Don't Eat Whales

August 20, 2013

Although Omar and I are in the town of Larantuka, I need to catch you up on our last stop of Lembata, where I had a terrible time of deciding whether I should visit Lamalera, a traditional whaling village.   Lamalera is 1 of 3 of the only places left on earth that UNESCO allows to continue to hunt whales as they have been doing so since at least the 16th century.  Although I absolutely do not agree that they should be allowed to murder whales, I did decide to visit as there were no whale carcasses around and I was interested in the culture.

The town of Lembata as seen from our boat.

Traditional dancers for our welcoming dance.  They only look fierce but they smile just as much as every Indonesian does!  

Why doesn't America have motor scooter trains for children to ride in?

After the dance, all the locals and Sail Komodo participants paraded to the town square.

And at the town square we did some more circle dancing.  My new favorite dance craze!!!

I can't convey to you enough what it is like when I say we are CELEBRITIES.  Omar and I stood for over an hour taking photos with the locals, till we finally snuck away.  People started pushing their babies onto me so I would hold them. (My face hurt for hours!) (And what the hell are all these people going to do with my photo???)

Omar was a teen heart throb here!  That punk hammed it up for the young ladies with his new hair cut.

The dancers are beautiful.  Made especially so as we get multiple free welcoming dinners with the government in every town we stop!  

Omar and I opted for the motor scooter taxi on the way back from the local market.

No boogie board? . . . 

… no problem!!!

Jeffrey, the local high school teacher of Lamalera, explains how the locals harpoon whales and fish and how to them, whales are the same as cows to us.  He explained the whole whale is used, everything except the teeth, and that they never hunt females or babies.  (Not that that makes it OK in my book.)

This is a picture of a picture.  Jeffrey says, that everyone believes, himself included, that the spear throwers have magical powers.

Yum whale meat!  Needless to say no one opted to try any for lunch.

Thankfully they were only harpooning the sea . . . no animals were murdered in the taking of this picture.