Lovina Day Tour

We’re headed up into the mountains today (thankfully, as it is already getting hot by 9am) to see a few of the local sights. Our first stop is a waterfall that is a short hike in from the road.

Back in the van, we head off to a coffee/spice farm. There is a short, but interesting tour where we learn about a lot of the spices grown on the island, as well as their famous Luwak Coffee. For the unfamiliar, this is coffee made from beans that have passed through the digestive system of a small cat. Farmers literally wander through the jungle collecting cat turds, pick out the beans, grind them up, and serve you a cup at about twenty times the price of a regular coffee.

We’re not coffee drinkers but we can’t come all this way and not give it a try. Now to me, all coffee tastes like it has come out the business end of one animal or another, so I can’t say whether this is as good as people say (or even if it isn’t just some Nescafe they whipped up in the kitchen), but if sticking to your teeth is the sign of a good poop coffee, then we’re sampling some of the best.

As I try to rinse away the grainy taste of feline b-hole, I can’t help but wonder how exactly someone discovered this delicacy, and whether they’ve made a hobby of picking through different kinds of turds looking for things to eat, or just happened to strike gold on the first one. It’s a puzzle that will have to wait, as we are soon piling back into the van and headed to our next stop – hot springs.

On a day where the heat index is easily over 100, hot springs aren’t exactly the first things that come to mind, but it turns out to be a nice break, at least until the naked baby pinches a loaf on his mother’s leg (what is it with this day and poop?). Everyone out of the pool…

Last on the itinerary is a Buddhist temple back near the village. As we know from past travels, bare legs are a no-no, so we first get to take advantage of the community man dresses. Joey, of course, is awesome and rocks his out like a champ.