Alex Iglecia

We drive to Lovina with Wayan
We get we at GitGit
We eat lunch at Bambu. Poor dog.
We visit the zoo and dolphin show at Melka
We meet Balinese Sinatra

2-17 Leave for Lovina, GitGit, Bambu & Dog, Melka

Our Last Day
Twice at Three monkeys
Doing Shopping
Monkey get a slingshot
Talks with David on the porch

2-16 Saturday, Last Day

Eating lunch with Priscilla
Our Last dinner at Café Wayan

The days are winding down now. The morning sessions are still amazing and David Patten is feeling better. Beth and I took it easy, and met Priscilla for lunch at Komeneka, a very nice bungalow/restaurant establishment next door to Sri Bungalows. We were the only ones there and took a small tour of the lower end room which just floored us. Perhaps we’d return to Ubud one more time? We later decided not to, which meant we would have to move our luggage with us, but we’d have the advantage of getting to be spontaneous.

2-15 Friday, Free Day

Now we are wearing Rings
Uluwatu Temple
Eating Fried Fish in Jimbaran
Shopping for Arjuna mask
Indus is Fancy

Today is the first day of wearing rings. I have never liked rings, and as Beth and I were trying and looking for rings none ever felt comfortable, including the ones that we picked (that picked us). Today the ring feel totally right and comfortable. It’s almost ringless.

Wearing the rings, Beth and I, with Charles and Andrea and our driver Wayan ventured from Ubud to Uluwatu, the temple on the cliffs in the southernmost area of Bali. Uluwatu is also a famous surfing area. The monkeys here are really aggressive, and we were witness to a few locals and tourists snuck up upon, climbed, and robbed b monkeys. The monkeys then bargain, or rather, they ransom, the stolen glasses or hats or earrings for peanuts or eggs.

Wayan took us a little north to Jimbaran beach after Uluwatu where we had fried grouper, grilled snapper, chicken, and rum. No, but we had ordered brem and they brought us rum. We sent the rum shots back in exchange for arak attacks! Arak is the Balinese local spirit. They mix it with various juices or drink it straight. Of course, most Bainese don’t drink much at all. And nearly none eat out. Restaurants are for locals mostly.

Back in Ubud (this was a long and full day) Beth and I went to see the Wayan who interpreted for our palm leaf art exchange. This Wayan is an incredible mask carver, dancer and laugher. He’s just a riot, and we wanted to buy a gift for Greig from him. Greig had carved his own mask with Oka, the famous artist in Ubud. His mask was the opposite of Arjuna, and represented Greig’s shadow. We wanted to get him the light.

We finished up the day with the entire Patten group at Indus, the upscale sister restaurant of Casa Luna, owned by the author of Fragrant Rice. A phenomenal experience, though not very Balinese. Their Coconut Killers were killer!

2-14 Valentine, Uluwatu, Indus

As a result of our work with David Patten, and of this entire tour, and of our entire lives, here is how we greeted each other and friends to begin our wedding:

BETH:
Hello,
I am the one who seeks continuous renewal,
the one who will inherit the universe.

I am the one who rests between the beginnings,
the healer that brings peace in which I know myself.

I am the one with a willingness to act with confidence and beauty
so that I open myself with light to the stranger.

I am Beth.

ALEX:
Hello,
I am the silver flash of light that rests in the questioning.

The inquisitor, I am, the brave one on the hero’s journey
walking there on the road ahead
asking unicorns how far it is to the sun.

I am the center of the universe,
gazing at my navel through telescopes of steam,
always dying,
always being reborn.

I am Alexander.

Day 10 Wednesday
Temple at Batur
Pedanda’s blessing
A Wonderful Wedding

2-13 Wedding - Susan Saralegui's Ceremony Photos

It’s wedding day, but I’ll get to that in a moment. A large group of us drove to Batur, which is the name of both the village, the temple, and the volcano. The temple was grand, the wind was cold, and the pemunkdu was young. We had a pleasant visit there and were only slightly harassed by the Baliaga people selling their wares aggressively. The trip up and back was just about an hour, but we stopped on the way back for some liquid refreshments. Beth and I had ginger coffee, which was quite horrible, but spiced it up with sweetened condensed milk. My favorite.

