june 15 9:00 pm

June 16 2008 update

We are feeling a little more at home and comfortable in our new surroundings. The people we are staying with as well as other travelers are very pleasant to be around. The place is billed and advertised as a surf camp so everyone here wants the ocean in some form or another. Of course we are the oldest and the youngest in the bunch. The place has about 8 rooms for rent. Breakfast and lunch included with good coffee! Andrew (who owns the place with his indo wife) is a surfer too. He currently has three local surfers that work for him and carry everyone surfing multiple times a day depending on ability, if you are ready. One lady from Canada is here and spent 3 weeks last year in good old Albermale, NC doing some accounting work for some company there. The ladies on staff serve up offerings to the spirits every morning in these three or four little temples on the outside edges of the fence surrounding the property. Each offering is a little grass type woven bowl that has some type of food (bananas or oranges maybe) as well as burning incense which smells nice. It is an offering to the good spirits just to keep them happy and they will in turn keep the bad spirits away.
A walk back from the beach with Dillon the other evening was 160 big-big(high) steps up a cliff then a 17 minute walk back to our place(Dillon had me time it). We are off the road so there is no auto noise to speak of. The dogs barked at us on the walk because we probably stick out like a sore thumb! The locals all wave and say high. One interesting fact that I never thought would be is that most people speak a little English so the language barrier is not that big of a deal. Trying to understand or speak Indonesian would be difficult for us although we are trying. Everyone speaks English when it comes to numbers and money! Haha !
Getting a ride anywhere is quick. Dillon and I just walk or stick out our thumb and someone stops pretty quick (whether car, taxi, or motor scooter) and you have a ride right away. Dillon likes the motor scooters. It is not uncommon to see 3-4 people on one scooter. Lots of scooters have surf racks on the side.
The orientation of north and south have had me a little puzzled to start. The waves bend around the island up to 90-180 degrees and I just think they should be coming straight out of the south. So the sunrise through me off the other morning when surfing. The pic posted of Dil and JON in the water was sunrise. It felt like the sun rose in the west that morning. I had to study the map and look at the stars to get my bearings. Also having nothing to the south of us except Antarctica is a little different.
More later , jim