As tradition would have it, Gili Teak once again hosted the 3rd annual Christmas Eco Market last weekend getting islanders festive and ready for another high season, to grab a last minute Secret Santa gift, and to indulge in xmas mulled wine and pastries!
For the weeks prior, the Gili Eco Trust volunteers have been working hard, making all sorts of Xmas decorations. Not only did they make them all from scratch, but our mission to for a waste free wonderland, had all the décor upcycled from rubbish! We were so proud of the results: a Christmas tree made out of abandoned beach flips flops, snowmen made entirely from single use plastic cups collected at parties and candy canes made from Sprite bottles. All used materials were found on the dump or around the island during cleanups, and we were really happy with the results of another wasteless winter wonderland!
As we drew closer to the start of our market, so did the long waited and eagerly anticipated first storm of the wet season! While the first drops of rain fell down, the entire market was moved from the beach into the restaurant area at Gili Teak. Luckily the Christmas spirit was quickly restored with a glass of hot mulled wine and the smell of bakes goods. While looking out at the grey rainy skies, with a good amount of thunder, it almost felt like a authentic European Christmas market!
As we drew closer to the start of our market, so did the long waited and eagerly anticipated first storm of the wet season! While the first drops of rain fell down, the entire market was moved from the beach into the restaurant area at Gili Teak. Luckily the Christmas spirit was quickly restored with a glass of hot mulled wine and the smell of bakes goods. While looking out at the grey rainy skies, with a good amount of thunder, it almost felt like a authentic European Christmas market!
Before we knew it, (around 15minutes of rainfall!) we were back to looking out at beautiful beaches and a stunning sunset. As tourist and locals alike, came to visit the eco stalls, they were treated to sustainable and handmade Christmas and secret Santa gifts. The Gili Eco Trust had our handcrafted and upcycled glass goods as usual, while the Pituq Foundation had a huge range of beautiful and sustainable charity products. Coconeasia came all the way from Lombok to be a part of our market, and it was so much fun to see our local silkscreen T-shirt printer Wawan and his team making their awesome t-shirts prints right there, in front of us. While the kids tried their luck in our “lucky dip” of sustainable presents (notebooks, pencils and craft goodies, all wrapped in banana leaves thanks to the lovely Pituq!), all ages went nuts for the huge range or savory and sweet English baked goods from Tina’s Tiny Kitchen. The annual rush to eat as many of these homemade Christmas traditional baked goods raised just as much money as the raffle and stalls for the Eco Trust, put together!
Even though the weather turned on us, and we had to abandon our winter wonderland, we had such as good time with the eco conscious businesses and people who decided to turn up and make the event great. Next year, we pray for blue skies, more incredible and inspirational social initiatives to work with and some more of that delicious lemon custard slices!
Selamat Natal everyone!
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