Ganesha

You ever go on a trip buy a bunch of stuff and then get home and think, "What the hell did I just buy??" Well, not on this one cause I absolutely love everything I bought in Bali.

Its a sleepy rainy day here in Key West and I have been distributing gifts. Sending things to friends and family. Dropping things off too.

The painting above is the first thing I bought in Bali. A monkey temple worker pulled me and a friend aside asking if we would like to buy some art. 

He walked us to an area just past a screaming blond girl who was getting ganged up on by a bunch of monkeys. 

We told him we'd take a look and suddenly he was grabbing his stash from behind a cremation temple. I was still a bit jet lagged and wasn't really ready to buy my first thing. But loved that the first person I was going to encounter selling me something was an artist. 

In Bali its considered very auspicious whom you make your first sale of the day to. Something you should bargain with apparently.

The elephant deity in the painting is Ganesha, remover of all obstacles. He told me to put it in a yellow frame for good luck. I've been obsessed with the color yellow lately and took that as a good sign.

Loving all the things I collected on this trip. Every single thing including this CD I bought from a musician who was staying at our first eco lodge.

I sat near him at the pool one day while he was playing a guitar. His travels are weaved into his music specifically sounds of things he comes across.

The yoga teachers invited him to play at our morning yoga session at the end. When he started to play during shavasana, I recognized this instrument immediately. 

A covered steel drum of sorts I've only heard once in Barcelona after a really great day. I loved it so much I bought a CD for my friend and forgot to make a copy of it for myself. The sound is how I feel when I travel. It just makes me smile and want to go journeying.

After our last yoga session with Javier, I went up to buy a CD and found out he was from a town near Pamplona in Spain. Not too too far from where my family lives on the north coast. 

When I mentioned where they were from, he looked shocked. He had dated a girl from Asturias for 6 years he told me. "Such strong willed and genuine people" he said. I flashed to Tio and just said "Yes" with a laugh.

Asked him a bit more about the instrument he was playing and was so grateful to hear again. Apparently it was made in Farmington, Missouri. Another place I was very familiar with. 

More family resided there. And a long time ago, my artist grandmother took me, my brother and sister to get sculpture busts made of our childhood heads at the time. A gift for mom which is probably the coolest thing you could do for a mom. Have your child frozen in time in clay.

Such a strange thing, so many connections. Was the beginning of an amazing journey in Bali. One that I am enjoying unraveling each day being back.