Friday, January 15, 2016

Arriving in Bali

                 Arriving in Bali


                I stepped off the plane in Despensar,  Bali and was immediately embraced by the nostalgic smell of tropical air and the warmth of the Bali sun. The architecture of ancient temples danced passed the window of the taxi as we drove to the Eco Garden where I would be staying. Scooters and motor bikes paraded passed us, unfazed by the heavy traffic.
               The Eco Garden was far away from the chaos of touristy Bali, It is tucked away in the hilly village of Ungasan. Green hills covered with temples and farms along  long narrow windy roads.
Finally, I arrived at Tara Green Eco Garden. I was welcomed by Darwin, the gardens dog, Lisa, Made and Tommy who gave me a tour.

               It was simple and beautiful! I could hear birds singing, hens chirping, and the subtle sound of the light breeze blowing through the leaves of the numerous plants I was surrounded by. This was going to be the life...... except some minor struggles that I would soon learn.

              I thought that sleeping would be relaxing in such an environment. Little did I know that at 7:15, right as the sun was setting, an invasion would begin. I began to notice lizards on my walls, Probably about 7 of them. I wasn't too upset about that. Then came the beetles that began making themselves comfortable right on my bed, great. Next were the cicadas. The first one came in an I was petrified with fear. I stood in my towel too scared to leave my room to get to the shower. My game plan was to wait till the cicada flew to the other side of the room and then run as fast as I could. Just as the Cicada was a safe enough distance from the door and I thought that I had the opportunity to make a break for it, A second came zooming in. Crap. Now what? I watched as these crazy flying monsters crashed into every corner of the room. To make it worse a third flew in. I wasn't going to make it!  Should I write my goodbye letter? No. I got enough courage to run to the shower. Luckily when I got back Lisa had some advice on how to prevent them. The first was to keep my door closed after dusk. There was still a big opening to get for bugs to get in between the thatched roof and the walls though. The Second tip was to turn the lights off in the room so that the bugs weren't tempted to come in. Lastly I learned that beetles are easy to flick and cicadas are NOT aiming to kill you but rather they are so clumsy that they just wildly crash into everything.
I finally fell asleep after being on edge for a while.

Wow, there was a lot I still had to learn. Conquering my fear of bugs was going to have to be a top priority!! 


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