David Patten arranged for us to visit the pedanda who first purified our group on the second day of the tour. There were two parts: the preparation outside the pedanda’s area, and the pedanda’s purification itself. Later we found out from our driver Wayan that what we just went through is often all that is needed by a Balinese couple to be married, and the after party is simply and grandly a celebration. That means, if accurate, that we were now married as far as Balinese are concerned!

There was more to do. We went back to Sri Bungalows for our costumes. We spend nearly two hours being made up and dressed up. By the end, Beth was a princess and I was, in my view, unrecognizable! It’s important to know that in Balinese understanding, refinement is the height of masculinity. Thus, Kings and Gods in nightly performances and rituals throughout the island are often performed by women in order to emphasize grace and beauty.

All of our group was transported to Made’s compound. To say it is beautiful is an understatement, and to say his lovely wife was joyous and giving is nearly insulting, because she was so much more than that. We were all offered the best coffee, rice and banana treats called pillows, and soothingly relaxed ourselves for a while.

David Patten began the ceremony by calling everyone together. Beth and I introduced ourselves to each other and to the group poetically using symbolism from the Oghama, which we had worked out with David previously (see Day 9). David then asked me to circle Beth and view her from four directions to make sure she is the one. And so it was with Beth, who then circled me and viewed me from four directions to make sure that I was the one. David then wrapped our right hands together with the scarf we chose to write our vows on. We then brought our faces close and spoke our vows to each other.

Greig Andrews then began the second half of the ceremony to offer us our rings. He shared a message from the healer who had previously blessed us, and had seen Greig that day. We were floored that, once again, the healer was sharing with us. Greig shared words from The Prophet, spoke lovingly, and we concluded. Finally, one of our guests, Katrina, pronounced us Mr. and Mrs. Iglecia.

The celebration then commenced with dinner at Café Lotus at the Water Palace, in Ubud Kaja (North). A overwhelmingly lovely place full of lilly pads and lotus leaves inside an enormous temple. Beth and I walked through for photos and then enjoyed a great evening with our friends and guests. A Japanese couple, two tourists, took their pictures with us. We were celebrities.

2-13 Durian, Temple, Costumes, After

2-13 Pedanda Ceremony

2-13 Wedding - Christian de Quincey's Photos

2-13 Wedding Susan II Small Camera

We freshen up at Nur Salon
A meeting with David

Beth enjoyed a four hour treatment at Nur Salon that included an hour and a half massage, pedicure and manicure, facial and hair treatment. I went only for a manicure and pedicure. Fun! I had my right fourth finger painted purple, and right pinky nail painted white. The fourth is the healer’s ringer, and the fifth represents loss of form or ego death. Purple and white were chosen many weeks ago as our wedding colors for a number of reasons. White simply represents consciousness and being awake. Purple is the union of our favorite colors, blue and red. It also represents creativity, inspiration, magic, that part of you that believes, that names your car or your house. These values are very important to both of us. Together, purple and white represent the Balinese black/white motif of balancing the higher and lower. This is usually translated as good/evil, but that’s not quite right. Balinese set offerings each day and shoulder/head height to the gods, and on the ground to the demons. We in the west think of this as good and bad, but it’s more complex, balanced, and healthy a concept than that. It’s about recognizing our shadow and about keeping ourselves, the world and the universe in balance.

Beth and I later met with David Patten to review our names. Briefly, my understanding of Oghama is that they (Oghamas) are correspondence systems set about by observing the relationships between energy and trees, ourselves and sounds, of aspects of the world and who we are. For example, A represents strength and sexuality, L liveliness, E rest, and X wisdom. There are many correspondences and many energies associated with each letter, and that’s just a beginning. With David we than mapped our full names and recorded paragraphs of representations from which we would later draw on to create our introductions. This was a fascinating process. David says our names are mantras that evoke who we are, though not in a causal way. Sounds are energies, and whether I call myself Alex or Alexander will evoke certain qualities and strengths.

