The Day After

It's been several days since I've posted, I know.  Sorry to those of you who have been vacationing vicariously through me.  It is now the day of silence in Bali (except of course for the tourists, who can't seem to stop talking about how quiet everything is.)  I went last night to the center of town and stood in the football field (not the gridiron we think of at home, but more just an open patch of grass that is home to stray dogs, broken goals and fallen coconuts) to witness the celebration of Nyepi Day.  All of the neighboring villages brought their very large Ogo Ogo's (which are the evil spirits) to parade through the streets of Ubud and eventually burn them to rid them from their lives.  Sadly, this exorcism must only last for a short period, as the damn demons keep coming back and have to be burned once yearly.

So while I and nearly five hundred other tourists watched as the locals paraded their spirits through the streets, it occurred to me that we have nothing on a national level that resonates the way Nyepi Day does.  I'm thinking of lobbying for a national holiday of rest, where travel outside the home, use of electrical devices (namely video games), cooking and certainly fighting amongst siblings is expressly illegal.  That's right, illegal.  If it was just forbidden, no American child would refrain.  As it is, here in Ubud, if you're caught on the street, you'll be thrown in the pokey!

So today, on the day of rest, the hotel lobby is full of Americans, Canadians and Australians, feverishly connecting to the internet and busy scouring cyber-space for anything to crowd our already over-crowded thoughts.  In my next life, I want to come back to a less developed country. That way, there is no guilt over just enjoying sweeping the dead flowers and monkey poo-poo from the roadside.  

I know I have been waxing over my new friends, so I am including a few shots of them and of some of the things I've been doing while in Bali.

I'll be returning in two days.  Can't believe it's almost over.

Miss you all,

Mimi