Where Do I Start?

My days have been busy and my heart is full with gratitude for all that I’ve experienced over the last week. I will have lots more to share when I get home, but wanted to try to capture some of my impressions from the water purification ceremony we went to yesterday.

The night before, we had a wonderful “future dinner” where we were arriving back to Bali 5 years in the future. We then got to “share” everything that has happened in our lives. We all got into the spirit and our imaginations took us to some wonderful places as we enjoyed wonderful food, great conversation, and a chance to try Balinese dancing. My “2019 word” is ZEST - I certainly felt zesty as I dropped my normal dancing inhibitions and tried to follow our beautiful dancers moves. 😀

Very early the next morning, our driver, Made, took us to the temple. Along the way, we stopped to take a photo of the sun rising over a volcano.

Once at the temple, we were dressed in sarongs, white tops, and a yellow sash over our swimsuits.

Our group ready to enter the temple.



There are a whole series of steps that lead down into a lush sanctuary with a series of ponds and waterfalls.

Part of the way down, we stopped and gathered in a circle with the priestess who explained all the parts of the ceremony. The Balinese people are incredibly spiritual and believe in the importance of harmony between themselves and God, themselves and others, and themselves and nature. They also believe in the importance of purifying themselves of anything that can bring negative energy into their lives.

We then descended more stairs until we got to a beautiful pond with four waterfalls. 

After removing our white tops and sashes, we got into the water to begin the ceremony.

The first waterfall is to cleanse your body. The second waterfall is to cleanse your mind. The third waterfall is to cleanse your soul. And the final waterfall symbolizes letting go of everything in you that is negative energy. Because the Hindus are extremely tolerant, our guide told us to pray to our God as we went through the ceremony. 

As we reflected about the experience afterwards, all of us felt it was extremely moving, and for some, very emotional.

After the time in the water, we put on a dry sarong. You can see the kernels of rice on my forehead and throat - these are placed here to signify welcome abundance into my life.

We then went to a beautiful resort and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast.

We then had a chance to learn to make Canang Sari, the small, palm-leaf basket that the Balinese make daily to offer thanks. Everyday, these beautiful offerings are place in front of residences and businesses. Each of the flower colors has significance. Gratitude is a foundational value of the Balinese people and it is evidenced in all the people we have met.

The final opportunity was a chance to meet individually with a Balinese shaman. Traditional Balinese healers play an important role in Balinese culture and help people restore balance between the seen and unseen worlds. 

The shaman and her interpreter.

So grateful to have had this experience today.

Biking in Bali Countryside

We left Sama’s Cottages early this morning for a day of biking in the Bali countryside. After getting picked up in a van with our bike tour operators, our first stop was breakfast at a beautiful restaurant that overlooked several volcanoes.

We ate our breakfast right out on a deck overlooking this spectacular view.

Next stop was picking up our bikes and beginning our tour that was complete with lots of learning about Bali culture.







I personally found the bike riding challenging - I’m not a huge fan of going downhill fast (I know, most bikers’ dream condition 😀). So when this all day trip was billed as downhill biking, I was already feeling the adrenaline inside. Let me add, it was downhill, around sharp curves on a narrow road that we were sharing with passing motor scooters. Shortly, after we took our first couple miles on the narrow road, we turned right and started going down another hill, but one that was like a mountain biking road complete with rocks, holes, and gravel. I put on the brakes and front wheel stopped too suddenly (oh, what a mountain bike novice!) and did a little flip off the bike. I am so grateful that I only ended up with a huge thigh raspberry and a cut that wasn’t too bad. Could have been a lot worse.

We are certainly talking about not being limited by our fears this week - I had the perfect little laboratory to “practice” leaning into my fear of going downhill on a bike for the remainder of the day. I’d like to say “I’ve conquered my fear, but not the case! As I felt my extremely dry mouth with every sharp turn and passing motor scooter, I just tried to take this entire adventure in  and appreciate being on this amazing trip 😀

Touring the rice patties and learning all about rice and its importance for the Balinese people. Each family raises rice for their own family - Bali does not import it’s rice to other countries.

Farmers (with hats) planting the rice.






The water to grow the rice comes down from the mountains and is carefully channeled to supply all the farmers equal amounts.

The rice is harvested by hand - this farmer has harvested rice to feed his family. Rice is eaten at every meal.

Our next stop was for lunch in a “family home.” We learned a lot differences in Balinese family traditions versus the values we espouse in the United States. While we work hard to “launch” our children to independence, in Bali, families live together for a lifetime. We visited a family compound, had a delicious lunch, and learned about family structure. We learned that essentially all family compounds would contain the same elements.

One of the Celebration Bike Tour operators handled us each a wicker “banana leaf” plate holder. His smile is what we’ve seen on all the faces of the people we’ve met - our bike guides, Sama’s Cottages staff, restaurant staff, and shop owners. Gracious is the word I would use to describe the lovely people we’ve met.





Need I say more - the food was absolutely delicious!

Here are the key elements of each family compound. In the Eastern corner (behind the room in the foreground), every family has its own temple. The Balinese people are predominantly Hindu while most of the rest of Indonesia is Muslin.

Next to the temple, in a place of honor, is the living area for the grandparents who head up the family.

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This is the children’s room where children go after they are old enough to leave their parents’ side. In Bali, men and women don’t have arranged marriages anymore. When they do marry, the men (and their new wives) live in the man’s family compound. Women go to live with their husband’s family. There are additional rules for what happens if a family has only girls (in that case, the husband comes live at the woman’s family compound). However, the bottom line is that families live together their entire lives and they have the expectation that they will care for each other. This compound we visited had 20 plus people living there with four generations.

Each family compound has its own public space where weddings, funerals, and other celebrations are held. 

This the room where the rice is stored - it is right across from the kitchen. Our guide said that all of the cooking for the entire day is done in the morning. After an “offering of food” is put out for the gods, the family eats. The remaining food is then eaten later in the day.

We all agreed that our day was an amazing experience complete with a beautiful countryside, delicious food, and hospitable Balinese people who welcomed us into their home.