2-12 Nur Salon, Bachelor Party

We go to Temple
We spend time with David Patten
We are blessed by healer
I get sick at Tutmak…

2-11 Temple, David, Healer Blessing, Procession, Tutmak

2-11 Healer's Blessing- Christian de Quincey's Photos

David’s message: watch out for the other.
Bumbu cooking class with Made.
Trip to Blue Lagoon gets sidetracked.
Dinner at Murni.
Beth’s bachelorette party.

2-10 Monkey Forest, Cooking Class, Murna, Bachelorette Party

Temple with 13 fountains.
Reflexology massage lesson.
Dinner at Dian.

The day is bright! The healer’s magic has clearly done its job. Now we began our day by going to the temple of 13 fountains to bathe across these. There were three we did not move to, the first, the tenth and eleventh. The way things work here are like this: none of us know why we could not go into these three fountains. We dare not understand! It was a beautiful experience.

Back in Ubud, Beth, Christian and I had our second massage lesson with Ayu. Her instruction was incredible, and we learned a very particular, and particularly difficult, thumb technique. Afterwards we adventured to find a full reflexology session but could not. We finally found one location that Beth and Christian went to. They were more than disappointed, especially with our new understanding of reflexology.

Finally we went to Dian down the street from Sri Bungalows for a lovely light dinner. Beth is trying the Brem everywhere. The best is yet to come.

2-9 Temple 13 Fountains, Dian, Barong Dance

We meet the Healer.

Today we visited a healer. I wasn’t skeptical, but I did think I might have an idea of what would happen. Something magical. I was wrong by longer than a long shot. Beth and I visited with two colleagues from our group, and the experienced really defies description. I suppose I could try, but I won’t other than to say that he zeroed in on one of my life’s recurring problematic patterns within moments of beginning his diagnosis. Beth too. We both experienced a release, and by this morning, are truly feeling refreshed, re-membered, re-started with a clean slate, so to speak. I had faced this problem of mine before in other programs like Landmark Education, Tony Robbins, during meditation, and other times. I had never gotten through it. This time, I think I’ll be able to fully swallow my smile and push on.

2-8 Healer, Lunch, Casa Luna

Being a teenager.
Temple.
Woodcarving and Painting with the chesire cat.
Campan

David Patten’s morning talks are phenomenal. We are going through the Ogama and Agama that predates Christianity and other religions, and his story telling is simply amazing. Today we look at being a teenager. Of course, not just in the literal sense, but in the sense that the focus of the teenager, that we carry through our life, is the sense of being masters of ourselves. So today we will try to be masters of our own time and ask the world to bend to our will. Just to see what happens.

Our group visited Nyoman’s compound to work with his wife Ry and her team of campan instructors to learn the art of campan making. We learned the simple circle, square and triangular designs. I had a wonderful time, though the method of instruction was challenging for me. They would correct me or lead me before I had had a chance to try it myself. It was challenging to let go of “let me do it”, but I am starting to get it. Campan are beautiful and the ones we have seen are relatively simple, but a high art by my standards. Our group is to participate in a temple procession next Monday where we should see some serious caman and offerings.

2-7 ATM, Temple, Waterfall, Wayan

We grow up.
Batur mountain and volcano hike.
Kecak

The lesson and theme for today is about the meditation of the child who is the center of the universe. At this stage of life we have the opportunity to understand where we fit, or else we will live all of life not understanding where I fit in the universe. I know this plays out in my own life. America is also full of it.

The big event for the day was traveling with a few of our friends and to see the Batur mountain and climb one of its neighbors. We had two guides, Peter and Made, and were followed by a woman and her son and dog who planned to sell us coke and water at the top. She went all the way with us, even though we told her many times that we would not buy any. The Balinese are very persistant! We took many photos on the way up, some on the way down, and Peter pointed out the Baliaga on the way down. They are the original Balinese, they say, and live in one village on the lake near Batur. They are aggressive, meaning they ask for much more money than they should. They place their dead in protected areas above ground and wait for the flesh to clear from the bones. Much more than that I don’t know. They do sound serious!

