Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Bali

Bali is upon us at Arcangelo Productions! We are pleased to be hosting our 2nd year of
Art and Life Workshops in Bali. Our upcoming artist will feature Anahata Katkin followed by a collaboration with Michael deMeng and Judy Wilkenfeld. We are so honored to be hosting such incredible artists and so excited to meet the wonderful students that will be joining us for this experience!
What it really fun for me is that I get to go to Bali for the first time on my own. Husband Rob is the Bali man, he has gone there every year for the past 10 years and I have been with our kids several times.
Rob discovered his love for Bali 10 years ago on a trip with some friends. He was led to a little fishing village on the east coast of the island, where he met Wayan, a young, talented 20 year old kid who was working at a beach bar. They struck up a close friendship and Rob invited Wayan over to America a few months later to live with our family. We all loved him and the following year, Rob returned to Bali to visit Wayan and ended up buying a piece of land on the beach in Wayan's village of Amed with 2 partners. Rob initially did this so that he could build a little hut on the beach to escape the Portland rain in the winter. What ended up happening, thanks to the tremendous vision of Wayan and Rob and many others, was the creation of Apakabar Villas, a beautiful mini boutique hotel. It began with 2 beautiful villas and a pool and over the years, they have added several cottages, a full service restaurant and Wayans home. Rob has sent hundreds of people there over the past several years and not only is it a wonderful haven for people to experience but Apakabar employs over 25 people on staff, and provides them a nurturing and positive enviornment in which to work. The staff there has become our Balinese family.

I am so in awe of Rob, Wayan and his partners who have created this very special place.
Wayan
Wayan and Rob


1 comment:

Teresa aka Tess said...

What a wonderful family you are to not only make a place for yourselves but to create a place to betterthe lives of others both from here and in Bali (by creating jobs.) An exciting story to tell and to be heard Well done!