in my computer -- snapped two years ago during a visit to that famous house near my house outside Asheville.

Rough Day at the Office

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Away to Atauro (Ah-tah-oo-ru)

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Standing on the seashore in Dili, Atauro Island looks closer than the two hours it takes to get there by ferry. Since I arrived in November, I'd wanted to visit this island -- seeing it for the first time from the front gate of the hotel I stayed in for a couple of weeks.

I got my chance on Saturday to venture across the water.

As soon as the ferry gets close enough to shore, you feel you've stepped back in time. Small houses with palm roofs and bamboo sides stretch along the beach -- under the shade of graceful trees. When the ferry docks, the first thing you see as you walk on shore is the gigantic tree -- that perhaps a hundred people could stand under. It is quite crowded under there this particular hot day. Under the tree -- the temperature is much more reasonable -- the ocean breeze helps, too.

Turn right past the tree -- and you walk through the covered market -- almost no vegetables in sight -- I'm told the diet here is strictly fish. What you see in this market is dried fish -- pink fish, blue fish -- and lots and lots of sqiud -- hanging from strings.

If you want veggies, keep walking through the market and you can't miss Nemas -- a place run by an Australian guy named Barry. Delicious buffet-style mainly vegetarian cuisine. He can also put you up for the night in one of his eight little cottages along the beach.

The ferry makes the trip to Atauro once a week on Saturdays -- so four hours later -- I'm back on the boat -- heading toward Dili. I'm definitely going back to spend a few days and will catch a ride back to Dili with a fisherman!

The Market in Gleno

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The village of Gleno is in the Ermera district of Timor-Leste. Ermera is known for its coffee and much of the coffee is organic and the owners are mainly small farmers. If you go to Starbucks, you've had Ermera coffee. This is a shot of the market. Gleno is about one hour southwest of Dili.

Mother and Child

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I was driving east about 40 kilometers outside Dili when I stopped along the road to look at hand-made baskets. The villagers make them and sell them for a few dollars. This woman and her baby were standing nearby.

No More Mosquitoes

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It looks like a tennis racket, but instead of volleying balls around, it captures and fries mosquitoes. I've mentioned before here that mosquitoes in Timor-Leste often carry dengue fever and malaria. Not being a big fan of spraying chemical around my house, I settled for "The Mosquito Beater." I can't tell you the satisfaction I get when I hear that static sound and a bright blue glow -- emitting from T-M-B.

One thing I have noticed is that mosquitoes like to stay close to the floor that explains why I used to get so many bites on my ankles. They also like to reside under my desk and they hover toward the floor -- outside my mosquito net.

It's the best four dollars I've spent in a while!

Saturday Afternoon in Dili

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Share the Road

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It's not unusual to be sitting in a restaurant in Dili with several Australian soldiers at other tables with their automatic Austrian-made rifles leaning against the bar or lying on the floor at their feet. The Australians are in Timor-Leste to help keep things calm.

They have several barracks around the country and occasionally they go on manuevers -- mostly to practice since, generally, things are pretty calm. Yesterday, as I was driving to a small town about an hour from Dili, the capital, I came up on a small convoy of armored personnel carriers. We wound up driving behind the convoy almost the entire way -- a very narrow road that zig-zags up the mountain and back down again.

Later that afternoon, speaking at the opening of a new media center for journalists, I joked: "and I'd like to thank the Australian military for today's escort. My passengers were especially pleased since I was forced to drive slowly and no one got car sick."

My Grandmother

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I have really been blessed in my life to be able to have both my grandmothers in my life for nearly half a century. Last December, I lost my 99-year old grandmother. On Tuesday, I lost my 91-year old grandmother. I called her Granny.

She had an amazing sense of humor and even when she became really frail in the last six months of her life -- she never lost her ability to make people laugh. Even though she was often in tremendous pain -- laughing seemed to make her forget about it -- even if for a few moments. We always traded jokes.

When I was home in North Carolina for a few weeks in December and January, I got to spend a lot of time with Granny. We laughed and sometimes we cried because we both knew that we probably wouldn't get to see each other again. It was difficult to say goodbye that cold day in January when I climbed on a plane to return to Timor-Leste.

Thanks to Skype, I was able to call her almost every day, once I got back to TL.

I spoke to Granny yesterday -- one final time. My mom held the phone to her ear and I told her that I loved her. I am not sure she could hear me through the fog of the morphine drip that doctors had been administering for the past few days to ease her pain. When my mom came back on the phone line -- she told me that my grandma had passed away as I was saying goodbye.

What I will miss most about my grandma besides our many games of hearts, laughing and joking together and just being in each others presence -- is our daily phone conversations. We chatted a few minutes each morning before I went to work -- she would almost always begin with "and where are you today, honey?"

Day Trip to Liquica

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The town of Liquica sits on a hillside overlooking the sea about 35 kilometers east of Dili, the Timor Leste capital. The first thing you notice are the colorful buildings as you arrive at the T-intersection. Not much to do in Liquica, but the second thing you notice is the quiet. It's a nice, refreshing break from the noise of Dili.

On the way over to Luquica, the road hugs the hillside above the sea part of the time and then turns slightly inland -- where you encounter one fruit and vegetable stand after another -- freshly picked bananas, artichokes, giant cucumbers, a purplish red fruit (Rose Apple) that has a potato-like texture, but is refreshing on a hot day -- particularly if it is chilled.

Back in Dili, it's late afternoon and the first few raindrops hit the tin roof of my house -- suddenly it's a deluge. The rain is pounding the roof so hard that I can't carry on a phone conversation. My mom, on the other end, asks "what is that noise?" It is truly deafening, but there is something cozy about the rain -- it also cools down the air for a while. The rain has eased up, but I can still hear the car tires meeting the asphalt on the wet street below.

Before Sun Up

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This picture was snapped just before sun up from a hillside overlooking one of the most beautiful towns in Timor-Leste -- the village of Maubisse. It is located about 90 minutes from Dili -- on a road that takes you through several tropical forests.

Hairless Hair

Tweet I didn't catch this guy's name, but he was friendly and allowed me to take a photograph with him. He was walking down a street in Gleno, about one hour southwest of Dili. I like his Timor-Leste knit cap.