We went to a kecak performance. Here in Bali, or at least in Ubud, each neighborhood or community puts on its own shows at its local palace/temple. The Kecak is the monkey dance or monkey chant and dance. Wild!

2-6 Rice, Bakur Volcano, Bambu, Kecak

Dreams.
Wedding planning.
Pedanda.
Temple.

I have had a dream Monday night and one last night. I won’t say much about them, but will say that they were more vivid than I normally would have. It seems that many others in our group are also having vivid dreams.

We’re getting married! Yes, that’s not exactly news then, is it? Bali had news for us today. We began the day with a purification ceremony. What will we do for our wedding? Where will we be? What will we wear? Beth and I began some conversations with David and Reba (the wonderful woman coordinating all our adventures) and it’s all magic from here on out.

Today is day two of thirteen on our tour with David Patten. He has arranged for one of the island’s few Pedandas to perform the ceremony. It was a beautiful, and new ceremony where we were literally bathed from the head down in water. Five of us went through the ritual at a time, which consisted of water, incense, and rice. Rice is enormously important here in Bali, so much so that the fact that they now are net importers of rice is actually a huge deal.

Now that we are purified we made our way to our first temple of the tour, Temple on the outskirts of Ubud. We wore temple costume, which for men consists of sarong, seput, udong, and sash. For women, they wear sarong and sash, and a shirt that covers armpits. Let me say just a little something about sarongs and sashes. They rock. Absolutely. The sash reprepresents the promise or commitment to remain (grounded) in the middle world. The Balinese hindu belief system says there is a upper world of the gods, lower world of demons, and middle world where humans reside. It’s infinitely more complicated than I could explain and certainly more than I understand now, but the commitment to stay in the middle world represented by the sash is beautifully full of intent and integrity.

2-5 Temple, Free Day, Three Monkeys, Dance

The pattern of David Patten.
We start with Reflexology.
A stab at our wedding vows.

Today we began our program with David Patten. He took us to meet a famous wood and mask artist, and then to meet a very well known painter whose wife is an equally known Batik artist. Nyoman, the painter, bore an uncanny resemblance to the chesire cat. He wore the biggest Balinese grin, spoke with wisdom, humor and over my head, and could point the way if only I promised to use my right brain.

Afterwards a large group of us climbed halfway to heaven to eat at a concrete picnic table for the cheapest food we’d seen so far. In fact it was a phenomenal lunch with coconut pie with real coconut. Later, Beth and I visited Kenko, a small site near Sri Blungalows where we are staying, for an hour reflexology treatment. We got up to go just as they brought out the most amazing ginger tea we have ever smelled or tasted. I asked for the magic recipe, which they whispered was simply boiled ginger with brown sugar. I cannot wait to try this myself! (note, since this day I have tried ginger tea nearly everywhere else we’ve sat down, but none have compared at all!)

2-4 Market, Batik, Wood, Rainy Dinner

Blue Lagoon
The new Nur Salon addiction

Carl, Luan, Susan, Maggie, Christian and Beth and I traveled to the Blue Lagoon an hour taxi ride away from Ubud. We hired a driver for the ride, a three hour stay (not tour), and the promise of a return ride. All together, we each paid $5. I won’t say too much more about money in these posts, because it’s all the same. Everything here in Bali is extremely inexpensive. This trip was an introduction to Balinese sales technique. We had been instructed that bargaining was an opportunity for Balinese to get to know us, that the negotiating process was in part to get to know one other. We certainly did! After a few purchased, a special custom design on a palm leaf with macadamia nut oil, a sandy massage, a little freediving and a wonderful lunch, we did know quite a few people!

In the evening, Beth and I went with Christian to Nur Salon for an hour and a half massage, scrub and rose petal bath treatment. I’ve never had such an experience before (and I’m sure I’ll be saying that a lot while we’re here!).

