Indonesia and the Sombrero Family!!

For all the Sombreros, the following post will be written in English so that every sombrero named in this sombrero post will be able to understand it.

My way to Bali was delayed for some days. I thought that I had booked my flight for Monday (instead of Sunday) therefore when I got to the check-in counter the lady told me that I didn´t have a flight on that day. I realized that I was at the right place at the wrong time and as the flights were cheaper to Jakarta I decided to give it a go and check the capital of the country.

I was in Jakarta for 3 days, the 10 millions habitants make it one off the highest population density city in the world… chaotic, polluted and tiring it’s a nice city to see but a not very pleasant one to stay. And somehow I had the feeling that something greater then “just a city” was waiting for me… :)

I have landed in Bali and against all my plans (once again…) I told to the Taxi driver to take me to Kuta (I did not wanted to go there on the 1st place but as it was already late it seems reasonable to go there since it’s the place with the widest accommodation offer).

I have spent 5 days in Kuta (far too much), nevertheless I have rented a motorbike that allowed me to explore other sites on the island and other beaches. On the day before I have decided to leave the island I met Andrew (Canadian, was living in Australia for the last 3 years and is now on his way back to Canada) on the hostel swimming pool. On the very same day we have decided to visit the Wualuatu temple on the south of the island to see the sunset (together, without knowing we became 2 sombreros travelling together in Indonesia). We drove our scooters down to the temple, however only one came back since until today we do not know what happened to Andrew’s scooters key…

We got back later in the evening (on one motorbike) to have dinner in Kuta with another fellow from our hostel named Bosko (not a sombrero!).

We left on the next day to Ubud, a small village on the centre of Bali named by many the cultural heart of the island. Here we rented a car for the day and checked many temples and spiritual ceremonies. On our hotel in Ubud we met Belu (Argentinean, that had been travel for some time in southeast Asia and had 2 weeks left before going back to Buenos Aires… or to London) and Mathew (English, from Manchester an amazing photographer enjoying his vacations from work).

After talking with them for a while Belu decided to come with me and Andrew to Gili T. On the next day (and we became 3 sombreros!!) while Matt kept his plan (but not for long!! :)) and make his way to the volcano top.

In the meanwhile other 3 units of the sombreros family were being formed around the island!!

First, on the bus, we discover Nicolas and Pedro (Chileans, that had just finished university and are doing a 3 month trip in Southeast Asia) and Gonzalo (Mexico, living in Normandy on his anual big trip) Second, on the boat (from Lombok to Gili T.) the other 3 unit formed by Lariza and Elin (Sweden, on a big traveling as well, they had just arrived from Australia) and Henrique (Argentina, the mighty sombrero had decided to take one month of from work to travel).

By the time we step into Gili T. we were already (without knowing) the first stage of The Sombrero Family. We started the usual hotel search, but this time instead of being 1 or 2, we were 9!! And we wanted to stay together, as families do! 2 hours later the family had already found its own hotel and had gone for a late night swim (under a serious attack of sea creators). Despite that, we stuck together and one by one we introduced ourselves and explained why we were there, why did we decide to do this trip, from where we came and where we were going to… 15 min after we ended the nonsense (after all we have been bitten for the last 15min.) and went for a late dinner on the beach. With Bintang as company, with Andy covering songs on demand, together we gave the official kick off for an amazing week to come.

On the next day´s too came we discover the spectacular Bierdronka couple, Michael and Agnieszka (Poland, that are going to travel for quite a long time on this side of the planet) that added to the family an amazing easy going vibe!! We also adopted Andre (Canadian, almost Andrew’s neighbor back home – not something unexpected since Andrew met more Canadians on this 12 days than on the last 4 years of his lifeJ). And the last member to arrive to the island was Matthew.

Finally, after visiting the volcano he was now ready to join us and to close the family in 13 members!! Well, to be truthfully to the facts we became 14, but that was only after meeting Jimmy and that took Nicolas quite a hard work on that afternoon…

During the next days we hang around together, half of us did scuba diving or took a PADI certification, others did snorkeling, we had meals together, we spend long…loooonng…long afternoons under our hut and the brave ones walked further away from the Mexican restaurant (80 meters from our hotel).

We also rented a boat to drag ourselves to the other Gili Meno and to Gili Air. Here we also did some snorkeling with the exception for the injured members Pedro and Matthew. Both of them with bandages, Pedro in the foot after an amazing live dance performance on stage and Matthew that almost lost his finger toe trying to stop the fan of his room (Sorry mate, can´t make it look any better than this, but it was brave anyway - ahah)

Me and Quique, had the chance of making some good friends on the diving school such as the ginger guy (don’t remember his name) with an amazing night dive (right Quique?!) and Guido that already loved us for the perfect homework even loved us more after the underwater photography course that we took when his camera went for a swim with us.

Quique and Jimmy

me...

Elin

Gladly the Portuguese press was aware of the Sombrero´s Phenomenon and The Family was on the news in a Portuguese news paper!

All comes down to this, and I have the feeling that I can speak for all of us; it was an amazing week that we won’t forget in our life time!! :)

Sombreros,

João Sombrero

PS: Now that we were all touched by the sombrero spirit I think that we are forced to share it with the world and help others to achieve enlightenment like we did. I would kindly ask you to explain the Sombrero state of mind to others…

PS2: All of you are more than welcome in Lisbon!! Come anytime (from July onwards) because mi sombrero és tu sombrero!!