Quilters Mingle with the Children

Our group mingled with the children. It's hard to tell who was having more fun - the quilters or the children!

And then it was time to board the bus and continue on to the Coffee Plantation.

Children at the Elementary School

Boys will be boys everywhere. They just couldn't resist showing us the peace sign and sticking their hands into every photo. They were having fun so we just snapped away with our cameras.

Men wear two scarves folded together and tied in the front. The tails are supposed to point upward -- except the one little boy on the lower right and his tails look a little bedraggled. GRIN.

Altar & Children at the School

In the background you can see the altar covered with baskets of fruit that the children had brought for their holiday. They are collecting their baskets and shared some fruit with us.

As we boarded our bus to leave, someone suggested that we take up a love offering for the school. We collected more than 2 million rupiah (about $200 in U.S. dollars). When the money was given to the teacher, she just burst into tears. This was a lot of money for them.

We were very lucky to be passing by on this special holiday at the school.

Visiting the School on Blessing of the Books Holiday

Children in Bali go to school six days a week, Monday through Saturday. Usually they wear uniforms. On this Saturday as we went up the mountain road, our guide asked the driver to stop so we could visit this elementary school. All of the children were dressed in their sarongs and good clothes for the Blessing of the Books holiday.

This was one of my favorite stops on our trip. The children were very excited to see us and we took their photographs enmasse and then in smaller groups. What beautiful children.