Maubisse, East Timor

Mary and Steve write:

We are dedicated and regular readers of The Rake — and to prove it,
here is a picture of us reading The Rake in Maubisse, East Timor. (8
degrees South latitude, 125 East Longtitude — we flew to Tokyo, then
Bali, Indodesian, then into Dili the capital of East Timor — 500 km NW
of Darwin Australia. East Timor was a Portuguese colony until 1975, and
then was invaded by Indonesian. Finally in 1999, after 24 years of
oppression and genocide by the Indonesian military, a UN sanctioned
vote for independence led to the newest nation on Earth — indepence
day was May 20, 2002.)

We traveled there to attend the wedding of our son to Milena Da Silva (pictured with us), whose mother lives in East Timor.

Here is a little Blurb from the email we sent after our trip to
Maubisse: “…Wednesday I rented a pickup truck with a cab for four —

and off we went to Maubisse. The distance on the narrow winding road up
into the mountains was only 70 km, but it took us over four hours to
get there. We stopped in the village of Aileu on the way, and of course
a crowd gathered to greet us — many knew Jon from the Bibi Bulak tour
through the area. From Dili at sea level we climbed to about 1500
meters (4500 feet) above sea level — and stayed overnight at the
Pousada Maubisse — a Portuguese built villa in the most magnificent
setting — a hilltop overlooking the village of Maubisse, and the whole
area surrounded by mountains on all sides (the highest peaks are 9600
feet) — spectacular panoramic views — the “cloud city” — huts
dotting the distant hillside and wisps of smoke from the cooking fires
— men wearing colorful outfits riding donkeys into the village —
rumbles of thunder in the distant hills. At the villa itself, we were
treated to a gourmet meal in the most elegant of dinning rooms, with
Tais tableclothes….”

Send along your Rakish travel shots, if we publish yours in the magazine, we’ll send you a non-thermal, non-extreme Rake T-shirt and a $25 gift certificate from West Photo (21 University Ave. N.E., Minneapolis).

If we publish yours on our website, then we’ll send you nothing, but
you will be considered Rakish and that alone is well worth it.

Keep the submissions coming!