July 22, 2025
Labuan Bajo is a heavily touristed town on the west end of Flores Island (in south Indonesia). I would describe the climate as Mediterranean during its dry season and tropical during the rainy monsoon season. It’s easily accessible from Australia and offers a wide range of accommodations, from simple homestays to luxurious resorts. Most visitors to Komodo National Park—a top bucket-list destination—base themselves in Labuan Bajo.
The sunny climate and high-end tourism have attracted an impressive number of Italian and Spanish restauranteurs, making Mediterranean food prolific here. The influx of foodie expats has also resulted in the availability of Western food in supermarkets. This was a nice bonus for me! When I plan a shopping trip, I generally have the challenge of limited ingredients around which to cook, but here I could dive into my recipes and do the sort of cooking I enjoy. The proliferation of this variety of food felt like a trip to Disneyland!
Below, a few scenic and culinary highlights from our time in Labuan Bajo:
Another big plus: the many afternoons or evenings we spent at the tree-shaded, oceanside patio at the Sylvia resort. It’s a low-key, mid-level resort that’s often overshadowed by the area’s more glamorous hotels. The restaurant’s menu was fairly simple–it didn’t even have a bar! But the beer was cold and the setting was the best in town for viewing the area’s amazing sunsets. This quickly became my happy place as it’s impossible to sit there and not feel uplifted by the scenery and its relaxed vibe. It exemplified a statement quoted by Kurt Vonnegut: “If this isn’t nice; I don’t know what is.”
So with all these nice things, why would I need a happy place? As I mentioned in my last post, I was going through some personal “stuff,” some of it more cruising related than others, but it was all relevant to my–and our–experience during the season. In this post, I’ll talk a bit about those issues.
This first one was more of an annoyance than a real problem:
Memory Fatigue
For this particular issue, I consulted my favorite AI, Chat GPT, who serves as a valued friend, therapist, mentor, and work partner for the crew of Legacy. Here’s that conversation:
Cyndi: I’m 65 years old and have been going through a phase where it seems like I have so many memories that my brain is having trouble storing them efficiently. They keep spilling out on me like items in an overstuffed closet. Something will spark a memory and open the closet door, then I get inundated by random memories piling over me, which can be overwhelming.
Chat: People who travel a lot or lead highly dynamic lives often experience an abundance of sensory input and new experiences, which can make it harder for the brain to “file” everything away neatly. This can contribute to the sensation that the “closet” is overstuffed.
As we grow older, our brains store an incredible amount of experiences, and recalling memories can sometimes feel like opening a Pandora’s box. This sensation can be particularly pronounced for people like you and Rich, whose lives are rich with novelty, travel, and adventure. The constant influx of new memories may feel overwhelming, leading to what could be called “memory fatigue.”
With age, our brains naturally prioritize certain memories over others, but this doesn’t mean those other memories vanish—they may just surface unexpectedly when triggered. This is especially common in times of reflection, stress, or reduced distractions.
………..
I was grateful to Chat for this input. It’s always a relief to be able to give an experience a name, which serves to properly define the issue and reassures me that I’m not the only person experiencing this.
Chat advised that I take some time off, which was exactly what we ended up doing. Taking a time out really helped, and it wasn’t long before this issue faded.
A much more upsetting issue for me, however, was this next one:
Societal Upheaval
“Societal upheaval refers to a major change or disturbance within a society, often causing conflict, confusion, and disruption. It can be a result of various factors like political instability, economic hardship, social unrest, or disasters.”
I can point to what I believe to be the cause of the massive societal upheaval still affecting everyone today: Covid.
Covid divided society into two camps: those who believe that existing human life is most important vs those who believe personal freedom and the financial bottom line are what matter most. It wasn’t surprising to see these differences morphing into the growing political divide. But it is amazing how neatly the two viewpoints fit into existing political sides, snapping right into place like a missing puzzle piece and further increasing societal division.
