Via Vacare - The Art of Not-Doing

When we left the Intercontinental for Alam Shanti, we left the enormous staff, the 5-star amenities, the resort-sized swimming pools, the choice of on-site restaurants.  But we didn't leave that special sense of being pampered for which Bali is renowned.  Although much lower key, our lodgings in Ubud were our own, we were treated like honored guests, served breakfast on our upstairs verandah, driven anywhere we wanted to go (and collected as well -- handy with a tired little guy after dinner on the other side of town), and we were left to relax and come and go in private, on our own schedule.  We still felt incredibly pampered. 

When we arrived at Via Vacare on Gili Gede, a small island off the southwest coast of Lombok, the island to the east of Bali, we enjoyed a completely different experience.  While we were by no means "pampered," our 6-day stay at Via Vacare was undoubtedly the most relaxing part of our trip.  Without cars (or roads) to take us anywhere, without restaurants to beckon us, we were able to just sit still.  We enjoyed hour upon hour swinging in hammocks and going to bed when the electricity went out after dinner.  Enjoying a solar shower in our open air bathroom was our luxury -- otherwise, we bathed using a maundi jar and carried buckets of water up from the beach to flush our toilet.  We did make a day of fantastic snorkeling off the coral reefs surrounding a nearby island, and Evan and I each enjoyed one walking trip around the island -- a few hours in the hot sun, passing several fishing villages, each with its own mosque and slightly different ambience.  Otherwise, we played with Ari, read, walked, collected amazing seashells, talked with the other guests and swung some more. Meals were served in the main house and were usually delicious.  

first morning's seashells

The owner is an Indonesian Dutch woman who still lives part time in the Netherlands.  Luckily she was in residence at Via Vacare during our stay, and we were fortunate to have her company.  She worked many years as a personal and professional coach/trainer and her people skills are wonderful.  The overall ambience is just so laid-back, you can't help but open up and let her draw you into personal conversation.  Vacare basically translates as "become vacant, be without, idle, do nothing, laze around" and Jet (the owner) encourages visitors to use their stays to slow down, to "regain breath after exhausting exertions," to take time to think about work and life and come to terms with intense past events and to distance oneself from daily routine. 

The two main drawbacks of the place are that it lacks electricity other than a few hours a day around breakfast and dinner, and that there is no running water in the bungalows during the dry season.  Despite being located right on the beach, there were insufficient breezes a couple of the nights we were there to keep cool, which made sleeping difficult without a fan. 

And let's face it - it gets old not being able to flush toilet paper (as those of us who have traveled in places like India or South America can attest), or to run water to wash your hands.  After a couple of days, the ill-fitting lid on the maundi jar meant that the water for bathing was no longer crystal clear, and we spoiled Americans are not used to things that are not so clean we can see our reflections in them (think the "anti-anti-phosphate" freakout currently revving up the Tea Partiers http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/oct/13/phosphate-ban-dishwash-detergent).  All said, I'd go back.  Maybe after another "exhausting exertion" like getting ready to move to the other side of the world. . . .