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Finally - 6 hours of hot, dusty, twisty, cold-drink-less driving, we arrive in Los Palos.  It is the home of, among other Salesian Priests (a Catholic order), Father Jose Vattaparambil.  The Salesians are amoung a very small group of non-Indonesians who were allowed to stay in East Timor when it was overthrown by Indonesia.  They have seen a lot.

We are escorted to a comfortable and cool room where there are cookies, home-made buns and cool water.  We begin talking about the purpose of our visit but my brain is being interrupted by the drooling of my mouth for food and drink.  Our host quickly discerns the situation and graciously feeds us (if for no other reason than to keep my saliva from spilling on the table).

Finally able to explain our goals, we are escorted to a small village.  Children are everywhere.  They cannot afford to attend school.  They are also very thin but otherwise rambunctious.  There is but very little corn or other food crops planted.  Fr. Jose take us to a high point in an otherwise vast and flat land.

picture here fields of corn - its easy if you try

Just below the horizon, just to the right of the utility pole you would see, were the picture was more clear and were I able to find a higher perch, a lake.  It has so much water that the Indonesian government has slated the area for the construction of a hydroelectric generating station.  It has so much water year round that it is predicted that there need not be a dam built - the lake is several hundred meters above sea level so there is plenty of positive head to spin turbines downstream from the lake's outlet.

The area is huge - at least 350 square kilometers...and not a stick of corn, rice or cassava (tapioca).  Why?  With so much water - even throughout the drought - and so many malnourished children and parents, WHY are there no crops planted?  Fr. Jose explains simply, 'The military didn't allow it.'  He goes on to say 'And now there is so much clearing and land turning to do that it is nearly an impossible job without tractors.'

The land has been forcibly neglected for so long that it is covered with miles of extremely dense, tall (over 6 feet) and woody weeds.  The locals call it 'Communist Weed' because it roots and spreads so quickly.  In Thailand there is a similar weed that is also called communist weed.  It is so called because the communists that were actively pursued by the Thai military regime (with heavy encouragement from the Cold-War paranoia of the US military presence) would find refuge in the dense plants.

It is not the last I would see of this plant.  It was everywhere.  I just had not noticed it along the way (my mind was still on the Hotel Flamboyant). It hinders agriculture all across the Island.

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