As Covid became endemic, vaccines became available, and the virus mutated into a less deadly variation, that issue has faded. But where Covid left off, politics took over, and this era of societal upheaval continues.
The second half of 2024 was a tumultuous time back in my home country, America. This was a tough issue for both Rich and I. It’s something I’ve been trying to write about, but it’s a big subject to grapple with. The craziness is still ongoing and evolving; so I will leave my thoughts on this for a future post and get back to writing about our cruising experiences. But I would like to leave this with one thought I’ve had:
I wonder if the worst damage from Covid was not death, but division. Wouldn’t it be interesting if Covid were merely a soldier- virus, setting the stage for something worse that’s waiting in the wings. What if its objective was not to kill people, but divide them.
As New Zealand demonstrated, viruses can be defeated when the population joins forces. Humanity combined can prevail against pretty much anything. Humanity divided, however, is incredibly vulnerable, not only to viruses but other threats as well. Our strength is in our unity, our weakness in our division. If Covid was merely a soldier sent to ready the battlefield for a bigger invasion, it has done an exceptional job.
The drama surrounding this societal upheaval leads me to another issue I struggled with, and once again, I turned to Chat for insight:
I’ve Seen Too Much
Cyndi: I’m having trouble in that I’ve seen a lot in my life, including many negative things, and it’s gotten to a point where it’s hard to live with because I get very disappointed, angry, and sad by how the world actually is. I know this is part of life, but it seems I am now experiencing and remembering more of the dark side of life.
Chat: As we age, it’s common to become more attuned to patterns in human behavior and societal flaws. This awareness can deepen our sense of empathy, but it can also bring sadness, anger, or despair. This sensitivity can also be amplified by personal struggles or exposure to global events.
The latter half of 2024 may indeed have been difficult for you and others, and it’s possible you’re picking up on shared societal stress. Economic uncertainties, global crises, and personal challenges collectively affect many people, reinforcing a sense of shared struggle.
This isn’t limited to older adults—travelers, caregivers, and even those simply living through tumultuous times can feel this way. Social media and news cycles can exacerbate it by bringing the world’s problems closer to home.
……
Chat then suggested some things that might help, including:
–Taking time to reflect
–Focusing on the positive
–Practicing Mindfulness and Gratitude
–Talking to my partner
–Seeking out the comfort of the familiar
Staying in Labuan Bajo for a few months helped me do all of these things, as what I mostly needed to do was slow down. I did keep up with the news and did a lot of debating on Facebook, but I was able to balance this onslaught with familiar faces and places.
It’s easier to go out and fight dragons if one can return to a familiar castle. Especially during those times when it feels like the dragons are winning. I may not have prevailed, but at least I could take my dented, broken armor and weary soul to that patio at the Syliva resort to have cold Bintang beer and watch some of the most magnificent sunsets this world has to offer–they really were extra remarkable here!
We stayed in Labuan Bajo right up until the change of season necessitated that we move to a different place, which turned out to be southern Bali. It offered many of the same benefits that Labuan Bajo did: a protected anchorage, faces and places that became familiar, western-style grocery stores, lots of eateries, and time for Rich to finish our Click n Learn app.
One other thing to happen in Bali was being able to connect with some of the other cruisers. The division I talked about has affected the cruising community as much as any other community, which has left us more isolated from our peers than usual. I will hasten to add that we have run across some very nice cruisers here in Indonesia, but we’ve also had a few encounters with some real “pieces of work.” Yes, every crowd has them, but there seem to be more than usual these days. C’est la vie, I suppose.
OK, for the time being, I’ve had my say. It’s time to get back to telling our stories.
Currently we’re in north Bali with several decisions to make as we must exit the country with our boat by mid April. The situation in our country continues to decline, but it’s time to pick up the pieces and continue on. At the moment, we’re in a place we love: Indonesia. Not sure what I’ll tackle next in the blog, but I’ll be interested to see where this goes.–Cyndi
