Metanaro

liliomar_200.jpgMamar Metanaro

There is a nice local restaurant 22 kilometers east of Dili towards Baucau called the Mamar Metanaro.

Sometimes we stop there for a beer or two after diving the eastern sites.

Yesterday I had fried rice, a chicken breast, 2 rolls, and vegetables for $1.35 but then added a cold coke for an extra dollar.

liliomar_201.jpg You can get hungry after diving and this is the only place where you can pick up something to eat between Dili and Manatutu.

This restaurant remained open during all the unrest. It is refreshing to see a family work at it and be successful.
Just a few kilometers down the road is the massive Metanaro refugee camp. Refugees that are from the east and have been run out of Dili have relocated there.

liliomar_205.jpg There are scores of white hangar shaped tents where many people stay having fled the violence in Dili and possibly elsewhere.

These people feel a degree of safety being with their own people and being located across from a military installation.

A few enterprising folks have set up shops alongside the road. Taxis and minibuses move out there at night so they don’t get trashed in the city.

Metanaro refugee camps

liliomar_199.jpg They seem to be preparing for the long haul. Some have nowhere to go back to.

It is a tough situation with no clear immediate solution.

East Timor

refugee campMetanaro refugee camp

metanaroMetanaro refugee camp

kids at the refugee campKids staying at the refugee camp

dutchpickle logoMetanaro camp

Metanaro refugee campsOne time I got a flat tire on this motorbike while passing by and pushed the bike over to a mechanics shop set up in the camp.  He had some patch material, a piston that they set on fire, and a clamp, and he  vulcanized a patch on the spot. That tire was good to go for a couple of months after that.

That bike eventually made it to Oecussi – that is an amazing adventure if you even get a chance to visit

rice field in OecussiLater in Oecussi

south coast near Betano…and down on the south coast near Betano.

Aug 13, 2006 www.dutchpickle.com

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