he has to do an assignment on a life changing experience, "well here we go" I thought, we have had plenty of them lately.
From our horrible year last year, to finding a scorpion in our (Sydney) toilet last week, on the roll of toilet paper!!, (I can tell you that was life changing for me).
But Ry is writing his assignment on our drive from Candi Dasa to Amed, as we drove up the coast road our driver kept on telling us how poor the people in this area were, it is a very beautiful area but you really do get to see the poverty, the kids couldn't believe people lived in such conditions, it was easy along here to see the tiny shacks that some lived in and our driver answered all Ry's questions, until he went quite and just looked.
At one point we had to stop for another car on a very tight bend, a boy about Ry's age came up to his open window with a big grin and no English, he reached into the car and tried to take Ry's empty water bottle. Riley and I still talk about how we wish we had let him have it, but it all happened so quickly, natural instinct (unfortunately) dictates hang onto it.
So was his life altering experience the shock of seeing people live in such poverty? No, it was the fact that all these poor people without exception looked up from what they were doing and gave us big smiles and waved, little kids ran to the road laughing and yelling greetings to us, and even the marching girls with their serious faces, looked at and gave side ways smiles.
Riley was in shock, not from seeing people so poor, but in his own words, when I asked him why was that so life altering, " I didn't know you could be so poor and be so happy, they were all so happy, like really, really happy"
What a wonderful lesson for a 12 year old.
Hey a big tip, if you hire a car and it has tinted windows, make sure you roll them down, it is so worth the bit of dust to interact with the locals, even if if is only yelled greetings, and big smiles.
Cheers Deb.