3 layovers and 1 missed flight- we made it! 4/16

Up at 6. Well really up at 3. I slightly woke up, then Andy hit me in a slight panic "The little black chicken isn't in the coop!". Oh shit. I "put" them away before we left. It was pretty dark out, they ALWAYS go into the coop when it's dusk, I didn't check. We were watching the Nest cam of the backyard and the little chicken trying to get in, freakin out, and the other chickens freakin out she was outside in the dangerous world. Not to worry, our neighbor Ken will save the day. We fell sleep for a bit and I woke up in a panic, "Oh shit it's 6!". Well that's the time we were supposed to wake up, never mind. Yesterday the dudes at the hotel said one hour was enough time to leave before our flight since it's domestic.  I wasn't feeling easy about it.

Breakfast at 630. It was great! Lots of pickled items, beef and chow fun, cheese (not good), soup, pastries, fruit, mmmm. Andy got seconds w/ 5 min before we were leaving. OK, I can be calm. We left about 7:10 w/ another girl for the airport. Our flight is at 8. The domestic terminal was pretty crazy.  Oh shit, I don't have a good feeling. We put our bags through the scanner to enter the airport. At the gate we went through screening again. We were chugging our water when the dude said, “you are flying domestic, no need to get rid of your water”. OK, I guess there’s no domestic terrorist threat here.  We got in line that seemed reasonable, except a family w/ a shit ton of luggage was next to us. That doesn't look good. Long story short, we picked the wrong lines and missed our flight. There was NO WAY we were going to make it w/ the cutoff 30 min before departure. Beth not happy. Yeah I get to the airport way fucking early but at least I don't miss flights. Grrrr.

We go to the sales counter and find another flight for 10:55. Not thrilled but it's not the end of the world. Good think we can throw down another $225 to make things happen. More hours in the airport... Where's my cocktail?

The flight on Guarda Air was an easy 1.5 hours on the 4 seats across airplane. We ate our snacks which consisted of mixed nuts and some meat substance in a roll. We flew over several islands. All had lots of agriculture (not that I could see them actually growing anything), but I didn’t see the palm oil plantations that have ruined Indonesia. The sun was out and shinning bright. A beautiful flight over the blue ocean.

We landed at 12:45, 4 hours post original due time so I guess it’s not that bad. The guy picked us up from the airport and a short 10 min ride we arrived at the hotel. The Golo Hilltop Hotel is lovely. It’s overlooking the ocean to the west and has a pool that’s inviting. We unloaded our gear and headed out for the town after our celebratory beer. I had tons of energy after sitting on my ass for almost 2 days that I needed to get out. The roads are sketch. Barely big enough to fit two cars side-by-side, not too mention all the motorcycles passing. We walked along the side of the road paying careful attention of what was coming and when.

We walked through the small town of Labuan Bajo. We first saw the daytime fish market, I tried not to breath. They were salting fish and letting them dry in the hot sun. The flies found the fresh fish. All kinds of fish for sale, even Parrot Fish (so sad). Then we hit up the dive shop (Uber) to make our plans for the next day or two. It’s 3 so we headed next door for some food and drink. The restaurant had a nice view of the docks and ocean. We had some more Bintang and order the fried chicken and salted squid (it was recommended). I was worried the food would be too much. The one piece of chicken was fine, and the squid was basically fried calamari w/ the hottest oil on it ever. I was in pain so I gave up. Andy kept on and ended up not only hurting his mouth, but also his face when he accidentally touched it. I even ate a cucumber thinking it would help (it didn’t, and I hope I don’t pay for that later). We were sooo hot and had to still walk up the hill to our hotel, but it’s OK, there’s a pool waiting for us.

We made it to the hotel and jumped into the lukewarm water immediately. It was hot but it didn’t matter, it felt good. We swam and watched the sun set over the ocean w/ the flowers creating a beautiful scene for pics. A short rest and we decided to head back into town before we feel sleep, it was only 630.

We hit up the night market where the food vendors were established. We order a fish each and the dudes grilled it up right there for us. They had charcoal grills w/ fans blowing the hot coals, smoke billowing everywhere.  The fish had a delish sauce, slightly sweet, and it was good w/ the rice. Just what we needed before we passed out. One last trek up the hill. It’s not so bad, about 10 min. This heat though. I will not be wearing pants again. Passed our around 830, not a bad start to the first day. Everything worked out just fine. This town is perfect, small, undeveloped, just want we wanted.