Independence Day in Kuta

Independence Day in Kuta --

corn on the cob and passion fruit --

no fireworks

On the way to Kuta for an Independence Day party, we pass a cavalcade of motorcycles carrying a three-meter kite. It takes 6-12 men to carry one. A lot of kites aloft, carried by the trade winds. A little further on a cop is escorting a gang of rich men on Harley-Davidson motorcycles (duty is 100 percent of the price).
          Steve brought the girls and me, while Robin stayed with Gina, who is due any time now. I ask him how he feels about the young Balinese couple's double suicide. 
          "It was a cop out," he says, "a weakness of character. The boy's family told them to work it out, not flat rejection. She could have made a life for herself in Denpesar, not like the old days." 
          "So you don't think it was the work of the black witch?"
          "That woman is not smart enough for black magic. Clever and strong, but not smart."
          The party is at the Ramada Inn, paid for by our tax dollars. Quite a fancy hotel, right on the black sand beach with colorful fishing boats, washed-up coral, expats in skimpy swim suits, and a sign: "Please refrain from topless sunbathing." Massages in little open air bales. A swimming pool with two waterfalls and a Balinese temple gate in the middle. At a table by the pool, a handsome Kuta Cowboy is entertaining a middle-aged American woman with dyed black hair. 
          There's free beer, Coke (flat Pepsi) and Miranda (some red stuff made by Pepsi). Red, white and blue balloons, a painting of Liberty, blue and white striped beach towels, red chairs, white tablecloths. The buffet is mostly an attempt to imitate American food, with various degrees of success. Nice salads, but the corn on the cob, coffee and desserts miss the mark. Some of the fruit is delicious but definitely exotic: passion fruit, like cracking a yellow egg and eating green snot, and salak, snakeskin with insides like a giant garlic, slightly sweet. 
          The band is good, lots of songs from the 50s and 60s. Hot tub, swimming in the ocean at sunset, but no fireworks.