Christmas In The Tropics

By Crivenica

Some of my Christmas cookies

While my sister labored joyously to create a delicious Christmas feast last month, I was happy that I at least managed to bake some Christmas cookies and share them with family and friends. It was a little tradition that I’ve taken to heart for a few years now. I took pleasure in cutting out the cute Christmas shapes and putting colorful icing on them. But, man...my back always ended up hurting after being at it for hours. Though, the back pain is always worth the look in David’s and friends’ faces when they saw and ate them.

However, aside from the cookies, David and I didn’t do anything very Christmasy at all this year. No decoration, no tree, no our traditional Christmas dinner of General Tso’s chicken, and no presents. But there was nothing to cry about because we opted to meet  up with friends from Nepal and spend the Christmas weekend on the gorgeous beaches around Labuan Bajo.

The Labuan Bajo Port & Fish Market

Labuan Bajo is a small town at the west tip of the island of Flores, that is quite natural and rustic. It took two 1.5 hours flights for us to get there. First flight from Jakarta to Denpasar, then another hop in a smaller plane to Labuan Bajo. This little town is where you need to go when you want to go to the Komodo island to see the Komodo dragons. I was hoping to do that, but unfortunately David and I planned this short trip at last minutes and we didn’t get a chance to go to the Komodo island or Rinca island to see those interesting creatures. However, we did get to relax on the beach and snorkeled in one of the clearest water I have ever been in.

The view from the lobby of Waecicu Eden Beach Hotel

We didn’t stay in the town, but had to take a boat to our hotel, The Waecicu Eden Beach Hotel. The boats were all made of wood and have a small motor, so though our hotel was not that far from town, it took about 20 minutes to get there. The hotel is a small cluster of cottages built on a side of a hill, with its small lobby and eating area right at the beach. As we moved closer, the hotel looked so pleasant and it was actually done quite nicely.  Unfortunately, we did have some issues with it. 

Me - relaxing

We knew we wouldn’t have any air conditioning and we were quite prepared to sleep with only fans on. However, we only found out that there was no electricity at all when we arrived, and the hotel only turns on its generator during dinner time until 10:30 pm. Hence, we slept three nights in the still air, even with our balcony door and windows open. I was surprised that there was hardly any breeze at all. And though, the staff there were nice, they were not well trained. They did what were already set for them to do well, but once you asked them for something a little different, they became a bit confused and reluctant. So, my advice is unless you can sleep comfortably in the heat and are not a stickler for good service, you may want to look for alternative accommodation. 

However, for what it was, the Waecicu Resort does have a good view. I did enjoy the lazy day we spent on their small beach. Our friends, Robin, Pam and their two daughters taught us to play Bananagrams and a complicated card game that I couldn’t seem to master. After the games, we just laid around reading. And as evening rolled in and we waited for our “Christmas dinner” of fish and chicken, we sat in the lobby with our glasses of refreshing mango-pineapple or pineapple-lemon juice, watching a spectacular sunset coloring up the sky. Though, a sweaty sleepless night awaited us, we had quite a pleasant Christmas night with our friends.

One of the hundreds sunset pictures David took

The next morning, we woke up early to catch a boat to Labuan Bajo and meet up with Louis, a guide, a connector and just simply a very good guy that a friend, Nila, has connected us with. With a very short notice, on Christmas day, Louis had managed to set up a full day of fun for us. First, he took us to Goa “Batu Cermin” (Mirror Stone cave) , named so due to the shimmering surfaces of its stalactites and stalagmites when light is shone on them. It was a pretty cool experience to go through the caves. The way gets so small that we had to literally crawl to get through and be really careful with our heads. I was doing so great in the cave, but I didn’t pay much attention when we were out of the cave and I nailed my skull against an overhanging rock. It hurt! 

But the bump on my head was soon forgotten as Louis drove us to our boat for the day. He had set up for us a boat that would take us to three snorkeling spots: Sambolo island, Seraya island, and the Bidadari island. There are more beautiful snorkeling and diving sites further away, but since we only had that day we focused on those three spots. We were not disappointed. The spots were perfect for me, especially the first spot, Sambolo island. Even from afar, I could see the white sand beach, and clear turquoise water. It was so beautiful, I got so excited. And when we got into the water, it was so warm and calm. I had a stupendous time snorkeling. The life I saw under water, while I literally had to be really careful breathing through the snorkel, was breathtaking. The experience made both David and I wanting to do this more often. It’s too bad we didn’t have a waterproof camera because I would’ve loved to put up some pretty underwater pictures here. 

Sambolo - white sand beach

I could stay in this water forever...

At the end, though we did complain about the hot nights, we were definitely glad that we went to Labuan Bajo. It is such a beautiful part of Indonesia that everybody should visit. And it was a very enjoyable trip when you have someone as great as Louis to help take care of you. We had such a wonderful day snorkeling, we devoured the simple but tasty lunch of fish, rice, stir fry veggie, and fried noodle that the boat crew prepared for us. And it only costed us less than Rp500,000/person (USD50/person). So, let me know if you’re planning a trip to Labuan Bajo and need a guide there. I’ll be happy to give you Louis’ number. 

Now, though the tan is still quite fresh on my skin, I wonder when we’ll get to go snorkeling in such a beautiful place like Sambolo again. I really hope soon.