Viqueque Loseman

My old friend Pak Jacinto in Viqueque East Timor

The loseman Rua Beloi is only “hotel” in Viqueque that I know of.

The people of Viqueque are rather reserved but is is quite a nice town. The benzine or gasoline is 90 cents a liter which is quite cheap compared to other places in East Timor. The diesel or “solar” is 95 cents a liter.

A big market lines the street where you can get bread and vegetables. Meat vendors tend to make the rounds in the morning with steaks hanging from a stick that rests on their shoulders.

There is a small restaurant across the street from the loseman where you can get a plate of beef and rice for around 2.50 US. It is surrounded by concertina wire which looks ridiculous.

There is another one up the street and Pak himself is working on getting his restaurant in order, hoping for a grand opening around Jan 2007.

Jacinto Amaral is quite a character. He had 14 kids, 8 boys and 6 girls. 73 years old and going strong.

He has some vivid stories of the trouble in 1975 and is happy to show the machete chop marks on his leg and head.

He was hanging around in Kupang when the kids called him back home. He has been in Viqueque for 5 years now and always has an American flag on his cars which kind of looks out of place.

I call him “Pak” out of respect and we sit around drinking coffee and telling stories. My language skills are lacking but we seem to communicate well. He charges 7.00 dollars a night and gets you coffee and rolls in the morning too. He is really a neat guy.

When arriving in town from Lilomar with a broken motorbike he set 4 or 5 of his sons to fixing it up. They scrounged around for spare nuts and bolts and got everything in order in a short time.

He always insists on keeping the bike inside just to be on the safe side.

The roads to the north towards Baucau is in good shape for the most part. Going east or west from Viqueque can be challenging especially in the wet.

The south coast requires more time to see but can be very beautiful.

Viqueque