onward to Flores, almost. . .

so, we left our sweet situation on Gili Air and set out for the famed and fabled Island of Flores.  They say that it's the journey, not the destination that is the key.  well, i guess it's really true if you don't actually get to the destination! Ah, such is transport in Indonesia.  We took a boat from Gili Air to Lombok.  A shuttle to bus the station in Mataram, where we got to spend about 4 hours.  That was actually the first place that we got to practice our Indonesian (thank you Lonely Planet phrasebook!) as we were instantly surrounded by between 2-5 men for about an hour or so.  Some of them wanted to practice their English, or just listen.  You'd think that English was either the most beautiful, or entertaining language, by how people seem to crowd around us all the time and watch. Maybe it's just Pete's beard they're interested in.  For real.  Anyways, we got on the luxury "A/C, Toilet" bus and were about to begin the long, arduous journey.  ugh.  it was actually fine for the first 9 or so hours, which consisted of 2 hours of riding on the bus, a 2 hour ferry ride, then back on the bus to ride across the Island of Sumbawa for 12 MORE  HOURS.  It was really just the last 4 or so more hours where it felt like we were in a giant washing machine, made for buses. I was, in my half-assleep state, imagining that if it ever snowed heavily on that "road," it could be used as moguls for skiers.  oh, and thanks to Kira's tiny bladder, i got the pleasure of experiencing the "toilet." wow, that was awesome.  I got in just after the bus started to move again after a brief stop.  timing.  i won't go too into detail, i'll just say that i'm glad i have really good balance and only had to pee.
around 5am, we switched onto a smaller bus and a few hours later, ended up in the lovely town of Sape, where we were to board the ferry bound for Flores.  Still half asleep, Pete tells me that the ferry had been cancelled.  I think we were all so tired that we weren't even mad, just tired and incredulous.  Pete and I and a European couple hung around the port or awhile trying to figure out our next step.  Supposedly the ferry would not be running for many days.  and sape is not the travelers' ideal destination that you all thought it was.  we checked into a hotel to sleep for awhile.  it had been awhile since we'd been fully horizontal.  my left foot (2nd bunionectomy) was swollen up to my ankle.  oy.  later, we all talked to some local boat captains about chartering a boat to Flores for much more money than the ferry but at least a smaller boat could make it.  maybe.  Lonely Planet had 2 separate warnings about doing this, stating that the waters around Komodo are, "notoriously treacherous" and "tempestuous." Some of the boats are not "seaworthy."  Well, we really wanted to get to Flores and were assured there were life vests and that the captain spoke English.  I was quite apprehensive the whole time.  But we met them at the dock at 3am (when the waters were calmest), ready to go and then we inspected the life vests.  HA HA.  they looked like a jr. high school kid's home ec. project and the kid got a D on it.  Imagine an orange piece of material in the shape of a vest (good) with broken chunks of styrofoam sewn into some pouches (bad).  you know, if you're on a boat and things get bad enough that you need a life vest, you're gonna want one that's actually going to help save your life!!! we were all in agreement that there was no deal, until the one guy who spoke good English returned with a life preserver ring.  one.  and somehow that was enough to convince the Europeans that the deal was back on!  this was way too much stress to be dealing with on our HONEYMOON!! we gave them some $ to offset the cost of us not going and went back to our hotel, only to find that the hotel owner was sleeping in our room.  we did not blame him; they didn't expect us to return and it had AC!!!! thanks goodness we got it back.  so, we've been hanging out in this town and waiting for the ferry to run again.  supposedly it's going to leave at 4 tomorrow morning.  Yesterday, we enjoyed walking around and taking pictures of the locals, who seem to love it! i think it's totally possible that many of them have never seen themselves on a digital camera.  and of course, they love Pete's beard.  Many goats, chickens and cats with no tails walking around.  Tarps full of seaweed drying in the sun.  Garbage everywhere.  Having no trashcans around really makes you appreciate them.
So Kira has covered most of the bases of our wonderful stay here in Sape, but what a town.  we lucked out with our A.C. room and the fact that we both have books to read and scrabble and lots of good music to listen to (thanks Max!) on our itouch.  i made a sweet come -from-behind victory this morning on my last letter in my hand!  real thriller.  anyhow, our stay here is reminescent of the novel "the plague" by albert camus.  everyone is trying to leave and all kinds of scams and rumors and lies come filtering down to offer hope to those stuck in a quarantined town.  fortunately, we are not quarantined.  if you have ever seen a movie where the protagonist is told, "trust no one, you have no friends..." you get the picture.  we hear all kinds of stories and get varying answers for the same question put to different people.  all in varying degrees of english skills.  fortunately kira is nearly fluent in indonesian.  the other part of our time hear has been enjoying the friendly people here.  they may lie to you, but at least it's with a smile on their face.  just kidding.  we've only gotten bad information from two or three people here.  the rest of the townspeople are very nice and quick to wave and smile at us.  we hear " hallo missus"  or "hallo meesterrr"  quite a lot.  one thing that has been great is that kira and i don't get bored around each other.  what a relief!  because we're planning on spending the rest of our lives together.  it's nice to have some Sape reaffirmation that we really do love each other.
Aww, sweet.