Building A Dream With Hand Tools

Now that some of the infrastructure had been accomplished it was time to start some “real” building.  Wayan said that the temple would be the first thing that would be built.  We assumed that the temple or temples would be similar to the ones that were already there only new and in much better shape.  We were both aware that the word temple could apply to the small individual ones that Balinese have at their homes or it could apply to a large structure such as the ones found throughout Bali.  Wayan said that that was to be done first in order to appease the spirits of the mountain top as we were in the process of making it look quite a bit different than it had in it’s pristine state.  The spirits had to have a new home before anything else could be done.

Time passed and money was sent and we wondered how the temples were coming along since it had been a while. We assumed that those would be make very quickly.  We asked Wayan to send some pictures of how things were going and to our great surprise we discovered that the spirits were going to get a much larger, nicer, and more beautiful home than they had had before.  I was somewhat upset at first as I thought it was a lot of money for a temple and I was ready to get building the resort itself.  I was worried about the cost and the functionality of the temple and the space that had been used on our little mountain top.  Would tourists really care I wondered?  Why didn’t Wayan discuss his plans with us so we understood what was going to be built.  Carmen; as  usual was unphased and right away understood the significance of the building and the depth of Wayan’s spirituality.  She tried to calm me and said that it wasn’t just a temple; it was also storage and office space and that the temple needed to be there because religion and spirituality are such a very important part of life in Bali and if we were really going to have a place of tranquility in Bali a temple had to be a part of that.  A part of me knew that long before Carmen did as I had spent so much time there over the years, but being the pragmatic person that I am I needed to be reminded of a few things. Okay I said; nothing we can do about it now.  It is a beautiful building and I tried to understand the depth of Wayan’s faith and the importance of being respectful of the land that we were in a sense desecrating.  It had to be done right and I believe now that it was.  The next post will give a glimpse into the eight hour ceremony that was done at the completion of the temple.  The spirits had to be moved from the old to the new.

While I had spent close to eight years in Indonesia and had seen a lot of buildings being built, I had never really paid a lot of attention to how it was done.  This was the first time that I had seen what it takes to make a building with hand tools. I found it fascinating and I hope that the over 200 pictures of the temple building will fascinate you too.  Enjoy and I promise that the next post will not be in three months, but much sooner than that.

With the road finished right up to the resort entrance, trucks were able to deliver supplies right up to the parking lot which made our deliveries less expensive and less labor intensive.  The parking lot at this point was still a work in progress and the retaining wall along the road had yet to be extended along the actual entry way to the resort. We will see how that was done in the next post.

The topic of this post will be the building of the underground water storage tank.  You may think that this doesn’t sound too interesting,  but the actual construction process really is quite fascinating (in my humble opinion).  The village surrounding our mountain top has a spring fed water supply.  We have no water source on the mountain top so Wayan negotiated a contract with the village head, and I believe five other families, which allowed us to buy lifetime access to the water supply.  Wayan felt we should construct an underground storage tank to store water.  The tank is twelve feet deep and lined with cinder block and concrete.  As with all the building, this was done with hand tools; no bobcat available to dig that very large and deep hole.  Shovel by shovelful the hole was dug.  Dirt was hauled up in buckets and taken away to be used later for fill.  Cement was sent down into the hole by small  buckets on ropes.

As you  will see in the photos, the tank was built to last a long time; just like everything else on our little mountain top.  I have gathered together almost sixty photos of the construction process and they are attached to this post. I hope that you enjoy them.  I know that every time I take a drink of water or bathe on our mountain top, I will think of all the hard work that went into the place to store that water.

As I mentioned in earlier posts, our first project that had to be undertaken was widening the foot path that went up to the resort area.  The path ran alongside a small hill so the hill had to be cut back to allow for the  widening.  Also, because heavy rains can occur in  rainy season, it was important to build retaining walls along the hillside to prevent erosion.  Wayan thought it best to build a two-tiered retaining wall; one above the other. This was going to take a lot digging, hauling of the excess dirt, and digging out many many rocks from very small to boulders in size.  In order to build the walls,  stones were obtained from three sources: the stones that were dug up were broken into workable pieces, from the villagers who gathered stones and brought them up to the property to sell  for a fair price, and also from local contracting type stores in the city of Singaraja.  We also needed a lot of sand and cement to mix mortar to hold the stones in place.

Before the road was widened, the trucks coming up from Singaraja had to stop before the entrance to the property. They would dump their load then the workers would have to haul the stones, sand or cement in the wheelbarrow or on top of their shoulders or heads to the spot where it was needed.  This work was all done in very warm temperatures.  Despite having lived all  their lives on Bali, the heat could still be an  issue for some of the laborers.  You will see in some of the photos that they have hung up canvas to provide shade to work in.

