Day 3: Ubud

Todays morning went a bit better. The roosters delayed their crowing after first starting at 4am, but nevertheless I decided to get up at 6 as I had already been awake since around 5. With Tyrene and Carla I stretched and did some crunches (crazy Tyrene!) and soon was ready for our breakfast of fresh fruit, tea, with sugar! and a delicious apple crepe.

Next we were assigned into groups, given a list and told to go into the city to complete a scavenger hunt. My group headed in and while asking for directions to one of the landmarks met a wonderful local man who offered to show us around. We decided this was a better use of our time and gladly agreed. Although it sounds crazy by American standards, and I would agree, I was very skeptical at first and was concerned, not for our safety but that we had unwillingly committed to some high priced tour, in Bali it is actually not ridiculous for a friendly stranger to show you around for free one afternoon.

Our first stop was the house of the healer featured in Eat, Pray, Love. Not having read the book I wasn’t as taken as some of the others, but nevertheless it was a beautiful compound and I saw the cutest plant there! Also met the funniest looking, but sweetest, miniature golden retriever. Obviously avoiding dogs did not happen, but I do try and avoid rabies by thoroughly evaluating the temperament and mouth foam of dogs before I pet them.

Next we went to a coffee plantation where we tasted 8 different kinds of coffee and tea, along with samples of orange, vanilla and milk chocolate. Surprising myself I liked the vanilla coffee! The 3 other tea drinkers in my ground agreed, although I ended up liking the amazing lemon tea the best since coffee breath still disagrees with me. We also tried the infamous worlds most expensive coffee from the Luak cat. This jungle cat eat coffee beans and as they undergo the digestive process the flavor somehow deepens or something, producing a supposedly delicious coffee. Of course to my unrefined palate it simply tasted like very strong and unsweetened coffee, which is not my favorite.

We then ate lunch at a delicious and beautiful restaurant bordering a rice paddy. I sat next to our guide and was able to learn a bit more about his past work on three different cruise lines, Bali rice and his family. At the end of the afternoon he graciously drove us back to our home stay and said he’d friend us on Facebook!

Luak Coffee

Around 4pm we headed to the Green School, an amazing organization located a little outside of the city. Founded 4 years ago the school is based around a curriculum focusing on sustainability and is housed in a breathtaking campus of open air bamboo structures, rice paddies and gardens. It was amazing to learn about everything they did, but with 250 students, only 10 or so who are local Balinese you have to wonder about the impact the school is having on the surrounding community. A few of the facts given to us were also a bit suspect, as our leader told us that they hadn’t moved any dirt when building, when in fact it was quite apparent that the roads had been cut out of slopes.

However, the work that the school is doing, and the recognition it is gaining worldwide is spectacular and hopefully will help the organization reach financial and environmental sustainability. One of the most amazing things shown to us was a hydropower whirlpool. Siphoning off a small amount of the river that flows through the middle of campus, the water flows down a sloped tube and into a circular basin which creates a whirlpool as the water follows gravity. Although it isn’t operational at this point eventually there will be a turbine that is powered by the moving water and can generate electricity. Another thing we saw were the local Balinese pigs who are fed from….food scraps! That’s right, no unused food waste here. I took 3 pics of the handmade food scraps sign.

Dinner, a trip to the convenience store for bread and a break in the Internet cafe (here now!) followed. Long but busy day!