The day after our cruise, our guide (Vitus) made arrangements for us to be “guests of honor” at a small village outside of Lubuan Bajo. He picked us up at the hotel that morning, and gave us an amazing day of very special memories to add on to our cruise experience.
We were first greeted at the steps to the village…
We were brought into the traditional meeting house to meet the chief with Vitus as our guide and translator.
The chief decided that the meeting was going well and offered us Kawa Daun which is fermented coffee leaves soaked in coconut husks and spiced with ginger. It was their version of whiskey (tasted just like it sounds 😣 - but couldn’t insult the chief!). We were also given something else that was very bitter that we were supposed to chew on, and then spit it into the bamboo container. I was hoping for a palete cleanser or breath mint. It wasn’t either of those! 😂
We had a toast, the chief asks for a picture and decides Tom is his new bestie…
… He tried not to show it, but I think he was secretly fascinated with Tom’s toe socks! 😂
We were dressed in traditional tribal clothing to prepare for the dance ceremony…
All dressed up with Vitus…
The dance parade started, and we followed along. The women were playing music, and the men were chanting. I looked over and Tom was also chanting - not sure what - but since is so good at just making up lyrics to any music, he was fitting right in. 😂
Lots of hand shaking and pageantry, and then Tom was asked to kick off the ceremony…
We were given seats of honor to watch the festivities….
We got to do some dancing…. Well, I tried but failed miserably. We all laughed, it was pretty funny (especially when I watched the video back!)
Tom was much better at it than me! Whaat? (must have been the toe socks 😂)
Time for the ceremony to end. We stood on this big rock and they danced around us….
Definitely, a very “Nat Geo” experience!
We headed down from the mountains, and Vitus had a boat waiting for us to bring us to our next adventure….
The local boats are pretty crazy. That opening in the “center console” holds some kind of very loud engine that sounds more like a helicopter than a boat, but it got us (slowly) to where we wanted to go…
We arrived at Rangko Cave and went in for a dip! It was beautiful (more than a few bats flying around though!)
An all around amazing day to remember always!