If I sound disappointed it is because I am. Here I have traveled to the other side of the Earth to visit one of the most famous sites in the paleoanthropology of humanity, and because of bureaucracy I have to forfeit the day-long trip to Liang Bua cave, in the highlands of Flores, where over a dozen remains of a small hominid, a pygmy version of Homo erectus, have been found in strata dating between 700,000 and 50,000 years old. That means that after evolving 1,500,000 years ago, in less than 800,000 years Homo erectus was able to get out of Africa, expand through Asia Minor, and on some sort of vessel cross the Java Sea to reach Flores and evolve into Homo erectus floresiensis. Alas, I was not going to see Liang Bua because I had to go to immigration at 1 pm.
Viecy, darling that she is, organized a visit to a cave that is about 15 minutes from Labuan Bajo. It was very nice, as caves go, and I kept imagining that in such a small abris a pygmy ancestor to the human race might have sat, with very simple but effective stone tools, dressing the meat of a pygmy elephant (isolation in islands often triggers an evolutive reduction in size for all large mammals). The limestones on which the cave is developed have fossil corals and were probably part of a reef complex (Miocene?). It is interesting that the limestones are horizontal and apparently undeformed, which suggests that over the last 20-10 million years this portion of Flores has not be scrunched by tectonic forces.
After our visit to the cave we did a bit of shopping and then headed to a very special celebratory lunch. Ibu Maria was treating us to the specialty of the island! Slightly salted young pork cooked over a very smokey grill and allowed to cook slowly as a slab (Se'i Babi) or as ribs (Se'i Iga), accompanied by a salad of banana flower and cassava leaves, and a very spicy sambal. It was delicious!
Afterward we headed for the immigration office, where they were very nice, confirmed that Jakarta had sent the necessary information, took my photo, and that was it. If everything goes without a hitch on Monday I can get my extension via the website, so I can fly legally out of the country the following day. Vexingly bureaucratic, but I very much appreciate the good offices of BMKG in giving me moral support throughout the process.
To wrap the last day in Labuan Bajo we went for a stroll along the water front, had something to drink at a beautiful cafe overlooking the bay, and leisurely walked back to the hotel to pack and get ready for an early start tomorrow.
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