Travels thru Life: 8/23 -- Visiting a Local Village, Relaxing Evening

Before we headed out in 4 SUVs (roads too small for the bus), we had the assignment to go to a local market to buy food for lunch. We were told the name of the 2 items and how much we could spend (all in Indonesian, of course) and given enough cash to succeed. I had a tough time hearing the words clearly and wrote them down as best I could and promptly looked them up in my translate app.

Unfortunately, what I thought I heard and how I guessed at spelling it did not translate. At least I was able to determine how much to pay. The first lady we talked to had neither item but said the lady next to her did. The other three teams had descended on her first, so we went looking for another source. We found 'assume' or 'assahm' but still have no idea what it was. The second item I discovered I was pronouncing wrong -- Jim talked to Wailika and he corrected him and we got whatever that was too - came prepackaged so no idea what it was either. Luckily, we did get the right stuff.

Becky and I trying to find the right stuff in the market.

Back in the SUVs, we drove a very twisty road uphill to Tiga Wasa. Our driver was chatty and interesting. He had recently run unsuccessfully for the equivalent of state senator and lost, badly outspent by his opponent. The implication was that he was unable to buy enough votes. He had worked as a waiter on a cruise ship for 20 years and liked the travel. Now he is married with a 14 year old and a 3 year old. He and his wife have a variety of businesses, mostly centered on tourism.,

Our first stop there was the elementary school. supported by the Grand Circle Foundation, and funded with a portion of the profit from our trips. Since it is Sunday, we had only expected to see the Principal who lives on the school grounds. we were surprised to discover a scout troop waiting and singing a welcome to us.

Kids greeting us with English/Balinese song

Temple corner in the school.

The principal told us that school is free through high school although students have to buy uniforms and supplies. There are 3 levels: 6 grades of elementary, 3 in secondary, and 3 in high school. This school also has a secondary school next to it, but they are often not that close. High school is in Singaraja, which is another 10 miles further than our hotel and it took at least 30 minutes to get here. Boarding to go to high school is not uncommon. Although school is officially compulsory through secondary, there are no sanctions for parents who do not comply. He was proud to tell us that all the children in this village attend.

School principal, who recently earned a masters degree. He
also teaches 2 classes of civics. He earns about $600 a
month plus housing and pension. Teachers are respected
and many people compete for the jobs.

The Principal's family with Wailika. The
daughter fussed when her mother brought her
out and ran back into the house, but later
joined us in a better mood.

Typical classroom -- class size ranges from 30 to 50.

After a tour of the school, we adjourned to a classroom for an impromptu English lesson.The kids invited us to share their benches and Marty started off by naming body parts, the Arinto joined in and we moved to elements of clothing and other adornments. Then it was time for a participatory event -- One of the teachers led a clapping game where we had to keep in rhythm and not keep clapping after he stopped. We did pretty well considering we knew nothing about his patterns. Then came a song with interactive movements -- all a lot of fun.

Everybody lined up to play.

This is the girl I sat next to.

Jim liked this girl's hat.

Then it was on to the village chief who was elected 5 years ago when he was only 34. His term is 6 years. The village is about 1.5 miles square and consists of about 700 people. He introduced us to three different families, the last of whom we had lunch with.

The village chief outside the community center identified the
various groups who use the facility.

This is a drum to alert the villagers to a problem
like a fire, crime, or other problem.

Cloves in four stages of drying from green to black,

The clove flower -- I thought it was a central part of a flower,
but apparently it IS the flower.

Youngster weaving a basket. Corners are difficult and done by
the more experienced weavers. We bought one of the completed
baskets, which also has a lid.

Husband/father of the weavers. A woman can make 3 baskets
a day. Some are woven with painted bamboo strips to create
designs.

The next family was totally into animals. The father raised homing pigeons, and they kept a interesting looking rabbit and a dove as pets.

Rabbit with long bangs.

The pigeon coop.

Holding a pigeon with a message container.
the small thing in his right hand is a whistle
that goes around the pigeon's neck and sings
a recognizable tone when it flies so he can
identify when one of his birds is arriving.

Mom and daughter

Colorful rooster that was not caged for a change.

Our last family were palm sugar harvesters and processors. Someone else owns the land and trees and they work them. The landowner gets 50% of the sap, and this family gets the rest. It takes about 3 hours to boil the sap into sugar. It tastes great - kind of like brown sugar in a solid form. We had gotten some in Cambodia too, but I think it was cooked longer because it was harder than this, which had the texture of a very firm fudge.

Wailika, village chief, and palm sugar harvester.
Note the large knife in his belt --VERY sharp!

He climbed a ladder made of three long bamboo
poles to reach one of the taps he had made.

A plastic cover was removed, the leaf cover
untied, and the pot was moved to the ladder. He
used his knife to cut off a bit more of the branch and
hung up a second pot, visible on his left shoulder, before
repositioning the leaves and plastic cover.

The sap is put in a huge wok to boil over a wood fire.

The palm farmer with his two daughters and grandson.

After introductions were completed, we were invited to help prepare lunch. One group worked on dessert, another cooked shrimp chips and Jim and I created one of the offerings set out before each meal. There is nothing like a dining room in a traditional Bali home. People do not sit together and talk during a meal like we are used to, and normally wander off by themselves to eat. The offering take the place of saying grace in some ways.

We made the flower offering which was put
on a high shelf in the main shared area. Pam
had helped with the fruit offering and set
it outside at the home's entrance on an offering
platform.

Wailika introduced us to a beverage made with
80 proof rice wine (the whole bottle) and a bottle
of coke. Before drinking it, you squeeze in a bit
of lime. It was surprisingly good! I went back
for seconds and discovered that the lime was
a critical ingredient for good taste.

After lunch, the sugar was ready. They have coconut shell
halves that they use for containers with a simple wooden grid
to keep them upright. I bought one that was already cooled, as
did several of my compatriots.

Back at the hotel. you can see how far we are from other
houses and the main road with lots of rice fields.

When we got back to the hotel, we caught up online and then took what we thought would be a short walk to the beach. Instead, we ran into several of our compatriots relaxing by the pool, and others planning to dine at the beach. We finally hiked up and down the sand past our hotel on each end, and discovered that immediately to the west of this luxurious establishment is a typical poor Bali farm complex complete with two fat black pigs. It was approaching 6pm, so we decided to have dinner on the beach too, and were joined by May and Alec, two more of our traveling companions. We watched the sunset and chatted and even took a couple photos.