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| This scary looking carving is located on the iron fence of the house next door. |
“Sightings on the Beach in Bali”
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| We did a double take when we saw these two young guys walking their inner tube type boats along the beach. Later, we saw them fishing from these tiny watercraft. |
Let’s face it, living in less developed countries presents issues many don’t find in their home country. We accepted this reality long ago when the first country in which we lived outside the US, Belize in Central America, formerly known as British Honduras, taught us that lesson hard and fast.
It’s not as if we expected a life of world travel to be as easy as life in the US. We knew there’d be challenges, and sacrifices and we’ve faced them with as much grace and dignity as we’ve been able.
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| The house next door to us is at the end of this narrow road of this private villa neighborhood. |
Sure, we’ve whined a bit and sure, we still cringe when there’s flies on our food as we dine (in excess amounts over these past few days) and, sure, we gave each other “the look” when the power went out shortly after dinner last night. You know, the look that says, “Here we go again.”
But we didn’t say much about it. Instead, we made a plan. The two Ketuts found candles but no candle holders. We opted for saucers. There were no flashlights or torches, in the house, no screens on the bedroom windows if the outage lasted through the night as we’d be without AC or a fan to keep us cool.
We easily both recalled living in Kenya almost three years ago (for a full three months) when there was no AC and the power would often be out all night. It happened over and over again. We had no living room, only a veranda where we sat in the dark by candlelight, bugs swarming around us until we gave up and went to bed to the protection of the mosquitos netting. We survived.
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| Spiky branches of this flowering plant. |
Not only did we survive, we became tougher, more resilient, more tolerant. But all of that doesn’t mean the sting of a fly bite or other insect or, the heat of a breeze-less night doesn’t impact our comfort level. We’re human, after all.
In part, the frustration level during outages revolves around the fact that we don’t know how long it will last. Will it be hours? Days? What about the food? What about being out of touch without Skype or a working phone when the WiFi signal is also non-existent during a power outage? (We’ve yet to find SIM cards for our phones in this remote location).
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| Pretty flowers growing along the wall lining the neighborhood. |
What about a medical emergency? The next door neighbor died 18 months ago when he couldn’t get to a proper hospital in time for treatment when he was having a heart attack. The doctor “was out” not returning for several hours. He lay on a gurney and passed away without treatment. (Tomorrow, when we head to Negara, we’ll find a SIM card).
The two Ketuts left after bringing us the candles, saucers and matches. At least we’d already had dinner. At least, my laptop was fully charged and we could watch shows until the battery died. At least, we had already cooled down the bedroom a little for after dinner lounging where we now go to relax in the evening, free from the flies and mozzies.
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| Hindu statue along the wall in the neighborhood. |
Luckily, it wasn’t a all night affair. A few hours later, shortly before total darkness, the power came back on. “Whew,” we both said simultaneously. We’ve said this many times in the past. And, we have no doubt, we’ll say it many times in the future, not only here in Bali but in many other countries along the way.
Now, as we bat off about half as many flies as yesterday, with a clear blue sky, power back on and the humidity a touch lower, we look forward to the later part of the morning when the sun and the day reduces the flies dive bombing antics and once again we can experience another sunny day in Paradise.
May your day be sunny and bright!
Photo from one year ago today, May 13, 2015:
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| The morning view from our lanai in Kauai as it rained off and on. We were counting off the day until our departure after a blissful four month stay. For more details, please click here. |