Nusa Penida: Day 2
Our second day on Nusa Penida was another fascinating one. Jude and Mycah’s bruises from the previous days scooter mishaps were wonderful colors, and their scrapes were scabbed over. While others still slept my mom and I went for a stroll to check out the neighrborhood.
Fishermen were securing their boats on land, after unloading their morning catch.
Temples looked beautiful in the morning light,
and so did the beautiful flowers all around.
Locals sat quietly, watching people walk and bike past their warungs (little shops),
while others made morning offerings to the Gods.
We thanked the people running the place we stayed at, and set out for the underground temple. En route we stopped at a beautiful beach, where some of us collected shells while others skipped rocks.
We always love our beach time!
We reached Pura Goa Giri Putri, the underground temple, and parked our scooters under some trees. Some Hindu men were preparing decorations for the next days Galungan, which is a celebration of the triumph of Dharma over Adharma, or good against evil.
We rented sashes and sarongs, necessary for entering all Hindu temples, and began our climb up the many concrete steps.
The sign at the temple entrance encouraged us to maintain heavenly thoughts, words and deeds.
As we neared the entry to the temple, we could hear a bell ringing, and rounding the corner, we could see from where it came…
A priest was making offerings, seated at a small altar. The smell of incense filled the air.
Though we had to get on all fours to enter the cave, it quickly opened up to a large chamber (262m in length), thought to be dated back to the Neolithic era.
Bats flew around freely and huddled in groups on the ceiling.
“Giri” means ‘hill’, and “Putri” means ‘female’, so the cave was given the name because it represents Siva, the Goddess who possess the nature to protect, nurture and love human beings. When times were dangerous and difficult the cave was used for protection.
Many small altars are set up throughout the cave, which can fit 5000 people during ceremony.
A priest blessed each of us with holy water and placed rice on our foreheads, temples and throats.
The holy water comes from a small pond up inside the cave.
When exiting, the final chamber has two different worshipping areas and everything is donned in the color red.
We had heard of a village where weaving is the main craft, and wanted to check it out. After grabbing some bottles of water and conversing with a beautiful little old lay, we headed our beastly bikes down the road to find it.
Tanglad, the weaving village, was a very sleepy little place.
So sleepy in fact, that we saw no weaving and very little sign of life! So, after asking two young men on the street – who looked at us like we were from another planet, we moved on.
We drove for hours, admiring the beautiful forests, rice paddies and shorelines, and finally made our way back to the bike rental to return the scooters. The view of Aging was picturesque, with fishing boats in the foreground, as we boarded the ferry back to Bali.
We feel like we saw Nusa Penida pretty thoroughly, and enjoyed the sites of yet another gorgeous island. We live in such an incredibly beautiful world! I am grateful to be a small part of it.
Adventures of a Tribe 