Yesterday proved to be yet another fun day. I surfed for almost two straight hours in an ocean most smart people avoided. Other surfers drove around looking for good conditions, since the swell is coming in hard after the new moon on Wednesday. The ocean was hella strong. The waves were huge. I decided to go back to the basics, grab some white water with the green waves, stay in the wading pool area, and do it all on a shorter board. I'm down to seven feet from nine (day one) and I can finally do a really cool technique of going under the waves that BKK Aaron advised I practice. It's where you do a push up as the wave is about to hit you and you're paddling out, shoving the nose of the board under the wave, plant one knee and dive. Maybe the pros can do that with a long board and their awesomely muscled upper bodies, but I couldn't until this board and I practiced the hell out of that technique. It saves me a ton of energy on getting past the breaks and getting tossed around constantly by the waves (the source of most of my injuries so far).
I came home on top of the world and proceeded to have a great work day. For some reason at 1:30am, I was still charged and tried to go out dancing at a little club around the corner. The music was great, the crowd thick, and I put up my blinders and did the solo thing. 3:30am came quickly and I headed to bed, having spent the $10 I brought on cheap beer that brings a hefty hangover. At 9:30am the motorbike rental guys were pounding on the front door, they delivered my upgrade. A Honda Vario 125cc. It's bigger, faster, and I'm taking it really easy until I get the feel for it.
I treated myself to a day at the salon and beside getting a haircut for $7.50, I splurged on eyebrow and eyelash tinting. I think I'm now totally hooked. For a blondie, my eyelashes disappear without mascara and my eyebrows too. Now I can come out of the ocean with a little more occular definition. Movies, a few meals, a website proposal, and freelance work filled the rest of the day and I'm ready for bed at 10pm.
I thought a lot today about the different types of adventures I've been having and the ones I haven't had yet. I was struck by the adventure my brother is currently having by raising twins in a log cabin. I think it was the first time I considered child rearing in that frame of reference of curiosity instead of fear. Fear of losing independence, fear of messing it up, etc. Of course in SE Asia, you can still afford a housekeeper/nanny on a fairly modest income and the single mothers I've met here make good use of that. Now this thought process in no way means I'm in any way eager to go out and have kids (breathe mom!). But it does provide a space in which to explore that concept without the chest-clenching anxiety I experienced when discussing that future with my ex-husband.
Well, I'm just rambling now, so I'll sign off for tonight and continue this another time.....
Sunday Funday! Met up with Candice and her adorable daughter Matilda in front of their home and Candice's friend Alicia joined us on a two-motorbike ride to the Bukit. I was on a new bike and not too confident, so Candice had Matilda between her legs and Alica on the back as we wove our way to the southeastern-most tip of Bali. Alicia has lived in Bali for 25+ years, Candice 13+, and they know the spots.
You can see the pics, but this place is best described by putting the word "paradise" into a Google search and checking out the image results. Yeah. If this sounds like unabashed bragging, you could be right. When we arrived, the waves were strong, hitting hard as high tide rose, digging out the soft white sand with each intense pull.
paradise
paradise
Matilda has grown up on the beach, all of her six years, and she stood beside me, a little wire of brown body and energy, her hand in mine as we braved the surf. I got knocked down once and almost lost my suit. She just laughed and leapt into the waves. I'm blown away by this family of Candice and Matilda. Candice is only a couple of years older than me, has a delightful French accent, and both she and her daughter speak excellent English, French, and Indonesian. They are thriving here, although Candice has had a series of friendships and romances by folks like me, passing through. They speak French with each other, Matilda with her cute little voice and moods as wild as the tides, Candice replying to her crying that we have to leave with a soft French, "I want to stay too".
Candice
paradise
Matilda and friend
The beach is accessed through the towering limestone cliffs, a road cut out of them, lined by a series of 20+ meter high man-made caves carved out and holding enormous white Hindu statues. Lining the shore is a series of tiny houses built from a bewildering variety of materials: bamboo, wood, leftover banners from discarded signage, old boxsprings, you name it. Waste not want not abounds. The front yards are filled with carefully seperated seaweed in different stages of drying. Floating just out of reach of the intense surf are their boats which in low tide are taken out by dark-skinned men standing at the stern and paddling out to pull out the seaweed they've caught that day.
