Most Balinese people will pulang kampung (return to your home village) for Galungan. We went with our friend Wawan to his village about 40 minutes from our home. It was a good trip. We tried endless varieties of Balinese jajan (snacks), drank lots of coffee, and had a good time visiting with Wawan's extended family. Probably the funniest guy there was Wawan's grandpa who was just a really joyful old man. You could tell he was happy to have his kids and grandkids around.
He is also a traditional healer that is well known for his ability to counteract the effects of black magic. At one point, we walked down to a river near their home and found ourselves sitting in his personal temple/offering area where he does all the reverse black magic stuff. It was a weird/interesting experience. Later I asked him how he learned to ward off black magic, and he said, "Itu rahasia. Orang biasa tidak boleh tahu mantra itu." Basically, it's a secret.
Trying to figure out how people are related in a large family can get very confusing because the Indonesian word for brother/sister can be used for a sibling, a cousin, a second cousin, or your uncle's cousin's sister's nephew. It's a very general term.
Jaiden quickly made lots of friends and had a great time playing with the other kids there. Kids are allowed to run wild in Indonesia, so it is always hard for Jaiden not to get caught up in the craziness. It didn't help that she was constantly being handed cokes, candy, etc.
Didn't get any pictures at Wawan's village because we just feel better not acting like tourists when we are in situations like that. This is a picture of Wawan and Jaiden at Margarana (see the post below) on our way home.