The hardest part of this segment of the project was hauling all the materials and all the digging of dirt and stones.  Some of the  stones were very large and the only equipment available to move them was human strength and crow bars.  One such boulder was larger than all the rest (see photos) and provided a tremendous amount of frustration and very hard work for the laborers.  They tried and tried to move it using several men.  They tried to break it up, and you will see in one photo that they were so frustrated that they decided to try to burn  it so that it would get very hot and be easier to crack apart.  I don’t believe it worked:-)

You will notice in the pictures that no one is wearing steel-toed work boots by a long shot!  Some of the men have old, worn sneakers, some have flip flops and many are in their bare feet. Can you  imagine doing this kind of labor in your bare feet??  I think not! I  myself can barely walk on any outdoor surface in bare feet!

Despite all the challenges that were presented in this initial work, the workers hung in there and got the job done.  We have been very fortunate that a core crew of workers has been with us from the beginning.  When more workers are needed for some of the phases, people from the neighboring village always seem willing to come out in force to help out. You will see this happening later on when the top of the mountain had to literally be hauled away bucket by bucket; wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow; no bulldozers in this project!  We attribute this loyalty to Wayan who makes sure that the workers are treated with respect and not overworked.  We make sure they are paid well.   Also, because this mountain is sacred to the village, people take pride in taking care of it so to speak.

One thing we never have to worry about is the quality of the workmanship.  It is phenomenal.  Only the best materials are used and time and care is taken to make sure that the work is done right the first time.  Wayan takes great pride in his work and that shows everywhere you look.

I am going to let the 90 some photos that I have tell the rest of this  part of the story.  As you look at them, put yourself in the workers’ shoes and I guarantee you you will quickly come to respect them.  I look forward to your comments, suggestions and questions. Enjoy. Until next time. I will be offline for a few weeks as I travel to spend some time with my four siblings and their families.

In this post I begin to take you through the journey of building our resort. I am including several photographs of the site and the surrounding views that we will enjoy as we sit on our veranda or that you might enjoy as you sit on the veranda.  I have also included photographs of the first Hindu ceremony performed before the building could begin.  As mentioned in a previous post, the mountain top was home to a few Bali cows and also some old Hindu temples where offerings could be left.

For the uninitiated, Bali is predominately Hindu.  It is unique among the Indonesian islands in this respect.  Indonesia as a whole consists of over 13,000 islands spread over 3,000 miles of ocean.  Most of Indonesia in modern times has become Islamic, but Bali has maintained it’s Hindu cultural traditions.

The top of our mountain has been considered sacred land by the surrounding village for a very long time; hence the small temples.  Wayan, our general manager, is devotedly Hindu.  It is believed that spirits inhabit the top of the mountain and before we could build, a ceremony had to be performed in order to request permission to build on the land and to also move the old temples.  Wayan arranged for a priest to come and perform the ceremony along with some of the residents of the nearby village.  Many offerings were used in order to show respect for the spirits and to appease them in order to gain permission to use the land for building.

After the ceremony was performed, we were then free to begin our project. The first thing to be built was a small shelter for the workers to rest.  Because there were no inhabitants on top of the mountain, there was no road all the way to the top.  There was a rudimentary road going as far as the village, but the rest of the way up to the top there was just a walking path or a path that could be navigated by motorcycle.  The first order of business after the shelter for the workers was the building of the road.  We had to have a road all the way to the top in order for the supply trucks to bring building materials. In the next blog I will begin to document the arduous task of building a road without any heavy equipment.

Enjoy the photos and I will get back to you soon.

Our plans for our little resort were kind of developed on the fly. The original plan was to build a home for Carmen and I to use as a retirement retreat and to rent out when we were not using it.  Our manager and all around renaissance man, Wayan thought that perhaps a small resort might be in order.  It was not hard to convince Carmen that that was a good idea. I am the worrier and was concerned about how long this would take and how much money it would cost.  But in the end I just let things happen and have become as excited about the project as Wayan and Carmen.

I think that before I start to talk about the actual construction, I should tell you a bit about Wayan Sutama.  We met Wayan when we were on our honeymoon in Bali.  He was managing the villa where we stayed and after spending ten days with him we were very impressed.  He was an amazing host and took us all over the place.  He was the one that told us about the land and that it was for sale. We were somewhat hesitant at first since we were about to undertake a huge project with someone we had known for only ten days. As it turns out, our sense that Wayan was an honest, very bright, and talented man has proven to be true. He has solely planned, designed, hired workers, supervised them, ordered materials, and worked with the neighboring village and government officials.  He works very long days and is very invested in the project.  His building skills are amazing and the construction of  the resort is such that buildings and other infrastructure will last a very long time.

He is also a very spiritual man,  which meant that the first order of business was to take care of the old temples with respect and to build a new Hindu temple. When he said that he was going to build a new temple first, we imagined that they would be similar to the old ones on the property.  Well, we were wrong. Several months later a beautiful building had been built that is not just a temple, but has office and storage space.  See the above photo.  I must end this post now but next post will back up a bit and talk about how trucks carrying materials were going to get up to the top of our mountain when a road did not exist all  the way to the top.  Until next time.