Waking up in Kupang to the wailing sounds of morning call to prayer.

Twenty years ago we couldn’t enter Indonesia without hiring an agent at our port of call months ahead of arrival. Since then, they’ve eased up a bit, and now it’s more of a two-week online process. Not the easiest site to navigate (Save button means “I’m done, send it.”), but it was relatively painless to obtain our visas and alert them that our vessel was on the way. The morning after we arrived we called up a taxi driver here in Kupang that a few others have used, and for about thirty dollars he spent the day driving us directly from one agency to another, where it was easy enough for us to handle the paperwork aspect ourselves.

This was Biosecurity. The blue shirt guy went through our “medicine.” We have never been the medicating type. We might take an Advil if we’re really hurt, otherwise you get nothing unless it requires a trip to a doctor, which happens occasionally. Our diagnosis of pretty much any injury or ailment is, “It’ll probably be better in a couple days.” This First Aid kit was on the boat when we bought it. There’s an itch cream, Neosporin, some bandages (all the good Band-Aids are long since gone), and some bright pink Pepto-Bismol tablets. This guy spent five or ten minutes puzzling over those tablets, looking for an expiration date—they are just looking for expired medication, apparently. Eventually we got the kit back with what are most likely some very expired pink tablets.

The other guys gave a quick look around the boat, marveling at all of the running water. Every faucet was turned on and watched for a few seconds with wide eyes. After that inspection was complete, the uniformed men stood up and asked us for selfies. I wish I had a copy. The enthusiastic thumbs ups, the ear-to-ear smiles, the welcoming handshakes, all captured for what I can only guess was their social media. It was a very, very friendly welcome to Indonesia.

Done with us, Lowe took them for a dinghy ride around the boat to take more pictures. And he even ferried them over to other boats. They loved it.

We headed to shore for dinner, but the beach landing was looking a little dicey. We floated there thinking it over for a couple of minutes before looking up to see two men eagerly waving us in. We came in and they grabbed the dinghy to keep it from getting sideways in the waves, then helped us haul it far up the rocky beach. They kept an eye on things for us while we had dinner and then helped us launch for home again later, in the dark. We thanked them, and tipped them, and everyone was happy.

This tiered area is just a sort of public square, where people come down at night to sit and enjoy the sunset. The area up top filled up with vendors, and battery-powered cars for the little kids.

Always fun experiencing new cultures.

While Kupang isn’t exactly the type of place you’d want to stay very long, it did have everything we were looking for. We completed all of our clearance paperwork, got diesel, scored stacks of mangoes, and ate a few very inexpensive meals out. It was a pleasant surprise for a busy port city.

25,000 Rupiah ($1.60) lunch. Endless sweet iced tea, rice, and spicy chicken. The chili sauce we’ve been getting with every meal is amazing. Feel the burn.

Stocked up, rested, and bellies full, we we were off again.