Travel in Timor-Leste

I took a recent trip to the southern coast of the country, and on the way down, this road crossed a river bed that still had a river in it. Fortunately, it dried up for the return trip, but the video would have been a bit more dramatic if we were fording a river.

Making tais

One of the traditional crafts produced in Timor-Leste are tais (pronounced like "tise"). These are hand-woven fabrics, usually worn during ceremonies and sometimes you see older Timorese wearing them as their normal clothing. It's also traditional for honored guests to receive a tais the size of a scarf as part of the welcome ceremony. The woman in the picture is weaving a tais using a shuttle that she said had been in her family for several generations. We could see how smooth it was from years of use. The house was raised on stilts, and her workspace was beneath the floor.

Villages in TImor-Leste

The same week as the trip to Maubisse, I also traveled with a woman from Peace Corps who was assessing the situation for a possible return of Peace Corps Volunteers to the country. This was my first time to see life in rural villages in Timor.  Some Peace Corps Volunteers are going to have some nice places to live and work -- for Peace Corps Volunteers, that is.

Palm trees are good for more than just coconuts

During an interview with a community group, I noticed a guy climbing a palm tree. I wasn't sure what he was doing, so I went for a closer look. He was tapping the palm tree in order to use the sap for palm wine. He seemed pretty comfortable up in that tree.

Maubisse

A few weeks ago, I tagged along with a team conducting research on the demand for financial services -- savings accounts and small loans -- and we went to several communities in the southern part of Timor-Leste. The city of Maubisse was our base for the two days of interviews. Our hotel was at the top of a small mountain and offered some great views. The views almost made up for the lack of working bathrooms.