The quest for a good swim

On our travels, we have focused on three questions: 1. Where can we get organic dark chocolate with at least 70% cocoa (only then can it be considered a food and not junk)? 2. where can we get in a great swim for the day?3. What are the spiritual foundations of the Maori people (we are still working on this one and will update in a later blog)?

These questions have taken on us many great paths.

I am happy to report that the chocolate quest has been a success. My favoriate is Gaddoba (not sure about the spelling) from Ashland OR. There is one called simply “moon” and is 73% dark. Goooood stuff.

While this was not the best swim spot, it was a great view of what is called “The bush” in New Zealand.

Again, not the best swim spot, but a great “loo” break, and beautiful view of more native bush.

This beach was so full of perfect shells. I awed over them and collected them as I walked.

Not wanting to carry them, I settled for taking their picture and leaving them to turn to sand.

As we considered a swim here, we looked for others enjoying the surf.

This Maori man decided it was the perfect place to teach his less than two year old to surf. Here, the child is sitting on the board, later, he was standing and learning how to shift his weight with the waves.

Taupo is home to the largest lake on the North Island. Swimming in fresh water with no waves was a change from our previous outings. Great fun and good exercise.

As we made our way here, I asked Steve if the bottom of the falls might be a decent place to swim. He was not sure that I would be up for it.

I had too agree. The water was powerful. So powerful that it generates 15% of NZ’s electricity.

This was a few kilometer track to a protected bay with great views of the surrounding sounds between the north and south island.

Yet another great beach. It was protected from the waves by two small islands and made for a wonderful extended swim.

I feel a great afinity for the water and know that being an advocate of her well-being is a major part of what I will come to do with my time in the future.

Sea Lettuce

These are the two wonderful people that waited for two hours at the airport with only the information that I would arrive around 12;30 coming from Hawaii.

Steve and Jenny are New Zealand born Kiwis. They are committed to living an “organic” life including eating probably 95% organic food. They live a life creating harmony within themselves and spreading it to others.

Steve is an artist (carves wood, paints, draws), has organic construction skills, and is a conscientious gardener. But this only touches on how to describe such a gem of a person.

Jenny is trained as a mid-wife, which is a position so respect and accepted in NZ that it is covered by their social medical system. She is very wise in the ways of being in touch with ones own body, needs, feelings and using this information to facilitate babies coming into their physical body in a healthy way. Her gentle voice and energy must bring great comfort to the mothers!!

I feel grateful to be in their company for two weeks!!!

We have spent our first week traveling to beautiful sites and gradually making our way to the central north of the South island. We had a great and silly adventure of hiking a few kilometers to an isolated beach. On the way, we stopped as we saw plants that Steve was not able to tell me about, looked them up in his references books, and had a bit of a wild-food snack as well walked.

When we arrived to the isolated beach, we had a wonderful surprise of about 10 meters of beach being covered with sea lettuce.

Steve was the first to get a feel for the plant.

Perhaps an immersion meditation will tell us if it is edible.

One should really have more than one source of information when checking to see if a wild plant is edible. I consulted for a second opinion.

Jenny took a peek into the situation as well.

We did determine that it is edible, but not very tasty, or easy to chew. It is very salty, as one might imagine, and has a texture like that of chewing on a piece of plastic wrap. We have dried it and determined that we will either pulverize it or put it into a stew. It remains in our food store at this point.

We decided to make the most of the hike and went for a beautiful swim a natural in the pristine bay and were energized for our return hike.

Many thanks to the glory of the day!!!

Hawaii Summary

The Big Island of Hawaii is considered but one county of the state of Hawaii. There are several districts on the island of which I got to know the two most populated (Hilo and Kona). There is a lot of development in progress. At the same time there are many living circumstances and businesses that were reminiscent of time I have spent in Mexico.

This is a very exciting time for Hawaii as development is occurring at an extremely rapid pace. In another way, it is an extremely vulnerable time.

There are groups that are trying to be part of helping development occur in a healthy way for the island. There are Native groups that are politically and environmentally active in having an influence on making industry and development respect the sacred lands of the native Hawaiians. One man who I met told me that his job was that of being an environmental advocate for the Hawaiian people and lands. He told me that in truth, all his agecy was truely able to do was to slow down development, not actually stop it from happening. He indicated, as did others, that there are political forces within Hawaii that have a lot of money, and have been working at developing relationships with the native land owners for quite some time. As a result, one can see land that is reserved and owned by the Hawaiian natives that rents space to McDonald’s, Borders, Lowes, and WalMart. While there is a lot of money being made on the lease of the land, the cost of having the profit that these companies make on the people of Hawaii, leaves the island tobenefit a few individuals in their lavish living style has great costs and will not bring long term sustainability to the island.

There are many cultures represented in Hawaii.

The native Hawaiians (the small family pictured here consisted of a young woman, her partner, and her four year old daughter. The man was a large boned, muscular native who was so gentle and nurturing as he played in the surf with his daughter.)

 Oriental, Portuguese, Spanish and Howlies (white folk). Of these groups, the Howlies seem to be the most resented and have a great deal of impact on the island.

It was great to be part of an effort to be in harmony with the land as I worked on an organic farm.

I enjoyed the work, and the synergy of being part of a team to make it happen. I really enjoyed being able have papaya, banana, (both fresh from the land) soy milk and flax seed shakes every morning. Greg is very committed to not only growing organic food, but eating it and supporting other organic efforts by buying items that he does not grow himself. He talked about making his buying practices consistent with his value system and seemed to live it well.

This is a “keke” (baby) pineapple,

This is how they look when they grow. The plants were about 6 feet tall and probably five feet wide.

Unfortunately, none of the pineapples were in season during my visit. I may be coming back in September to house-sit, pick coffee, and hopefully, get to have some fresh picked pineapple.

I made some wonderful and beautiful friends who taught me about myself and let me know a bit about them as well.

Yvonne was a great girlfriend. We had some true heart to hearts and good fun snorkeling, swimming, and watching the sunset.

 We had some good fun  Kayaking, snorkeling, bathing at Queens Bath and more. She is from the Northern most island and spoke with such prose about it’s beauty that I do believe I will have to go for a visit there as well.

Greg (my great host and friend) and Yvonne were part of a fun filled send off at a great local brewery that uses sustainable business practices to keep profit in Hawaii.

Amber and Francis came along as well. Francis was the “plumerician” on at the farm house while I was there. He had great ideas for creating alternative fuel sources for Hawaii. Amber was full of smiles, great humor and a fun flirt.

 Luis had some great life experiences that helped him to develop a fullfilling easy going live style that allows him to pursue exactly what he loves most in  life, surfing and women. Keep it real was one of his favorite phrases.

I found a great archiological artifact on the farm while I was there.

Yes, it looks  like a lot of things, including a mushroom. But it is actually a pestle for grinding things like dried seeds and roots. I felt the land had given me sign of things to come and hopefully they are as steeped with as much natural beauty as this one. I agreed to leave the artifact with Greg since it’s history belongs to the land he caretakes.

The  next post will come from another island inhabited by Polynesian natives: new Zealand