Ruteng sits on a cool plateau in the middle of Flores, about twelve hundred metres above the sea, in country that feels more like the Alps in a heat wave than the tropics. Mornings here are cold enough for a jacket, mist hangs over the rice fields, and the hills are green with coffee, vanilla and clove plantations. About thirty-five thousand people live in the town, the main centre of the Manggarai region, and the majority are Catholic, a legacy of Portuguese traders and later Dutch missionaries that makes Flores unusual in mostly Muslim Indonesia. The cathedral is a large and busy landmark.
The Manggarai have their own distinctive culture, and the most striking evidence of it is in the fields. Around villages such as Cancar, a short ride from Ruteng, the rice paddies are laid out in great circular patterns called lingko, with the plots radiating from a central point like a spider web. The design reflects traditional land allocation by the village elders, and viewed from a nearby hill it is among the most unusual agricultural landscapes in the world. The old whip-fighting ritual called caci, in which men in buffalo-hide costumes duel with whips and shields, is still performed at festivals.
Ruteng has a place in science as well. In 2003, in the limestone cave of Liang Bua, a short distance north of town, archaeologists found the skeleton of a tiny human relative, nicknamed the hobbit, and named Homo floresiensis. It lived on Flores as recently as about fifty thousand years ago and stood only about a metre tall. The find changed ideas about human evolution, and the cave can be visited with a local guide.
The road here is a joy. The Trans-Flores Highway climbs from the coast through forest and farmland, with long curves and views of terraced fields and volcanic cones. Take care with the weather, since rain falls heavily in the wet season, from about November to March, and landslides can block the route. Fuel is available in town, and warm food, such as noodles and rice with chilli, is welcome on a damp evening. A cup of the local coffee, strong and slightly earthy, is the right way to warm up before the next stretch.