Penultimate* Minggu + A Jungle

If there is a word in Indonesian for second to last, idk what it is. Second is kedua and last is terakhir, so maybe keduaterakhir? No, that's stupid. It can't be that. I also learned that there is also not an Indonesian word for brunch NOR snack, so, uh, one cannot be sure that the priorities re: food are correctly ordered.

But, I digress.

On Tuesday Jo and I attempted to make her dream of canoeing across a lake come true. Alas, it did not, I think in part because we got to the lake too late in the day, in another part because we went to the wrong part of the lake, and having now driven around more of the island, should have just gone to a different lake. Regardless, it was a beautiful drive through the rolling sawa, with mountains always in the background. It's easy to forget how green and lush the island really is when you live in a city and can't leave its confines without a vehicle, but, it's remarkably green. Anyway, it was lovely. Plus there was this rainbow.

On Wednesday, before Jo left to go back to the UK, we sort of aimlessly wandered around the center of town in search of the elusive full moon celebration. We didn't find it. But, we did have smoothies and listen to a Balinese band practice for a while and appreciated the moonlight that cascaded across the landscape, backlighting all of the temples, which I assume, wasn't much worse off.

I know, you are looking at the same bright moon, and this picture fails to capture how beautiful it look
when the light backlit the temples and palm trees, but it was a perfect walk home. 

Yesterday, Friday, after finishing my third (yay!) week of class, I treated myself to a beer on the way home (also because stopping on the way home provides a moment to stop from being insufferably hot), ice cream for dinner, and multiple pats on the back.

Today, I treated myself to a jungle trek. The island of Bali, from what I can tell is about the size of two Rhode Islands, and has various "sections." For example, the beach (see: Kuta or Seminyak or any of the other beaches) or the volcanoes (Mt. Batur, Mt. Agung, etc.), Ubud (where I live and is resoundingly considered to be the cultural center of the island), and then jungle wilderness. Which means that the section left for me to explore was the jungle. Perfect. I got up early and went for a run (which, aside, running here is the woooooorst--it's so hot and so hilly and so humid and it just makes me want to die) and then got picked up around 7:15. The jungle trek was about two hours north of Ubud, which provided for an incredible car ride, up, up, up and through the mountains. There were a couple of villages, some two lakes, and enormously impressive vistas for a long time. It was beautiful. Also I talked to my driver almost entirely in Indonesian, which I have to assume is good practice.

The trek itself was only about two hours. But it was through a really dense and really loud jungle. The cacophony of bird calls was incredible. The trees were hundreds of feet tall. The grasses were soaked and shortly, so were we. There were two temples inside the jungle to specifically pray to jungle gods. There were snakes. Though, sadly, we did not see any. I assume also, there were bears. Because they live in all the woods. (omg, I'm joking--though had there been any, I would have given them a BEAR HUG--get it?!) But I was really hoping for at least a tiger. Because, obviously. I think that the coolest part about it, which is impossible to accurately explain and definitely harder to photograph is just how dense the tree canopy was and how closely surrounded by everything we were. It was really cool.

Eventually, we came to the larger of the two jungle temples. We stayed there for a moment and my guide gave me some Balinese fruits (Martha, I can't bring them back with me because, rules, and more than that, honor of said rules, but they're awesome and you'd love them. Plus, you can steal them off of trees everywhere--what.a.dream.) and he told me about his village and how they have yet to drill wells to the lake or to ground water and how every morning members of the village walk down to the lake (which is not a short walk) and retrieve water for the day.

Then we got into a canoe and paddled across the lake. It was awesome.

This is from the beginning of the walk--looking down at the lake. 

This is my guide, Kutut admiring the jungle (which means that he's the fourth child in his family and as such, kept calling me Wayan Brianna, to acknowledge I'm the first. He was very pleased with both himself and my remembering that Kutut is the fourth child name and to ask him in Indonesian).
Him: My English isn't very good.
Me: Tidak bagus bahasa Indonesian saya.
Him: HAHAHAHA. Okay. Fun day.

The second (I think?) jungle temple. Maybe the first. Hm. Regardless, a temple in the jungle.

From under a v giant tree

Jungle. Home to bears. 

And snakes. And lizards. And probably bugs that are gross and cool looking.

The lake from a vantage point closer to its shore. 

The trees were, as you can see, very very cool. 

Fruit snack remnants. 

My favorite and the prettiest jungle temple. 

Canoeing across the lake! It's about to rain. Don't worry, not on us. Doubly don't worry, I'm "wearing" a life vest despite Kutut admitting to not being able to "swim well" and assuming that neither could I. Sigh. 

Canoeing adventures never disappoint.

I'm listening to my favorite Florence and the Machine album in honor of Jo, who missed canoeing because she's in the UK. Or possibly has already left for somewhere cooler. Anyway, tomorrow I'm going on an all-day bike tour through small villages in the country side. But first, I should go feed myself.