July 10 - Gerupuk, Lombok


The days are starting to feel long. I feel like I've done so much here already, and I'm only on my second full day. I really like being in one place for awhile, and getting to meet (and interact) with the people. Otherwise it feels superficial, going from POI to POI, feeling a bit like I'm just doing it so I can tell my friends at home that I did.

Decided to take a day off of surfing. Instead of going out in the morning, I spent the time roaming the village with my camera. Gerupuk is a small fishing village, and most of the daily life I've seen is tied to that. Boats come into the beach in the morning, and meet the rest of the family to string out the nets and pick the day's catch from the webbing. Man, woman, child, and toddler is involved in bringing food to the table - makes me feel a little guilty when I remember how unfair I thought summer yard work was as a kid.

























However, I notice they still seem to have a lot of free time during the day (a fair portion of which is spent at the skate pool at my hostel) - maybe the difference here is that they're not spending much time on school.

After sharing lunch with the hostel employees (as the lone resident, they've been including me in their meals), I spent the rest of my afternoon reading, stretching, writing, and playing guitar. Some other travelers also showed up - though I've had the place to myself for the past couple days, they brought some welcome liveliness. We shared dinner later, and they seemed enthralled that I dive down to 40 feet without air tanks.

But before then, during my sunset run, I discovered something spectacularly unexpected.


Surf notes:
  • (None)

Random snapshots
  • Tried dropping into the skate bowl. Scraped my hip, banged my wrist into the concrete, re-confirmed that I am not a pro skater. Hope that my wrist will be good to go by tomorrow morning (plan is to go out for a surf lesson).
  • Most of the fish I've seen here are tiny, like little sardines (maybe they are?). Lunch was rice and some balls made out of these fish and coconut, rolled together.


Feelings:
  • Starting to have a little more fun (i.e. feeling a little less fatigued)
  • Haven't been doing much reading, but my book (Hawaii by James Michener) can be a bit slow, and it's been awhile since I read books with this level of detail (like maybe since middle school?)

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