Cliffs with statues
Home
paradise
seaweed farming
A few modest Warungs are concentrated near the parking area and according to Alicia who has been coming here for the last six months, they're multiplying as word of this trash-free, pristine, and absolutely gorgeous beach is getting out.
The ladies talked about love, work, and life as they worked on their tans and I worked on my sunburn. It was an easy way to spend the day, floating in the ocean beyond the breaks, sitting under an umbrella, playing "fetch the seaweed" with Matilda, and snapping photos. Again, another day when my brain struggles to comprehend the beauty of what it's experiencing. When life is so good, it's almost too much, the heart bursting with it all. Along with that joy comes the fears - can I hold onto this? Can this place be preserved? Can I ever top this? And then I remember/forget and it's all beauty inside and out.
Candice hates this picture. I love it!
Ibu - chatting us up
seaweed gear
seaweed farming
wow
We rode back at sunset. I split off and headed to meet up with Paris and Aaron at Potatohead. When I found the restaurant, it was a wall easily 40 meters tall, curved around a huge inner space, and built soley of old shutters. I walked in, still damp from the water, white sand stuck to my legs and feet. Paris had rented a bed front and center to the infinity pool a spit away from the beach.
chillin'
Paris
Yeah
sunset
We drank cheap beer, Paris and I got our girl time on, and Aaron talked about his work with a co worker who was also there. The sunset was another glorious affair, the camera was hauled out again, and Paris and I ended our time there with some pro surfers who were feeling a bit friendly/drunk. I was asked if I knew who one of them was, the question phrased in the most charming Aussie accent and from a 6'2" carved surfer. I had no idea and still don't, but apparently it's a Warren Miller-like crew traveling the world filming surfing movies. Yeah.
At home, I ate a crazy healthy meal from a kick ass vegetarian restaurant/store around the corner. It's that kind of place where they play mediation music, the community board is full of yoga postings, and you can buy Braggs. Paris runs it and I got to shovel mouthfuls of sprouted stuff, greens, microbiotic blends, and home made sauces in my greedy mouth. It was so good I went back tonight for dinner.
Monday has been a rather crazy day, starting with moving this morning. At 10 am, I was riding my motorbike to my next housing - a hotel that I spent the extra money on and am enjoying the air con at this moment. After dropping my stuff and trying not to drop into bed (who knew being cold makes you tired?), I drank some of the free coffee from the automatic espresso maker and put on my surf gear.
It was clouded over when I arrived at my favorite spot (okay, ONLY spot....) and proceeded to eat my $1.50 Nasi and Ayum, Tofu, and Tempeh with my fingers, chatting with Ben about the recent plane crash. The waves looked damn good. I went out with Eddie, paddling into the sweetest waves I've ever experienced. I didn't get a lot of good rides in, but I was out there for over three hours and upped my skills quite a lot.
At one point, Eddie and I traded boards and I couldn't believe the difference. One, I couldn't stand up on his at all. Not even close. It's tiny, light, and kind of like trying to surf on a toe nail. When we're out there, we learn each other's languages. Today he wanted to learn "sticky" and "slippery", using the waxed and unwaxed parts of his teeny board to illustrate. Then it was salty and sweet. Now, these are adverbs, so I had to take it down to stick and slip. How the heck do you describe why there's a "y" sometimes and not others when the other person has such a rudimentary grasp on the language in the first place? I learned "come on", and a few other words I can't remember. He told me about his ex-girlfriend who called him yesterday and proposed. I also found out he's 28 and only looks 18.
We have an easy friendship, this man who just lost his father and moved to Bali to live with his uncle Ben and work renting boards, teaching surfing, and selling cokes, water, tea on the Seminyak beach. I take a lot of secret pleasure from walking up to the little table built from scrap wood Ben has found, the cooler on top full of drinks and ice, boards leaning against a tree, and hear the shouts from the guys welcoming me. We discuss the surf, politics, music, food, and at some point most of us are out in the water together - them effortlessly grabbing wave after wave as I desperately paddle behind them, seconds too late. There are a lot of comments and laughter at my expense in Indonesian, but we all get a turn and that makes it okay. I spell out English words for them as they text their temporary holiday girlfriends, all of them lean and ripped and dark chocolate, full of smiles. Sometimes one of them plays the ukulele and they all join in on their favorite Indo songs.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow.