Half way around the world, and some things are exactly the same. The climate ( although here is dry season ), the hustle and bustle, the trees, the vegetables in the market, even the indiscriminate dumping of trash, but there in my opinion the similarities end.

Panama has a lot of undiscovered natural beauty, but what knocks me out about Bali is the culture.

Everything seems crammed together, and the scale is smaller. Narrow, winding roads. One minute you are passing through rice paddies, with people impossibly bent over the crop, and the next second and next bend, brings a temple adorned with offerings, penjors (graceful bamboo decorations) and fabric-wrapped statues.

We were fortunate to arrive on the equivalent of Christmas day,  the Hindu festival of Galungan. It was a relief to leave the cold, dry air of the plane and walk across the tarmac in warm, humid air to the waiting bus.

Jim is here for a Bamboo Architecture & Building course, at Green School, Bali….

Looks like he will  be in the first class to graduate from Bamboo U!!