2/24 and still in Bali

7AM: I have been thinking/dreaming about going to the island of Flores for a long time. I first came to Indonesia in 1984 to the island of Bali. Then I returned in the summer of '88 to Sumatra and Java. I took my first Evergreen student group to Java and Bali in 1992. I spent the summer of 1994 on the islands of Sulawesi and Lombok, and then a student group to Sulawesi and Bali in '97. I think it was then that I dreamed of going to Flores on my next trip to Indonesia, never imagining that it would be 13 years before returning. But I am going there today.

8PM: So here I am, still on Bali. My flight was scheduled to depart at 1PM. Being a domestic flight, they told me I didn't have to be at the airport until noon. Luckily, I don't like to cut it close at airports, so I arrived at 11AM. They told me at the counter that the flight was rescheduled, and was leaving right now, so I rushed up to the gate. First they told me 10 minutes. Then they said, "soon." At 12:30 they said that the President was flying so the airport was stopping all flights for an hour, and we would leave at 2PM. An hour later the flight was canceled, or should I say rescheduled for tomorrow. We shall see. So the airlines, in the most disorganized way possible, eventually got our luggage, and then transportation and rooms in Kuta, in maybe the worst hotel I have stayed at (well, maybe not, come to think of it). But I can't complain about the beach, which stretches on forever, nor the sand, that is so soft it seems to melt under your feet when it gets wet, nor the water temperature, that has not one bit of chill in it and is maybe warmer than the air temperature.

And surely I cannot complain about the sunset.