3/8 & 3/9 in Bajawa

3/8
There are these huge pick up trucks that they use as buses, transporting people from the villages to Bajawa in the morning. They wait around in Bajawa in the afternoon until they fill up, and then return to the village.

There are these little stands on the side of the road, selling this yellow liquid in recycled one-liter mineral water containers. I thought it was either cooking oil or home-made liquor, but it turned out to be gasoline.

I went for a beautiful walk this afternoon. All the people are so friendly. One young girl said "Selamat sore (good afternoon)" to me and kept staring at me and walking, right into the parked motorcycle. She laughed and laughed, and I laughed and laughed, so we laughed and laughed together.

3/9
Today I walked to a volcano, but not the one above - that is Gunung Inere, the second largest mountain on Flores.

An orange colored lake in the volcano's crater, with another volcano in the background.

Actually, there are two lakes in the crater of two different colors. This volcano last erupted in 2001.

Then I went to a different hot springs from the one a few days ago.

The power goes off in Bajawa each evening at 6PM. If you walk around the market at that time, the large shops run these very loud generators, but the smaller stands use candles, which makes for a beautiful and peaceful atmosphere.

Quote from Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love (p. 211)

Gilbert describes slipping or falling or merging into "God consciousness," and then, with the thought, "I want to always be here," slipping back into her ego and body once again, but with one last realization: ". . . that's when God let me go, let me slide through His fingers with this last, compassionate, unspoken message: You may return here once you have fully come to understand that you are always here." This is my favorite lesson from Adyashanti as well.