…As I was determined to acquire all my food from the wild, foraging was becoming quite time consuming. Regardless, it was fast becoming a thrill second to none. Gathering wild food made me feel dynamic. As the days went by I was discovering more and more food foraging options. There were several avocado trees scattered about the very land that I was staying on as well as two different types of green leaves. One with a spinachy taste and the other tasting lemony. On the three kilometer, mostly dirt road to the beach, and to an excellent fresh water swimming hole, known as Blue Pools, were several papaya trees that had sprung up from randomly scattered seeds. Along the way a gathering of robust trees played host to a seemingly endless vine of passion fruit. Every visit guaranteed a bag full. An area not far from the bathing pool boasted a very large patch of watercress, and other, more mild tasting greens. Guava trees could be found along any road or in any field. It was a magnificent situation that I had fallen into. I was now eating what I believed to be the best possible food of all. Completely wild growing and picked at full ripeness or retrieved from the ground, eaten immediately or shortly thereafter. I couldn’t do better than that.

Although I knew I’d yet to regain all my strength, there never seemed to be a shortage of energy when it came to foraging. Whether it would be walking several kilometers a day with a knapsack full of the day’s catch, climbing guava trees, or poking papayas down from sometimes twenty foot trees with a bamboo pole, I was undoubtedly ‘there’, in the fullest sense of the word. I couldn’t believe how such gifts of opportunity had been bestowed upon me. How I’d been plucked and flown across the Pacific Ocean in a metal bird to be dropped off on a fantasy island such as Maui, with its vast array of fruit trees, swaying coconut palms, gorgeous beaches, and flowers that filled the air with such a wonderful aroma, was something I never would have imagined possible. I could feel the power of life’s spiral of positive energy. Great things seemed to be manifesting one after the other.

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