LABUAN BAJO, INDONESIA/KANAWA ISLAND, INDONESIA

---

First off I'm sorry I've been slacking on writing my next entry. I didn't have Internet access for four days.

Right now I'm sitting at the airport in Manila. Today is a long travel day! We have four flights in 24 hours. Two down and two to go.

The last four nights we spent at Kanawa Island. We flew from Bali to Lebuan Bajo. Labuan Bajo was the starting point where we took a boat to Kanawa Island. The people there were very nice, but the city itself was definitely a good example of a third world country.

The boat ride was supposed to take 45 minutes, but instead it took two and a half hours! I was pretty sure I was going to die and that I wouldn't even make it to see the island. The current that day was insane. I thought some of the waves were going to go over the top of the boat. Water was getting in and I'm sure I looked terrified. A girl was videotaping it all, let's just hope no one I know ever sees that video!

Once we arrived we checked in. We had bungalow number 1. It was nice because we were all the way on the end away from everyone right in front of the beach. There were about 20 of us on the island. The water was so blue and clear. Once we settled, we decided to go snorkeling. It was my first time. (Yeah I know, pretty sad) It was absolutely amazing. I never realized how beautiful it could be. On the first day we saw two sea turtles and a lot of colorful fish.

We only had electricity when it went dark and it would shut off at 11. We got in a routine to go to bed early and wake up early. There were tons of lizards. They usually came out at night. I think at one point we counted 12.

On the second day we went hiking and snorkeling. There was a tall mountain that Jeremy climbed (I only went half way because I'm deathly afraid of heights). There was another bungalow which belonged to the owner of the island. Apparently there were goats up there too. At night we played cards and had dinner.

On the third day we traveled to another island nearby to snorkel further out and to see Komodo dragons. We saw another sea turtle while snorkeling and it was gorgeous in that area as well as our island. The island was Rinca Island and we went trekking and the Komodo dragons were very interesting. I stayed pretty far back from them just in case they felt the need to attack me. After trekking throughout that island, we went to another island called the fishing island. One woman that was with us had brought a suitcase full of books and other supplies for the kids. As our boat pulled up to the dock there were about 50 kids standing there waiting for us. The island had so much poverty and made me so sad. As soon as I got off the boat two girls grabbed my hands and walked with me. They were hugging me and just so excited to see me. They gathered all the children to the school and I'd say there were about 300-400 waiting to see what was brought for them. All of the supplies were given to the teacher to give to the students. And later we found out why you couldn't pass anything out. We bought some fish from the island to have cooked for us for dinner that night. Before we left Jeremy decided to buy two containers of candy to pass out. He pretty much got attacked by all of them. It was chaos! I did have a friend get video of all of it and I'll post it as soon as I can.

On the last day Jeremy went scuba diving with two other people on the island. I stayed and watched their two kids and played cards and volleyball. They kept me entertained. Later that night, we decided since it was our last night we would have some drinks. We bought a bottle of spirits that was made by the people on the island. We used a Yahtzee dice cup and taught our Australia friends how to shake for shots. The liquor was absolutely horrible. It tasted like the worst rail tequila ever made. We ended our night with a bonfire before leaving the next day for Bali.

I'm now sitting in the airport in Guam and Mark and Kurt surprised us by changing their flight. We are off to Palau. Our flight leaves soon and it will be my fourth flight of the day! I cant wait to get there!!

I miss you all and I'll post pictures of our time there. We will be spending 6 days in Palau and then ending our trip in the Phillipines.

---