Breakfast at a volcano

What a way to start the day – eating breakfast in the shadow of Bali’s most active volcano, overlooking Lake Batur.  Ten friends plus tour guides set off early this morning to take in the breathtaking view, followed by a 13 mile cycle ride through paddy fields, Balinese villages and coffee plantations. 

As with many places I’ve visited, it seemed that the women were doing most of the hard work, pictured here weeding the rice fields.  I did however catch a glimpse of one man working hard… supervising!   Rice of course is the staple diet, as it is throughout Indonesia, and since they’ve gone almost completely to GM rice production they get three crops a year.  Sounds good until they mention that they now also need to rely increasingly on chemicals to sustain the yield.  Alarm bells anyone?

Passing through the villages we were invited to go into one courtyard, home to two families.  Laid out in traditional style, with the ancestral shrine in the northerly most part of the yard, it is clear that the Balinese have a very strong sense of community and are deeply religious, with festivals and

ceremonies to mark major milestones.  One such milestone is the toothfiling ceremony, which is conducted by the high priest.  During the ceremony, which  takes place at puberty, the child has six teeth filed down as a symbol of fighting what they describe as their six major enemies: lust, greed, anger, confusion, drunkenness and jealousy.  To ward of other evils some families have a ‘blocking shrine’ which stands at the entrance of the property which they believe will ward off evil spirits.

A great day out for anyone with a sturdy behind and strongly recommended to anyone visiting the island – just ask for the ‘sunrise volcano tour’.

Back into meetings tomorrow.  Today has provided a fabulous backdrop into tomorrow’s discussions on transformational development and training.