Gili Air, Indonesia

I talked a lot about the changes on the island in my last update but didn’t narrate it with any photos, so here are a few. Won’t mean much to most of you as you cant picture /don’t know the island or what it was like before, but I have a sneaking suspicion I’m going to want these as some form of documentation one day, so this is as much for me as it is for you. The attempts at westernized marketing seem to cause me the most heartbreak, for whatever reason.

Hot, hot, hot – been here almost a week already and no tan yet, as it’s literally too hot to be out in the sun for any length of time.

My diet has quickly been reduced to rice or noodles with chicken or fish, which hopefully will help offset the fact that I haven’t done a stitch of exercise since I left home on the 13th. I imagined myself to be quite determined this time, bringing along my ‘One Hundred Equipment-free Crossfit Workouts’ document and a dedicated sports bra and shorts, envisioning energetic squats and clapping pushups on the beach every morning…but so far, it’s all I can do to shuffle to the breakfast area of my guest house in my sarong and order a pot of sludgy, delicious Lombok coffee before 8 am each day. It’s that hot.

My new Tasmanian friends Nicole and Shawn left today amidst a short flurry of photos and hugs and contact information exchanges. It brings back the old familiar and unwelcome feelings that surface every time I make new friends here and they move on, as they all eventually must. It is only me who remains.

As I type this, the tympani of thunder and a blackening sky are announcing the approach of another rainstorm – a welcome relief for me and a refreshing drink for the wilting baby coconut trees on my land. With the rainy season beginning soon, it is the perfect time to build a well on my property – so that’s the project for the next few days. Sam and I will go into the village to buy bags of cement and siphon water from the Austrian woman’s well next door. I’ve apparently hired a worker from Lombok to come over to the island and do the job. He was supposed to come today, but I’ve forgotten that we’re on Indonesian time, here – so, today has become tomorrow.

Tidak apa-apa. No problem. Life should always be so loose.