The place with no post

Imagine a place that has Facebook, email, Skype, all the modern communications - but no snail mail.  That's Dili.  To say that the place has absolutely positively NO snail mail is an exaggeration.  People have indeed sent and received mail, yet the stories of these tribulations border on folk lore. 

On my first day, I gleefully romped into the post office.  Dili does have one.  It's an impressive building and sumptuously cool on your average Dili day.  After much motioning of hands with a woman who was probably inwardly rolling her eyes at another stupid malai (foreigner), I discovered that I could in fact receive mail.  Those sending items should be told to include my telephone number and I would be duly called when the item arrived.


When I mentioned this to long time ex-pats they duly chuckled.  "Good luck with that," they said.  And though I took it to be sarcasm, it could, in fact, have been blind hope that someone, anyone might crack the postal code and open the door for letters and packages for all.   Unfortunately I doubt that person will be me.

Gabe, one of my housemates assures me that three-quarters of his postcards made it to their chosen destinations - though he didn't proffer a time frame.  Jen, from Melbourne, sent an A4 document through DHL (at the extortionist rate of $60US) six weeks before leaving for Melbourne.  Despite this pre-planning, she arrived in Melbourne before it.  Then there was the time she got something delivered through the UN - eight weeks.  I am hoping to collect more stories; perhaps a coffee table book of postal tales might ensue.

Most people seem resigned to sending and receiving electronic mail - cheaper and despite the horrendously sporadic internet connections, more reliable :-)