2-3 Sunday in Bali

Dinner at Cafe Wayan with Christian and Reba. They are just wonderful. We ate at Cafe Wayan and tried Brem. Brem is their local rice wine and it is ridiculously good.

2-2 We Arrive in Bali

Yes, we want coffee. There’s much to see in this airport, and it’s so big that perhaps we’ll get an hour of walking in. It has been 14 short hours. This is the first stop of our trip. The Taipei airport is clean, fresh, full of nice little sample snacks, and accomodating with these free internet sites. The security is very polite, politely asking us to dump our water. And I’ve never had such crisp, clear instructions as on the flight itself. I’m still dizzy with their speed and efficiency.

Our 14 hour flight on EVA Air was wonderful and smooth. Their drink glasses, plastic utensils and even coffee cups were fantastic. Is it possible to be impressed by such small things? Yes!

Beth and I slept most of the way in the deeply reclined seats all the way in the back, even though we had a plethora of movies to choose from.

Now, on to the coffee! And our next trip to Bali in just a few hours.

We’ve signed up with Flickr to prepare for our trip to Bali. Be on the lookout right here at iglecia.com for upcoming photo albums. Hopefully I’ll get it integrated on the site itself. For now, visit the photo albums here.

Michael Dowd has just released the new book trailer for Thank God for Evolution!, made possible by a generous grant from the Foundation for Global Community. Below Michael Dowd’s comments, I’ll post a few media links.

Watch the trailer!

From Michael Dowd:

As we enter 2008, I am overjoyed to report that we are in our second printing of Thank God for Evolution! The book is already attracting attention from major media worldwide including Newsweek, Wired, and the BBC, among many others. It’s introduction of Evolution Theology is inspiring thoughtful new conversations about the marriage of science and religion throughout the blogosphere. Connie and I are deeply grateful for your role in helping us realize our dream of sharing a sacred, meaningful view of evolution with as many people as possible, as soon as possible.

This April, our mobile ministry will enter its 7th year! As you know, Connie and I live on the road full-time, offering all of our programs and presentations for free to churches and other organizations across the continent. What you may not know is that 100% of the profits and royalties from Thank God for Evolution! will go toward furthering this movement and keeping us on the road sharing the good news, hopefully for the rest of our lives. We are grateful for the many gifts we’ve received, and this year we have a special request.

This one act alone, when taken together, may help us reach enough people to inspire an evolutionary revival in 2008.

Watch the trailer!

As news of global warming and global warring dominates the headlines, we believe that nothing matters more at this crucial crossroads in human history than accepting evolution as a fact of life. Reality is teaching us that it’s not just what we believe that matters, it’s how we choose to evolve. A sacred evolutionary worldview offers a way for people to make peace with themselves, each other, and the planet, and no gift could be greater than that right now.

So, thank you again for your support, and thank you in advance for helping us evangelize The Gospel of Evolution throughout 2008 and beyond!

Blessings,

Michael Dowd

Michael@ThankGodforEvolution.com

ThankGodforEvolution.com

P.S. Here’s a short note that you can cut and paste into a new email and send to your friends, which makes it easy for them to do the same:

If this book doesn’t end the science and religion war, it’s certainly a MAJOR step in the right direction!

http://www.ThankGodforEvolution.com/book-trailer.html

If you are so led, please pass this announcement on to others. Thanks!

Here are some media links:

• Wired Magazine: Former Evangelical Minister Has a New Message: Jesus Hearts Darwin

• BBC: There’s a new evangelist on the road in the bible belt of America, but whereas Michael Dowd once believed in creationism he’s now an evangelist for Darwin - and he’s not abandoned his Christian faith. Indeed his new book is entitled “Thank God for Evolution” and in it he claims that the marriage of science and religion will transform your life and our world. When Roger spoke to Mr Dowd he put it to him there was a time when he believed evolution was “of the devil”. What had happened?   Listen to the BBC radio interview