2020 🇺🇸 🇬🇧
Now it is a thing of the past, but for many (especially me) it will remain in our memories as an unforgettable year. I'm going to tell you how the year 2020 ended for me.
November
I used to go out to do my grocery shopping every Monday and spending the rest of the week confined to home. November made a big difference in my routine. I began to have days when I could walk more than 10 steps without the need to support myself on crutches and my ability to support my own weight on the operated foot increased day by day. This was the month that I was able to feel a little more secure venturing out on the streets riding Meteoro (my moped) beyond my weekly shopping. I knew then, that it was time to get on with my life, get out of Lombok and meet Pegaso (my bicycle) in Bali.
The last week of the month I put up for sale all the things I had bought to cope with my voluntary isolation in order to avoid contagion of Covid while I was recovering from my surgery. Refrigerator, electric stove, pots, pans, blender, rice cooker, knives and all kinds of utensils necessary in a kitchen as well as spices, sauces, flours and everything necessary to cook international menus as I like. I built this special cabinet to fit my small induction cooker with its sink to cook and wash dishes... standing! Here they are used to doing everything squatting. It was beautiful and I felt so sad saying goodbye to it.
These are examples of the photos with which I promoted the sale of my things. I put the price that I paid and the auction price with the description of the item. (There are 2 photos in the slideshow)
I equipped the bathroom with new plumbing to be able to bathe with a shower instead of a bucket.
Those above and hundreds of other items, all the things I needed to get rid of as soon as possible. As you can see, I took photos of them, I put the prices of what they cost me and the auction ones; I uploaded them to my Google Drive and created a gallery. I shared the link with my friends and acquaintances and as I was selling them I was deleting them to keep the gallery updated so people would not come looking for something I already sold.
December 8
As the days passed and I saw that they were not selling as fast as I wanted, I decided to use another strategy. Remember the ads a person wore on like this?
Well, with this idea in mind I had one made but in a material like synthetic canvas. One single piece to be fold in half, one half in front of me and the other in my back. I made a cut in the middle of both halves to pass my head through and wear it like a poncho. Here I show you only half, the other if you see it is rolled up.
Translated it says something like: Foreigner leaving Lombok and selling everything. In red the arrow indicating where to park because I was standing right on the side of the road and at the entrance to the parking lot.
This shot, which is very bad by the way, starts on the porch of my house where you can see the parking area while I go to the entrance of it. Once I had crossed the bridge over the canal, at the edge of the paved road, that's where I used to stand, to the left of the entrance opposite the sign on the right. This is a main road with a lot of traffic that connects the north of the island with the capital and the rest of the island.
It took me a couple of weeks to promote my auction gallery to my friends, neighbors and acquaintances in Pemenang village. For a couple of days I became a human advertisement standing on the side of the road to speed things up. Finally, in mid-December, I was able to sell almost everything at ridiculous prices and gave the remainder to my friends, giving preference to newly married young couples and low-income families and individuals. It took me 3 weeks to get rid of all the belongings that are not part of my permanent gig that I use when I ride my bike.
December 16
Before leaving Lombok I wanted to circumnavigate the island as I did not do it by bike so I decided to do it with Meteoro. Over time I have saved many points of interest in my maps, shown in green, that I would like to visit on the island.
At first, when I first conceived the idea; how to transport all my belongings in one trip became a great challenge. How do you manage to load 8 pieces of luggage with approximately 100 kilos of weight on a scooter?
In my mind I conceived different ways to do it, over and over I drew them on paper, considering the advantages and disadvantages of each of the possibilities until I finally came up with the final version and the one that I considered the most convenient in terms of costs, security and chances of success. But I couldn't do it alone, it required developing it in a smithy and I needed an interpreter to help me communicate, I would have to wait until I was in Mataram and one of my friends there would help me.
December 17
I had to divide my luggage and make 2 trips to move my bags to Mataram, the capital and main city of Lombok. In the end, I loaded Meteoro with the last portion of my belongings, handed over the keys to the house to its new owner, and set off for the city.
At this moment I closed one more chapter of my life.
