In 2010 I found a piece of land in the middle of nature, along the coast of the Batu Gosok peninsula. There was no road going there, just a small dirt track way up the hill and full of holes. One day we would build our home there, but I had no clue yet how. I did not know much about building, I just had this idea in my mind what it should look like.
By the end of 2012 the construction started and we built step by step. First we finished the main house at the far end of the slope and then continued from there. Now we have the family house, two bungalows, a pondok by the beach and the staff house. We have chicken and fresh eggs and we grown our own vegetables. This is quite a challenge due to the lack of water in this coastal area. We collect rain water during the wet season and we were very luck because we found water and now have a well.
I will never forget the first night I slept there. Our house had no walls yet, my bedroom was a big platform with a roof. We had no beds yet, so we improvised and made a bed out of old wooden crates with some triplex as a base and a mattress, new sheets and a klamboe. That night it was full moon. The light was so bright, there was no electricity in this bay and no light pollution. I had a 360degree view with the moonlight shining on the trees and the only sounds were from Gecko, night birds and insects. I was totally alone and it was magical.
This is what it looked like in those early days. I have to go through all my pictures one day and put them in chronological order to show you how it all was done, looking back I sometimes can’t believe how we managed! All materials had to come by boat, wood, Alang Alang for the roofs, the driftwood we collected from deserted beaches, cement. For all walls we used the stones we found on our land.
Now it looks like this …
Finally on the 4th of July 2014 we did Raum Bubung, agu We,e Mbaru Ceremony Manggarai to inaugurate our house and to allow us all to live here in peace and harmony in this house, safe and in harmony with nature. That morning I went to the market to buy a white chicken and a red rooster to be sacrificed that night. All the men who had worked so hard to build our house attended. The rest of the story I will write down later …..
Pazolle’e Beach Bungalow – finished in 2015.
My Tree House – finished in 2016
I’m eternally thankful to Om Goris, Alex, Delis, Rinus, Bennie, Nimus, Ambros, Gaspar and all who helped build Pazolle’e and to Dewi Manurung and Phil Mimault who helped me with the supervision while I was in Holland
The colours of Waecicu ! – pictures by Katy le Blanc
A typical night sound in Waecicu
How to get to Pazolle’e
For the love of an island 