In East-Timor....

17/05/2013: Today we landed in Dili, where we are staying for 5 days.

Dili is the capital of East Timor, also known as The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste.

The capital counts 193,563 inhabitants and is situated at the beach.

When I flew over this island, I already noticed how beautiful it was, beautiful blue sea, blue sky and a beautiful nature. The island has in fact 620 kms of sandy beaches. This is paradise, undiscovered and therefore authentic.

During the flight, I read about its history and nature and I’d like to share that with you:

Climate:

The island has a dry season, from May to November, and during that dry season the average is 20° to 33° C. Around October or November, humidity arrives, and monsoon cloud activity builds up. From December to April they have the wet season, with average temperatures of 29° to 35° C. During the wet season, they have heavy rains and flooding.

In the mountains like the Ramelau Range, with the country's highest point “the Foho Tatamailau” at2,963 m the day temperatures are warm to hot but very cold at night.

Tropical cyclones and tsunamis may occur (I hope they don’t occur now ;-))

Economy

It is a poor country. 90 % of the people are employed in agriculture. The only significant export product is coffee and that’s also their most important source of income. (the coffee is very strong, so I hope you like sugar in your
coffee;-))

Other sources are oil and gas (there is an agreement with Australia)

Languages

Tetun, Portuguese, and numerous Indonesian languages and yes… some speak English! ,-)

Geography - Demography

In 2010 it counted 1,066,582 people; the currency is USD and the original people are Timorese, Indonesian and Chinese.

Neighbouring countries are Australia (with the Australian city Darwin just around the corner) and Indonesia.

History

East Timor is one of the newest nations (2002).

It has been ruled by numerous colonies like Portuguese, Dutch, Australian, Indonesian, ...

In 1974 the Portuguese decolonised but only 9 days later, the Indonesia invaded. During that time it has known a lot of violence and bloody wars including torture, execution, and imprisonment for expressing political views,.. More than 200,000 Timorese died from famine, disease, and fighting since the country’s annexation.

The Santa Cruz massacre in 1991, in which at least 450 youngsters died, according to Indonesia only 20 died and went all over the world. A movie has even been made about the massacre and the 5 Australian journalists killed in that war. Due to international pressures, Indonesia allowed United Nation forces to enter into East Timor on September 12, 1999 and by the end of October the last of the Indonesian soldiers had left East Timor. The natives, with support of UN, managed to regain their country in 2002. In 2011 peace returned and responsibility could be handed over to the natives.

It has a rich culture and intriguing history. You can still notice the influences and certainly the Portuguese! You can visit Portuguese ruins: archaeologist have found human settlement from 1,300 years ago: The Ile Kére Kére caves. They are situated at the eastern tip, close to the village Tutuala. Its main cave is called Lena Hara. It proves the occupation by humans for 30-35,000 years. On the picture you can see the paintings.

So far about this beautiful country. I wish I had the time to visit the ruins and see the beautiful nature but my diary is full with appointments and the little time off I have, I have to rest. Seems like a have a jet lag. We are staying in Dili hotel Esplanada. It’s a beautiful hotel and city. When I arrived, I got a beautiful scarf, which was a sign of welcoming me. In the morning I went for a walk and took a picture of this beautiful sight.

So far so good, let’s do some business now and move on to our next destination!

Best wishes

Valerie