Once again I sold the things I had bought with great care and nourished the illusion of being at home. I was ready to soar again into the unknown. It was not easy to say goodbye to the small 36 square meters house where I lived for 15 months, to the village of Pemenang, to its people, to my friends, to the local warungs I used to eat at, to everything I experienced and cherished there.
There are 5 photos in the slideshow:
My beloved little house.
One of the many yummy feasts I cooked while I was confined.
The peculiarity of the culture, and its unique beauty. Can you see the white flower on one of the statues?
One of the most memorable adventures I had there and the friends with whom it took place.
Its spectacular landscapes, the most common scenery in Lombok, rice paddies everywhere.
Point A is my home and Point B is my friends' home / office. So you can see where I'm traveling day by day.
I arrived at the home/office of my friends Fikri, Iqbal and the rest of the Telkom team that they used as their work base, here is where I had previously left the first portion of my luggage.
They invited me to have lunch where they would serve Soto Ayam, a chicken noodle soup with vegetables that they know I really like, which one of his classmates' family prepared as a celebration for his graduation from university. When I finished, Fikri helped me find the blacksmith who understood the concept that I designed in my mind to mount all my luggage on the motorcycle. This was the key piece to be able to transport everything at the same time.
Back at their home base they had a business meeting while I packed my luggage. Look how different are the work meetings here, they don't take place inside the house, they are carried out sitting in a Berugak, something like a gazebo or kiosk with the floor raised from the ground where people take off their shoes and sit or lie down. They are everywhere in Lombok.
Once the motorcycle was loaded, I approached the group to say goodbye. Friends and new acquaintances wished me a happy trip.
In the background Meteoro was waiting for me, loaded with all my luggage ready to start the tour of Lombok.
Night was already falling when I gave my cell phone to Fikri so that he would do me the favor of filming the moment of my departure.
From Mataram I headed to Lembar, the port where at the end of my circumnavigation I would board a ferry bound for Bali. There, at Lembar, the family of my friend Iqbar was waiting for me, who would do me the favor of keeping part of my luggage so that I could circumnavigate Lombok a little lighter.
Wadi met me at the entrance to the port and took me to his home, which is located a short distance from there. He introduced me to his nephew, his sister, and his mother. At his house I started sorting my things and packed only what I would take for the next few days' journey and left what would be unnecessary. As I got back to Meteoro, other family members and neighbors began to gather around me curiously as I arranged my luggage and prepared to continue.
When they asked me where I was going, I told them that my plan was to go to Cemare Beach (pronounced Chemare). Wadi offered to take me, he quickly organized his friends and in a matter of minutes we were going on 3 scooters on our way to the beach to spend the night.
You can't imagine how grateful I was that they had offered to take me there. I never imagined that part of the road almost reaching the beach would be so risky. Because it was the rainy season, the dirt road was almost destroyed, bumpy, puddled, at times flooded and with slippery mud across its entire width. If I had gone alone I would not have arrived, I would have returned when I saw the condition of the access road. My biggest fear was that the motorcycle would slip and I would react by slapping my operated foot with force as it had happened to me other times and to hurt myself again, as it had happened to me on other occasions, which would mean that I could not walk for several days and spoil all my plans.
Fortunately that did not happen and we arrived safely at the beach. Despite having barely met, we had a very pleasant evening, we talked a lot, there was never silence, because if we were not talking, we were singing...
Well, maybe at dinnertime.
Here is the link to my very first live Facebook broadcast that night:
https://www.facebook.com/roberto.casasola/videos/10157592073061752/
These types of meetings are very educational and I love them especially because we enrich each other, they learn about my culture and I from theirs. They taught me new words in Bahasa Indonesia and I helped them improve their English.
I have no idea what time I fell asleep but I remember that it rained in the middle of the night and that woke me up. I noticed that they took refuge in a small food stall with a roof and kept talking and singing. I did not suffer because I was well prepared against rain and mosquitoes (my worst enemy), I slept in my hammock with mosquito net and I anticipated the rain with my tarp covering me.
December 18
When I woke up they were already up, they must have slept very little.
I got out of my hammock and started looking around me. I walked aroun