Letvuan: Luna Bridge
It’s been awhile since I begun my journey in Kei Kecil. 3 weeks. I’m here, alive, well. But I didn’t write anything about the village I live on yet. So, I’ll tell you. Read carefully.
The name is Letvuan. It was named after the mix of legend and history of this village. I don’t fully understand yet, but I’ll tell you the story. Letvuan means bridge to the moon. I have my own definition from my own perspective. If you have any chance to come to Letvuan don’t sleep until midnight. When you pass midnight, just get off your homestay, then go to the beach in the west side of the village and look above. You’ll see a bridge to the moon. You’ll see a clear north and south night sky. You’ll see the sky’s porrn. You can even see the milky way with bare eye. The milky way creates a path. The reflection of the milky way on the water makes it perfect. And when it reaches the moon, it feels like we can step on it and walk to the moon. It’s magnificient.
Okay, move to the people. The very first impression that I got is, friendly. Imagine. You’re a stranger from the another side of Indonesia. You came to Tual (city in Kei Kecil island) at 4 am. A lot of people from the village came to the city just to welcome you like a Persian king. More people were waiting in the village. Different ethnic group. Different language. Different skin color. Different religion. But, every single of them smiled at you and cheered for you. They made the first party for you, even if you’re a stranger. Then, they made you as a step child. And treated you like their own children. Warm, isn’t it? It’s lovely to be here for two months.
Letvuan, like other places in Kei Kecil, has white coral rock as its ground. Geologically, it is a young island. It doesn’t even have any exact dome yet as we usually see in Gunungkidul. The coral rocks were used by people for a lot of usages. It even become the base of road and other buildings. As other karst areas, Letvuan has a coral-made cave. It has stalagtite and stalagmite form. They made a super beautiful greenish blue pool. Suuper. I mean it. I said to my friend that we may made a journey to the center of the earth if we can go deep inside the cave. It’s mysterious, yet, exquisite. You have to go to this cave, Air Goa, which literally means cave water. It is one of the main destinations in Kei Kecil.
A lot of people here work as sea weed farmers. But it only happened recently, in 2010 to be precise. They change from common farmers to sea farmers. It’s because sea weed made a quite bigger money than cassava, corn, and other farming products. Letvuan also has wide area for sea weed because it is located near a cove (a pointed bay) which may slow the current and become a potential area for sea weed. In fact, I can’t find any house without a sea weed farmer inside.
I was unsure before I came here because everyone said it is a district with high conflict risk. Aaand yes it was. But when I came here I know that that’s because neither religion, nor ethnic. It’s because politics. And I dont give a damn about politics. So I enjoy my time in Letvuan. I enjoy the warmness of Letvuan. I live here like I live in Klaten.
This is my new family. A remote village in a remote island named Letvuan. A Luna Bridge.
Maluku Tenggara, 24 July 2015