Day 12-13 (Wed-Thu) - Volcano and "Crappy" Coffee

Day 12 (Wednesday)

(Tina) Ketut, the driver (or “Ketut of the van” as the kids call him. Made’s wife is “Ketut of the kitchen”), took us on a great driving tour today to see Mount Batur, one of the big volcanoes on the island. First we stopped to see a beautiful terraced rice field, so steep that it’s hard to believe that the land would be accessible at all, let alone a prolific rice farm. The second stop was the Gunung Kawi temple where the kids were happy to finally have to wear their sarongs. Ketut bought a bunch of little crackers for us to feed the hundreds of koi fish in the ponds.

Our third stop was at an agricultural tour place. They grow coffee, cocoa, ginseng, and lots of other things native to Bali there. You can see how they make the delicious Bali coffee and even the infamous Luwak coffee. Ketut showed us the Luwak animal in a cage but I couldn’t understand why it would be here or what he was trying to tell us. He kept saying “coffee beans from the luwak poo poo”. Then I remembered that scene in The Bucket List where one guy tells the other that his so-called premium most expensive coffee in the world is picked from the poop of an animal. I had to look it up to see if it was true because Ketut kept talking about it but then would say “not true”. It looks like it is true that they use the beans from the poop, but maybe he’s saying it’s not true that it tastes better. The Luwak is sort of a wild cat that eats only the ripest coffee berries. Since it is so selective in what it eats, supposedly the coffee beans that come out in its poop are perfectly ripe. The stories conflict from here whether the poop actually penetrates the coffee bean outer shell or not, but supposedly the beans sell for over $100/pound. We could have tried a cup for $3. No thanks!

Finally we headed up, up to the rim of the volcano. We had a beautiful view of the center of the volcano from the restaurant where we had lunch. The kids discovered that they love sate (grilled meat on a stick) and about cleared out the buffet of it. I bet they were sorry for only charging us for one buffet for all three of them! The volcano top had blown off at some point so it’s a big crater lake in the center now. I think the kids were expecting to get to a peak of a volcano mountain and be able look inside a small hole to see where the lava would be. We had to explain a few times that we were already at the top of the volcano, this is it. The kids were crazy in the car on the way home. Thankfully Ketut is patient. It was a nice tour and since we trust him, we didn’t feel like we were being led to places to shop so he’d get commission or anything like that. He even took us up the back road to the volcano so we wouldn’t have to pay.

Back at home it was time for nap. Of course as soon as we got them settled in bed, Jim spotted a giant monitor lizard on the steps down to our pool. We decided pictures would have to do for them seeing it rather than wake them up. It was over three feet long! Yikes! Shortly after seeing the lizard in the yard we noticed another one in the tree down the hill from the pool. We're on the lookout now - these things are big. The kids got in a little swimming after nap and before it started raining. When the rain lightened up, we headed to one of the closer restaurants for dinner where they are starting to know us. They love kids here and always comment that we have a “good family” because we have two boys and one girl. Apparently that is the perfect recipe here. The boys stay with their parents even when they are married. The girl moves in with her husband’s family. Since their homes are “family compounds” with several buildings for different family members, living, eating, working, visiting, I guess it’s more like living next door to each other than living with each other. What a different life.

Day 13 (Thursday)

(Tina) Add another creature to the house guest list. Jim saw a mouse in the thatched roof. I’m trying not to look up so I don’t ever see one. Reptiles and insects are way different than mammals, if you ask me.

We didn’t do much today. We got in a little swim before the rain set in, so the rest of the day was kept pretty local. Jim and Eliot went shopping for a carved chess set and got caught in the rain. They found one they liked as well as a cool mask and then found their way home. Jim taught Eliot how to play and drew pictures for the kids. Since we didn’t bring coloring books, Jim is their personal coloring page creator. I’ve managed to find plenty of reading time and have actually read two books already. Normally it takes me 3 or 4 weeks to read a book, so I’ve obviously got some time on my hands. Jim and I are still barely able to stay awake until 10pm, so getting up at 6 with the kids is no big deal. A typical day is:  Up at 6am, play a bit and have coffee, Ketut makes breakfast at 7am, swim, out for some exploration or activity, sometimes swim, lunch, nap, swim, play, dinner, play cards, read, bed. Not a bad life.

This evening the kids had a couple of urgent trips to the bathroom during dinner, so it looks like we won’t entirely escape “Bali Belly.” I hope this is as bad as it gets…