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Published: March 10th 2012
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It is said that there is never a day in Bali without a ceremony of some kind. My friend and I recently attended one of the ceremonies at an ashram nearby called Ashram Munivara. The temple was dressed up in colorful golden clothes and all the members were wearing white. The offerings consisting of fruit, cakes and flowers were carried to the temple on women’s heads and placed at strategic points around the temple. Along with the pilgrims we prayed, chanted and were blessed with holy water. Then the music started – the drums and guitars came out and the people engaged in various traditional songs and dances followed by more chanting, praying and circling the shrines. I felt honored to witness such a beautiful ceremony; however, after 3 hours I was feeling restless. I’m just not used to such long events!
A few weeks ago, Jeff and I visited a local healer along with some other friends. He is 82 years old, very thin and has the most amazing clear eyes that seem to look right into your soul. He takes short smoke breaks and cracks jokes between healings. The healer sits in a chair and I sit on
the ground between his legs as he does an initial assessment by placing his fingers in my ears, probing my head, neck and shoulders. He then pulls out a twig and presses it between my toes in several areas. I cry out as the pain is excruciating. He tells me that I carry too much stress along with some other words about my physical health. He then performs what I would call the healing part of the ritual (difficult to explain). I can’t stop the tears that flow during the healing process. He uses the twig on my toes again and the pain is considerably less. I felt a sense of calm and inner peace followed by 2 days of feeling dizzy and nauseated. I understand it's the body's way of adjusting to the "new energy."
Lucas and his best friend Justin arrived in Bali on Monday after almost 2 months of backpacking around Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. It’s great to have their energy in the house. They even cooked us a delicious Cambodian dish the other night. After telling them our story of going to the healer, we all got on our motor scooters the next morning and
went off to see Tjokorda Gede Rai. The healer assessed Lucas and said that he didn’t need any healing and he said Gemma was too young, so Jeff and I decided to go for another round. This time it wasn’t quite so intense (actually it was Jeff’s 3
rd time going to see this healer).
Yesterday the 5 of us spent a relaxing and fun day at the beach. You can’t beat a day of drinking coconut water, getting a $3 massage on the beach, and splashing in the clear blue waters! The boys went snorkeling and saw a blue-spotted stingray and some other fairly big tropical fish. We didn’t even think it was a snorkeling area. My sister and her 15-year-old daughter are coming for a 3-week visit on Monday and were looking forward to sharing the beauty of Bali with them and being “tourists” again for a few weeks.
Gemma was very courageous this month. She auditioned for a part in a local movie playing a 17-year-old girl. The audition was almost an hour long as she had to act out several scenes from the movie (impromptu except for 1 scene). She did an excellent job and
was definitely in “the running.” She even got an email the next day asking her if she was willing to dye her hair if she got the part (for those of you who know Gemma, you can guess her answer!). After several more days of waiting, she got a call that she didn’t get the part. Despite her disappointment, it was all such a good learning experience. Gemma spends one day a week volunteering at a local nursery school. She loves the children and the staff treat her like she is one of them. She even has a babysitting job this weekend –one of the things she misses about being home.
A week ago Jeff, our British friend Ruth and I decided to cycle from the mountains of Kintamani to Ubud (about 30 km). I rented a bicycle and we hired a truck to bring us and our bikes up to the mountains in the early morning. We had a fabulous view of Mt. Batur (a volcano) and Lake Batur as we sipped on our morning tea and coffee. The sky was clear and which is unusual for this time of year in the mountains (it's still rainy season).
We met an energetic 71 year old man named Gede. He's in incredible shape as he has been a trekking guide all his life. He invited us to his house to see his "pride and joy" - a 1963 VW Beattle! After visiting with Gede, we decided to head down the mountain. Five minutes into our ride, the clouds moved in, the skies opened and a downpour of rain fell on us. We stopped at a little roadside fruit stand to get out of the rain. When it subsided a bit, we put on our rain jackets and continued our journey. The pounding rain continued and after about 10 minutes I noticed that the brakes on my bike weren't working so well. I thought it was because of the rain. However, Ruth and Jeff didn't have this problem. I was getting scared as the road was very steep in places......then my brakes completely failed - my worse fear!!!! I was able to finally stop by dragging my feet. The road was starting to flood........we ended up flagging down a truck and getting a ride back to Ubud. Next time I'll have a better look at the brakes when I rent
a bike.
We took on fostering a puppy for 2 weeks. A “bag” of one-week-old puppies were found and dropped off at the local dog shelter. The shelter was looking for “foster” families to look after them while they find permanent homes. We heard about this through a friend who works at the shelter; Gemma was keen to nurture a puppy, so we agreed. We got the puppy when it was 3 weeks old. The first week, the puppy was content with lots of cuddles and sleeping. The second week it wanted to run around the house and nip at our heels. It wasn’t content to be in its secure little home that Gemma had made for it. We tried to house train it, but we kept stepping in puddles of pee – more work than I bargained for! I was able to convince the dog shelter that this puppy was ready to be adopted to a permanent home! No more pets!
This experience reminded me of when we lived in Vietnam in 2003-05 and we let the kids have all sorts of pets (compensating for our guilt of taking them away from their friends at home). We
had a cat that had kittens in Gemma’s closet, a puppy, a bird or two, and even a pet duck! Oh, and I can’t forget the bunny that we carried around Borneo in September.
We send our love to all of you and look forward to hearing about your lives.
Namaste, Kevi
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ElyseandPete
Wanderlusting Winter
Healer
My husband and I will be traveling to Bali for 10 days in May. I would be very interested in seeing a healer for the experience. We will be in Ubud for 3-4 nights during out stay. Could you give more info on which healers you have visited?