I waited in a little covered shelter for the rain to stop. An old Balinese man sat just outside his shop smoking and smiling and nodding at me. I returned his smiles. Then he began making hand motions to me which I did not understand. He suddenly got up and went into his shop, coming out with a rolled rattan mat and spread it out and sat on it. He then patted the mat and jestured behind himself.

I turned around, and there tucked between the bench on which I sat, and the rock wall of the shelter, was a rolled up mat! I did as he showed me, and received a wide grin!

I waited about thirty minutes, then continued my walk down Jalan Hanoman, where I spent several hours drinking Bali coffee with cream and sugar and eating peanuts, while talking with Anik and the woman who owns the shop next door. The topics of our conversation included children (Anik has none, and is always looking for advice), sex (when best to do it to get pregnant), business opportunities (Anik is sewing clothing and trying to sell in her shop... I think I am going to have to buy some...). gaining weight (a customer had given Anik's friend some weight loss powder a year or so ago, and she uses it every once in awhile... it doesn't work. They wish they could go to the doctor like Americans and just get the fat cut off... I set them straight), and husbands and their work (Anik's husband tries to get jobs off the street to provide transport, her friend's husband works at a small hotel for a few dollars, and of course my husband is a much respected in Bali... Guru.)