4 Days in Somba

I arrived on the island of Sumba on Saturday afternoon on a flight from Jakarta with a connection in Bali.  Now I am on a 5 day/4 night package tour for Sumba that was organized by the Catholic Church.  

My flight landed at the Tambolaka Airport in East Sumba.  I spent the first 3 nights nearby at the Samba Culture Center.  Not surprisingly, this center is owned and run by the Catholic Church.  The people there were very nice but the accomodations and meals were very basic - no wifi or even hot water!  I wasn't expecting such rustic conditions.  However despite the austere living quarters, they had interesting days trips lined up to various native villages and scenic spots.   

The poverty level on Sumba is very high with many people still living in bamboo and straw houses.  The island also offers many beautiful beaches and scenic oceanfront property.  But again, nothing here is developed.  So the oceanfront has the poor living there - making it less than inviting for tourists.  Sumba is unlike most of the Indonesian islands as it is so poor and it has many Catholics.  Besides for Bali which is Hindu, Sumba is one of the few parts of Indonesia that is not primarily Muslim.

Today, Tuesday, they drove us east across the island to the town of Waingapu.  This is the biggest town I have seen on the island in it has more than one trafffic light.  We had the opportunity to yet another local village this afternoon.  All of these native villages are not only very interesting but they reinforce how lucky we are to live in the USA.

On Wednesday I spent most of the day at the Waingapu airport.  They have one flight a day to and from Bali with connections onto Jakarta.  As luck would have it, a severe thunderstorm came up about 30 minutes before the flight was due (11:30AM) in from Bali.   After a while the flight decided to return to Bali as the storm prevented them landing in Sumba.  The storm continued for over an hour but finally it broke about 1 PM.  We were told by the airline they weren't certain if the flight would return the same day.  But we all waited and about 3 PM they announced the flight would return about 4 PM.  With another delay in Bali for a connecting flight, I was on the 'road' for over 14 hours.

Now for some pictures from Suma:

This is the tallest native house on the island.  Up to 70 families can share one house.  The tall tower is the middle is used for grain storage and makes them that closer to God.

Father Bob, the Catholic priest that runs the Sumba Cultural Center

My tour group