Bali Beginnings

View from our room

"The house with the bamboo door,
Bamboo roof and bamboo walls,
They've even got a bamboo floor"

Tasha, Jonah, Zahara, and Dominic

Addresses in Bali are confusing, and communicating with a taxi driver in a foreign language is just as confusing.  This combination meant our taxi driver had to call Tasha, our next host, repeatedly during the taxi ride. We were glad to have someone else navigating the ludicrously crowded streets. Eighty percent of the traffic consisted of one or more people on mopeds, whose motion seemed more dictated by the laws of hydrodynamics than the traffic laws. Mopeds weaved in and around each other and flowed en masse past the much slower-moving cars and trucks.

The main dwelling, we lived
with the other volunteers on
the second story

The volunteer dorm was a maze
of mattresses on the floor

  An hour later, we arrived at Zahara Urban Farm (ZUF), and were greeted first by some wary street dogs (a common sight in Bali), and then Tasha, an ever-bubbly former Californian party girl who has lived in Bali for decades. Tasha had recently relocated from a cob village she had built to this new location, and there was quite a bit of organizing and constructing to do. They had already built an impressive two-story bamboo house/dorm/kitchen, but there were still piles and mounds and stacks of building materials all over the property.

Holly washing dishes in the outdoor kitchen

  Tasha's 14-year-old daughter Zahara lived with her and had a budding modelling career. Later we met some fellow volunteers: Sebastian, from Germany; Jonah, from England; and Julian, from Belgium. A Javan couple, Anik and Arif, also lived there and helped out.

We were sleeping with the rest of the volunteers on the second story, and it was a bit tricky getting our 50-lb packs up a narrow bamboo ladder, but the others kindly helped, and we were soon settled in. Randy went out with Julian on his moterbike and got us our first Indonesian takeaway, and then we collapsed, exhausted after our travelling marathon.

Dusk was a beautiful time of day

     The next morning we woke up and went to get provisions, and quickly discovered how not-pedestrian-friendly the streets were. Most streets did not have sidewalks, and most of the sidewalks had entire 4x4 slabs missing, revealing a 2-ft drop into trash-filled drainage water; if there were no holes, the sidewalks were treated as an extension of the road and used liberally by moterbikes. We walked a half-mile not really knowing what we were looking for, until we found a corner market that clearly sold food. Later, we realized that many people sold food from makeshift stands in front of their homes. Hours, merchandise, and prices varied greatly from day to day at these stalls, but they were everywhere. We probably passed a dozen of them in our attempt to find something that fit our preconception of a store. All of these stands made extensive use of little plastic bags. Single servings of beans? In a baggie. Any number of eggs you desire? In a baggie (walk home carefully). Tiny dried fish? In a baggie. Chunks of tofu? In a baggie. Soda? In a baggie (the bottle is kept by the vendor for refilling). Hot coffee? Yep, in a baggie to go. 

Tasha liked pillows,
and Holly spent a
few afternoons
making these

The outhouse Randy helped build

     After converting our eggs and vegetables into a tasty breakfast in Tasha's outdoor kitchen, we settled in for our first day of work. Holly helped build a fence, while Randy assisted in constructing a latrine. It was quite hot in Bali, and especially oppressive from about 11-2. Most businesses would take a break around noon, and even motorists would pull off to the side of the road for a brief respite. We quickly embraced this tradition, and enjoyed short naps during the heat of the day. Often during this break we would watch the dozens of kites flying over the neighboring rice field. Flying kites was a very popular pastime among the Balinese children. It was not uncommon to see as many as 50 kites in the air at one time. Some made noise while they flew, some had crazy long, 20-ft tails, and some were just plain huge. Once we saw a group of 6 kids attempting to get an 8-foot monster off the ground.

The toilet seat Holly
re-made

Looking down from our porch

     That first day we heard prayers broadcasted over loudspeakers periodically. We soon realized it was Ramadan, and having quite a large Muslim population, no matter where we were we could hear the call to prayer. Bali has 5 official religions; Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Confucianism, so Balinese schoolchildren get a myriad of holidays off. Tasha told us that mosques weren't the only ones with a PA system. The local Hindu temples countered with their own broadcast prayers, vying for the peoples attention.

Snakefruit: a delicious pina colada
flavor, with a firm texture similar to
garlic, wrapped in a thin, scaly skin
(hence its name).

Fresh coconut, yum!

     After a few days of nerve-wracking walking, it became clear that we needed a moterbike to safely navigate the streets. It was about $5/day to rent a moped; the other rental options were a bicycle or a car, both of which seemed equally insane because they crept haltingly through traffic while the mopeded masses sped by, inches away. This is not to say that the traffic was complete anarchy, it more resembled a well-choreographed dance, in which all participants were highly skilled, weaving around each other in perfect harmony. Julian offered to bring Randy to the bike rental place, and on the way demonstrated some of the intricacies of navigating he had learned, including not pulling over for a clearly motioning police officer. Julian explained that police hoping to get an easy pay-off often targeted foreigners, who would be looking to avoid legal complications. Once we got the bike, it took us a while to get used to driving, and although we never attained the skills the Balinese had, like carrying three passengers or 20 feet of PVC pipe, we soon became comfortable on the roads. 

Randy bodysurfing

Huge, 8' waves

     With our new-found motorized freedom, we were able to explore more of the surrounding area, including going to a nearby beach, Batu Belig. The beach was beautiful, with impressive and wild waves. They were great for bodysurfing, but after about 30 minutes of repeatedly getting forcefully knocked down, we were ready for a break. There were different colored flags along the beach, supposedly marking which areas were safer, but even after getting yelled at by a lifeguard, we still couldn't figure out which areas were designated for swimming. 

The new, improved, monsoon-
resistant kitchen

     A few days later, Tasha, Zahara, and Jonah went to the nearby island of Gilli to celebrate Zahara's 14th birthday, leaving us volunteers to work our way through the job list. Our main project while they were gone was insulating, covering the walls with plywood, and putting up shelving in one of the rooms. Another big job was preparing the outdoor kitchen for the rainy season by erecting a wall.

Sitting on the second-story porch

Playing cards with international friends

    After we were done for the day, we would often take a walk or a drive to replenish our foodstuffs. Right around the corner was an Indomaret, a little convenience store that didn't have much actual food, but did have intriguing snacks. We tried Pang Pang (sweet sesame-flavored crackers) and Grubi Balls (a hairy looking spherical snack whose main ingredient was a mysterious "root vegetable"), but avoided the prawn-flavored candies. There was also a cafe nearby, Casa d'Angelo, ran by a Dutch man that had European-style bakery items including bread, doughnuts, and baguettes. Being buffet connoisseurs with a tight budget, we were excited to learn they had a scrumptious, cheap weekend brunch buffet laden with gourmet dishes and fresh-baked pastries. The cafe drew a clientele of European ex-pats and travelers, and it was an interesting sociological experience to cross paths with a category of globe-trotters so different from ourselves. The tantalizing baked goods had European price tags as well, so were thrilled to find out they were half-price after 8 p.m., and we could finally rationalize buying fancy doughnuts and cream puffs.