Last Magic Day in Ubud

In my morning journals I've been describing Bali as a green-winged fairy--some kind of goddess with a huge heart and gossamer green wings. And here is a photo that Anne took today of a dragonfly:

What to say about this last marvelous day in Ubud?  Half the group went on a nature walk through the rice paddies to look at birds, butterflies, insects, plants, lizards and the agricultural life of the people. Anne went on the nature walk.  Some pictures from that 3 and a half hour adventure: a woman in her temple sarong, doing a blessing in the rice field...

A hut in the rice paddy:

A red hat in the middle of the rice field:

I'll have to write about the visit to the healer another night. It is worth an entire blog entry, more than we have time for tonight.  It was a remarkable event for everyone. A remarkable man, Cakordirai (means 'respected elder'), and each of us has a story to tell.  The healer in Eat, Pray, Love lives in the same area, and the status of healers in Bali has gone way up since that story came out.

An aside: it's about 8:30 at night here, warm with crickets and frogs singing, and on the hotel sound system they are playing Christmas carols--Jingle Bells and Silent Night--played by a gamelan orchestra. Yikes!

After the walk, the healings, a swim or lunch or another walk through the monkey forest, most of us

 went back to Senang Hati, the marvelous village/family/school for the disabled that the Threshold Choir has a deep relationship with. We sang with them again, made a donation, bought a few more handicrafts and art pieces from their gallery, cried, kissed, hugged, and marveled at their spirit.

Anne took a couple more pictures that illustrate just how beautiful everything is here, and how every house, every family compound, has the same layout that includes a threshold with greeters from mythology that welcome visitors and guard the door against bad spirits. 



 So...tomorrow we pack up and move to a new part of Bali.  We'll be a few days in the one-water-buffalo town of Munduk. Along the way we're going to stop at a flower and fruit market and another temple.  Munduk is up higher, closer to the volcano.  We'll keep you posted. This hotel, Saren Indah, off on the outskirts of Ubud, has been so gracious and full of smiling faces. Here is the link to the hotel website: http://www.sarenhotel.com/

Anne and Tina signing off. Thank goodness they've turned off the Christmas carols.