We were invited to attend a traditional Sasak wedding one afternoon, so everyone donned their finery and away we went. Girls wore sarongs and a shirt that covered your shoulders, guys wore sarongs and a t-shirt.
Here is Mel getting help tying his sarong the right way....
We were here for about 45 min. and then all the suddenly everyone dispersed and the road opened so we were able to get thru.
This was looking in front of us. There were people as far as you could see....and another band in front.
We were on our way to the wedding when we had to stop because there was a party in the middle of the street. I found out later that it was part of the wedding. The groom is from Gerupuk, so this was his group partying.
The girls dance around and they will hand their fan to the guys they want to dance with. After dancing, you give them money. (Small money like 5,000 rupiah). I'm not sure if the money is collected for the new couple, but I think so.
This is Anton from Sweden. He had a blast!!!
This is Shaggy (Scott), one of our beginner coaches. He looks like a biker...... :-)
Some local boys watching from the top of a wall.
We drove for about an hour to get to the wedding.
Here is the bride.......
She always looked soo serious, never a smile. We wondered if it was an arraigned marriage....
We basically walked down the street with a band behind us playing fairly good music considering what they had to work with - they were plugged in to an amp that was on a rolling wagon of sorts - it was very loud and lots of distortion.
The bride and groom were towards the front.
Some people were just standing in their front yards watching the party.
The bride and groom are in the very back for part of the ceremony, I couldn't see what was happening.
Then they went across this area to what was her home, where her mom was waiting for her. She looked very sad.....when the bride got to her mom, her mom was sobbing, moaning soo hard, like at a funeral..we found out afterwards that this is the "giving away of the bride"---only here, the mom will never see her daughter again........I guess because most of these people never leave their village.
That was it for the ceremony, then everyone dispersed and we headed back to our taxis.
A local woman......I showed her the picture and she was soo happy!!!!
Look how colorful their sarongs are. A totally different type of pattern than on Bali. Yes, I did buy 1..... But only 1...... :-)
Local women piled in to head back home.....
Caught a picture of Mel in his dress.....
The next day we took the big boat out for an all day surf trip to Tan Jung Bay.
This is our beginner group.
Hanna from Finland - really sweet girl, and a good surfer, she gets up on every wave....
Sandra from Sweden - very nice
Anna from Sweden - very nice
Karl from Sweden
This is Rachel (peanut) - she is part of the staff here at camp
Martina - her and her hubby Lucas are here on their honeymoon. Lucas is in Mel's group.
Shaun and Sarah - from England - they are both doing really well. 1 of 3 couples at camp.
Tomke from Germany .....really fun - she has been traveling on her own since June.
Johnson- 1 of the local guys who helps with surf lessons. He has a great smile and is soo nice!!!
Shakira - great guy, he also helps with the lessons.
Yesterday was a really busy day.....2 surf sessions, then getting ready for a football match between the camp and the local Gerupuk team.
We lost the game 3 - 2, but everyone played really well considering the lack of practice and the 2 surf sessions.....
Scott. His real name is Sakrot, but it was just easier to call him Scott. He is one of the founders of the foundation and he runs the "sessions" group that Mel is in.
Scott,Shakira
Soo cute!!! I found out these 2 little guys were from the village. Their dad was a fisherman who drown. The mom re-married and went to live in another village, but she left these guys behind.... Scott (just pictured above) and Rachel (his girlfriend) found the older one (with the shirt) with a bloated belly from hunger and they started feeding him. He started coming around all the time and eventually moved in with them. He is 9 years old!!! The younger one is his brother and he showed up about 2 years ago. He is 6!!! The mom took the older kids when she left and has since divorced and re-married again.
Cows decided to walk thru the middle of the game!!!
This is Jen - another local who works for the camp. Most of the people who work here are from the same family. Everyone is soo nice!!!!!
After the game, we all came back to camp to get ready to go to dinner at a really nice restaurant in Kuta. There was not a local to be seen.......
The restaurant had wi-if, so after the meal everyone had their phones out. I wish I had brought my ipad so I could post the blog, but I didn't know where we were going..... Mel borrowed someone's phone so he could check his e-mail, make sure all was ok. I had to get picture of him.....at a restaurant on phone!!!!!
Everyone pretty much crashed after such a long, physical day.....
It has been GREAT!!!!!!!
Looks like an amazing vacation, Shel. Autumn has finally arrived in the Ozarks...but no beach!
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