Mongoose poo

Hindu hell

Being in Mexico and now being here in Bali has made me remember how awkward it is for me to suddenly be rich relative to most of everyone else. At the big Hindu temple in Sidemen (SEE duh men) the other day, a seemingly endless stream of excruciatingly cute little girls would ask us very sweetly to buy postcards. Men standing around Ubud, where we are now, say TAXI? when you walk by. In touristy places anyway, one becomes objectified, a bag of money, or that's how it feels. I'm not saying it doesn't make sense, or that it's a huge hardship, just that it makes me feel bad, especially when I feel irritated by the persistence of gorgeous children. I'm much more comfortable being the poor one.

I've been feeling energetic and healthy, except in certain kinds of light when I can see all the blond Wolverine fur on my face. That's a shocker. But the minor chest pain that I had seems to have gone away. I felt it again when I drank some super gourmet coffee at a Luwak coffee plantation the other day. By the way, Luwak kopi is essentially mongoose poo. Seriously: A mongoose type animal, locally called a luwak, eats the coffee berries. Their shit is collected, cleaned and brewed. We saw a sad restless luwak in a cage, but mostly they just collect it from the forest floor. Apparently you can buy a cup in London for £70. But the original point was that it seems that drinking coffee of any kind makes my chest hurt. I'm SO done with that.

At the steamy coffee plantation

Also, Cull has some kind of Bali Belly at the moment, poor thing! She's been in bed since yesterday afternoon. I'm heading down to a restaurant in town, Casa Luna, to meet Kiranada, a friend who comes every year from New Hampshire. Then we're headed to Changgu which is in the west and I think at the beach.

I've been doing a lot of preparation for Dawn's ordination and really enjoying it. Will be able to say more about that on February 9!

Movies:
Limitless, Good, enjoyed it.
The Assassination of Jesse James. Was mostly not into it, though the copy we have doesn't have good sound.

P.S. If you have arranged with me to visit on certain dates, please email me to remind me!