Hello everybody,

First Steemit post here. I love cryptocurrencies, the idea of rewarding content creators, travel, and Indonesia so when I found this site I felt like I found the perfect place. I recently backpacked Indonesia for a month, but the coolest adventure I had was going by myself to Waerebo. I've been working on my writing skills so I made it more so like a story than a review or regurgitation of information. Here is the intro to my journal. I wouldn't want to bore everyone with four pages of details so if the response is positive to this one I'll post the other parts!

Off The Beaten Path: Solo Trip to Waerebo Village

It was day 26 and I was starting directly at the finish line of my trip. I had connected with souls across the world and adventured through breath-taking scenes, but something felt lacking. It was an odd feeling, but I felt as if I had been exploring while still tethered to my Western-American culture. I was not able to fully jump off the edge into an altered reality as the rope tying me to my past did not have enough slack to let me hit the bottom. Perhaps I planned my hostel and tours a bit too meticulously, perhaps I took the safe-route and interacted with too many other Westerners instead of locals. I felt like a simple sight-seer, and nothing more. A tourist. Funny considering that I had showered twice and had only used manual-flush toilets the last 6 days.

I had been most recently inspired by my book Barbarian Days, an autobiography by William Finnegan as he ventured the world surfing and working odd-jobs. I laid there contemplating the part where he journeyed to Toga and Fiji, living in random villages near the waves in exchange for kava roots or a bottle of rum as a gift to the village elder. He hitchhiked via boats docked at the pier, going wherever the wind took him in search of those perfect waves. I also thought of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Jack Kerouc’s On the Road. I had a romanticized version of travelling that included madness and self-discovery. An ontological fascination with stripping myself from the comfortable and seeing where the “self” comes together at the end of the journey. The unplanned, the unexplored, and the undiscovered. Where was my story?

So I decided I would travel to the isolated Waerebo village in central Flores (more specifically East Manggarai). To get there would require a six hour motorbike without stops, to Denge, the closest village, followed by a seven km hike uphill the next morning. The first tour guide I discussed the idea with told me it was too dangerous to get to Denge by bike. One of the four told me that if I can survive driving in Nusa Penida, I could probably survive driving to Waerebo. That was enough confirmation for me. I was solo at this point in the trip as Mack and I went our separate ways. There was no online research I could find on people motorbiking from my starting point of Labuan Bajo to Denge Village. People usually recommended getting private cars costing upwards of $200 roundtrip. I would wake up the next morning at 7 AM to rent a motorbike ($5.50 a day/3 days) and I was off to Denge Village with hopes of finding a place to sleep. It would also be my birthday while I was in Waerebo. It was more-so the timing of this urge than a purposely planned event, but I’m sure there is some symbolism in there somewhere. I was going to create my story....

To be continued...