Magical and Mysterious Ancient Banyan Tree

Early in the morning we hopped on the motorcycle and headed to see an ancient Banyan tree.  As we climbed the mountain, up a narrow single lane road, we finally came to this enormous tree.  It is known to the Balinese people as Bunut Bolong.  This tree is a centuries old.  It is fabled and believed to have magical and mysterious powers.  There is a large hole through the middle of the tree large enough to drive a car through.  Inside the tree, and on the outside, there are shrines where people come to pray.  Coming up to the tree, we took a side road around the tree and parked in front of all market on the other side.  An older man soon approached us on a scooter and began telling us tales of the tree. 

His name was Wayan Difta and was 57 years old.  He told us he used to be a tour guide and now just lived in the small village near the tree.  His face showed years of living a difficult life in Indonesia.  Wayan’s parents had both died in 1967 and he had no siblings, a wife or children.  His life consisted of living near nature and praying to the Gods.  We sat for an hour with him telling us stories over Balinese coffee. 

The tree, he told us, had mysterious and magical powers.  If you were unmarried and went through the tree It would bring you bad luck.  If you are under 16 and went through the tree, it would also bring you bad luck.  This was the belief of the village people. 

Wayan Difta was a lonely and sad man.  His happiness came from nature and his daily talks with the gods he prayed to.  After all the time he spent with us, and his comments about being a tour guide, I had expected to compensate him in some way.  I offered him some money for his services, which he politely refused.  His comments to us blew us away and humbled us.  Since he had never had parents, he wanted us to be his new and adoptive parents.  He didn’t want anything from us, just to be remembered and for us to remember that he was also now our son.  His wish was for someday in the future, for us to return to this place to see him.  Before leaving we exchanged WhatsApps numbers.  Several times a week I now receive well wishes from him to his father and mother.  After then receiving proper greetings of respect, we hopped our motorcycle and rode back off the mountain.

This was an exchange neither one of us will ever forget.  We wish you happiness, Wayan, in the future. 

May you all experienced humbled happiness.

2WANDRRs