CAIT AROUND THE WORLD

May 2, 2023 — Yesterday, when I arrived in Gili Meno, I booked a snorkelling tour through my hostel! I’d wanted to do this on Gili T, but never did, and I’m actually glad I waited for Gili Meno to go on one. For 150,000IDR (or about $15CAD), I got to explore four snorkel sites over three hours, saw turtles and corals and more turtles, an underwater statue, and more corals and turtles! I was also part of a very small group of people — there were only three others on the tour with me, and two of them were from my hostel and we ended up spending most of the day together.

I got up at a little after 7:00am and got ready to go on the tour (although I forgot my towel). I had breakfast at the hostel (which wasn’t free but was pretty cheap) and found out who the other two girls going on the tour were. The day before, the guy at reception had mentioned that there were already two others from the hostel signed up to go snorkelling. He handed us our ticket as we headed out and we all walked down to the shore together.

The two girls who were also on the tour were sisters from the Netherlands and we had a great time on the snorkel trip; a guy from Italy joined us as well.

I loved that the tour was only three hours. We met at 9:30am and headed out around ten, meaning that we were back by one in the afternoon. The entire afternoon was still there to be enjoyed.

When we got back from the snorkel tour, the girls and I got lunch at a place right near where we were dropped off. After that, we headed to the saltwater lake on the island which, sadly, wasn’t all that impressive, but we did have a drink at the little warung nearby and got to see a kitten!

A little while later, we headed back to the hostel and one of the girls and I went for a quick swim back at the beach before heading back ourselves. The hostel had a workout class happening a little after five p.m. and it was almost three at this point. I thought to join in on that and then decided that I’d rather just have some chill time — we were having a traditional Indonesian buffet dinner later that night and then playing Werewolf, so I thought I’d save my energy for that.

I was feeling really sluggish and tired while I was on Gili Meno, which had been growing since Gili T. Chill time was becoming very important.

I called home and video chatted with Mom and Dad while I laid in bed, cooling off in the air conditioning. It was really nice to talk with them as it had been a few days. When I’m down, sometimes calling home just makes it worse. Today, though, it was really nice.

I went down for dinner at 7:30pm and sat around the table with most of the rest of the hostel, enjoying the traditional Indonesian buffet that the hostel folk put on. It was delicious, and so much food that you really didn’t need seconds. It was also more than a bit spicy! It was only 50,000IDR to join in (about $5CAD) — a major bargain!

After we’d all finished eating, we played Werewolf, a game that I’d heard of but never actually played myself. There’s lots of rules — Google the game if you’re interested in finding out how to play! After a couple of rounds, it was coming up on ten at night and I decided to head upstairs and go to bed. The air conditioning must have been turned warmer because it was feeling sort of sticky in the room and I went and rinsed off in the shower again, hoping that would help. Another girl in the room managed to find the remote later and adjust the temperature so that it was cooler, which was such a blessing. I know I love the heat, but wow, this is another level! And, finally, I fell asleep.

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