It's not uncommon to see Balinese women carrying things on their heads, usually baskets filled with various things. The balance that must be required to do this is incomprehensible to me. One day we came up the hill and noticed that a pile of cinder blocks, maybe half the heighth but the same length as ours back home, had been delivered and placed on the side of the road. As we passed the pile, we observed about 4 women stacking 3 cinder blocks each, on their heads, on top of a cloth. They helped each other stack the blocks, then the last woman placed a 4th block on her head and stood. They walked, perfectly erect, down the path toward our Homestay. Just before our Homestay, they went up a ramp across the stream, and climbed steps to the top of the hill, then walked back another 25-30 yards to the construction site where they unloaded their blocks.
P- Oh my gawd! Are you seeing this?
G- Um, yes. It is unbelievable.
P- Get the camera and take some pictures. Hurry up, they're already on the path.
G- Geez! How'd they walk so quickly with the damn cinder blocks on their heads? (I had to run a bit just to get close enough to take a photo)
P- Did you get it.
G- Yes, but those bitches are fast!
P- Can you imagine how strong their neck muscles must be?
G- Can you imagine the bulging and herniated discs they must have? They'd be a plaintiff attorney's wet dream!
P- How old do you think they are?
G- They didn't look young, but I'm sure the poor things are younger than they look. This kind of work must seriously age you. They're carrying them to the house under construction across the rice field from us.
P- It's amazing how things get done here.
G- Yes. Man, rather, woman power. In the west it would take 5 times as long to get the bricks to the construction site because a big crane would have to be brought in or a new road built or some way for a machine to be used to move them. Here, 4 women stack the damn things on their heads and walk them back.
P- It sure is efficient.
G- Yes, but it sucks for the women.
P- It gives me a headache just looking at them.
After talking to Maday, he told us that they probably make 1,000 rupiah per brick that they carry. (5,000 rupiah is about 56 cents USD) They had the whole stack of cinder blocks move within a day. Maday told us that he brought back all of the cinder blocks needed to build his home and the bungalows, but he used a wheel barrow. The wheel barrow would only work to the bottom of the stairs, then they had to be carried up the 20 or so steps of varying heights.
