…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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…the next few days were spent building little doodads to improve my situation, one of which was a bamboo platform for the looha. The design involved tying several pieces of bamboo, each lying side by side, to two main pieces running perpendicular to the rest. Although I successfully completed the first of the two foot rests, I’d felt that I’d wasted a lot of string aimlessly wrapping each piece erratically around the cross beam and a back over the top and under and blah, blah, blah. I wanted an efficient technique for tying. Later that day, while I was practicing Meditation, I was suddenly blessed with a vision. I had an overhead view of myself tying the bamboo together in a much more efficient manner. Remembering what I’d seen, I tried it out and, yes, it worked perfectly!

After about a week at my new place I was really feeling good. Those wonderful, ‘hug my body’ sensations kept coming and coming throughout Yoga and the rest of the day. A warm glow emanating from my Heart outwards. After meals I was beginning once again, to feel really smooth as I had experienced In The Beginning, after eating spinach in the kitchen on St. Denis Street. This was something that had quietly left me as my strength diminished and weakness set in.

I’d done two twenty-four hour fasts since moving to my new place, both of which had much to offer. Although getting going early in the morning was tough on both occasions, once I set myself in motion the energy I experienced was phenomenal. I worked the entire day on both occasions, either foraging for food or blazing a new trail, the latter being a thrill I would never have imagined. I couldn’t believe the excitement of creating a path. Charting my own course through the mish mash of trees, bushes, and vines. Absolutely dynamic. Finding freshly fallen passionfruit on the trail the next morning was icing on the cake.

Throughout my first two weeks living on the mountainside it rained on and off, I would say, all day and everyday. The gentle showers at Sunrise were a special delight. The yellow gold rays lit up the rain as it fell upon the grass clearing in front of my home. This was it. This was beautiful.

However, as it pounded down on the tarps with tremendous force on some occasions it was downright terrifying. I imagined the outcome should one or more of the ropes or grommets give way. I’d be soaked in the middle of the night desperately trying to repair the situation. And with very little Sun light during the day throughout this period, how would anything possibly dry?

Although I was at least about fifteen meters away from a practically dry stream, my fears again had the best of me as I envisioned a flash flood from higher up in the mountain turning my campsite into a river. Considering the isolated nature of the showers, there was really no way of knowing how much or how long it had been raining at any given location.

But all fears were in vain, and I suffered neither of the catastrophes I had imagined.

One night however, while writing in my journal during yet another heavy rain shower, I felt the seat of my pants becoming wet. I turned around to see that the pathway that led to the outhouse, which was situated on slightly higher ground had become a canal of sorts and was now channeling the rainwater right into my home. With lightning speed I began digging small run off ditches along the pathway. This quickly solved the problem. There’s no such thing as laziness when something has to be done, is there?

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…the next morning I awoke with the Golden Sun rising straight out at Sea. It was awesome. Again I felt so thankful for the blessings that had been bestowed upon me. I decided to walk back up the road in search of some fruit, leaving my bag and belongings at the beach. While negotiating one of the steeper stretches of the path my feet slipped out from under me on the loose gravel and I landed directly on my tailbone with a jarring thud. The fall stunned me.

I was very thankful to realize that I could still move my limbs freely, but the pain was heavy. It made walking difficult, but I would not be slowed down. I had a mission. Nothing could come between myself…and a fruit hunt. So off I hobbled out to the road.

I remember seeing wild guava growing by the roadside on my many trips back and forth the day before but as far as I could remember it would have been too long a walk. Considering I’d yet to see a car at such an early hour, hitchhiking wasn’t an option, so I searched the immediate area more thoroughly.

It wasn’t long before I spotted a papaya tree by the road with a nicely ripened fruit suspended from it. It hung way up high so I tried the tree shaking method and the fruit was immediately freed from its moorings and came zinging down at me. A perfect catch. What good fortune. I Loved Hawaii.

I ate the scrumptious tasting fruit immediately. Eating freshly picked fruit beneath the tree from which it came was an absolute thrill for me at this point in my life with which little could compare.

Pleased with the fruits of my labour, I returned to the beach to find that the one of the group from the night before who had also slept at Red Sand, had saved me half his coconut. Considering I’d just piled in the entire papaya, which really wasn’t that big by the way, I kind of felt a little guilty. I’d never eaten fresh coconut before and I found the taste to be rather appealing and unlike anything I’d previously indulged in.

After chatting for a while in this picturesque setting with the Sun quickly climbing into the sky and making the Seawater sparkle, I packed up my gear and headed for the highway again…

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