Local village on the top of the hill

We get up in the morning trying to take advantage of our luxury room which got so advanced facilities as hot water contrary to the budget rooms which only got cold water. Unfortunately when we turn on the hot water tap only a few drops come out of the showerhead. And it isn’t much better when we turn on the cold water. There really is no water at all this morning.

We get up to investigate the situation. It turns out the hotel has run out of water altogether – now how can this happen? Apparently the hotel doesn’t get their water from a pipe outside in the street instead they get the water delivered by a water truck a few times of the week. And the last delivery must have been a few days ago since the water tank is now completely empty. Fortunately the owner has called and requested a new delivery of water for the hotel this morning so we just have to wait a bit for the water to arrive.

It turns out the water is kept in some sort of underground concrete tank which isn’t water tight. So a lot of the water is just lost by seeping down into the ground. This is especially the case during the dry season when the ground is particular dry and can absorb a lot of the water inside the tank. I guess this is a very ineffective way to use water but at least the truck arrives and pump water into the tank so we can get a shower.

After we had breakfast and a shower it is time to go across the island for another leg on our journey. It is another pretty drive through the hilly landscape around Bajawa. The drive isn’t too long today and we arrive at Ruteng. We manage to find a reasonable hotel which seems to have a constant supply of hot water and after dropping our bags it is time to go out and explore. There isn’t much of interest in Ruteng itself but a few kilometers outside the city is an old village so we head up there.

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There isn’t any local transport heading to the village – but fortunately one of the receptionist at our hotel has a husband who drives a bemo. So she says he can take us up there when her shift finish. We leave – at it turns out we are not going alone – the two receptionist think this is a good occasion for them to have a little day trip after work so they go along with us to the village. The drive up to the village is only a few kilometers so we quickly make it there. It turns out tourist from outside Ruteng area has to pay an entrance fee to visit the village while people from Ruteng seem to be allowed in for free – our receptionist companions didn’t pay any fees.

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The most interesting feature of the village is two large traditional houses which we are allowed to go inside and visit – I guess that is what is included in the entrance fee to the village. The traditional houses consist of a large room with a few smaller rooms at the sides where the family can sleep and stay in private. There is a large group of people inside the house and they tell a bit about the tradition of the house.

The village is small so we don’t stay too long. After we return to Ruteng the girls ask if we want to drop by the local market before we head to the hotel. We say ok so we stop on the way back. The market is busy but not much different from this kind of markets other places around the world. It turns out the girls need to do a bit of shopping for their dinner so they buy a little bit and then we head to our hotel.