DAY 82 - Fire-Dancing Water-Loving

After completing our work, which consisted mainly of cleaning the kitchen with Shakti today (it was weird being the authority on kitchen-cleaning) we decided to go into Pahoa again and to once and for all do our groceries finally before deciding what to do for the evening – we’d heard of some kind of ‘dance party’ happening today in Hilo but also of a house party that Satori had mentioned, so we wanted to gather some info before making up our minds. We completed the shopping without much problem (but had to give up the healthy plan because it just seemed impossible to afford, so we went back to tinned beans) and spotted corn dogs being sold there which (as we agreed on) we would have to try while in America. So our lunch consisted of those and bits of chicken that we consumed on a bench in the parking lot – I actually very much enjoyed my corn dog; ten points to America. We ran into Daniel (hitchhiking buddy from ages ago) and Devon, and tried to inquire about the happenings of tonight but they both didn’t seem to know what was going on either. 

At home we decided to finally put our plan to be mermaids into action (who needs Joy when we’ve got some perfectly fine warm ponds right down the street), gathered up a bunch of dresses and scarves, grabbed the cling film and walked down to the small warm ponds. (To explain a bit further - we recently had the idea of dressing up as mermaids when going to the mermaid ponds and filming ourselves under water with Sarah's GoPro camera - Why, you ask? Why not?) Unfortunately there were people there and we didn't feel quite comfortable with this silly endeavour being witnessed by people on such close quarters, so we packed up again and made our way along the coast towards the bigger warm pond where we soon got picked up by a lovely Canadian couple. Arrived there we started with the mission of wrapping our entire bottom halves in fabric and then tightening it with cling-film, all without leaving any gaps, falling over or attracting too much attention from the other people there who were definitely eyeing us suspiciously from afar. When we felt sufficiently equipped we then proceeded to stupidly hobble over to the stairs and tried to fall in as gracefully as possible, only to find that the cling-film did not hold up its end of the bargain very well under water and soon started unravelling. We tried fixing it but soon had to admit defeat and started filming with only the fabric, which actually looked pretty suave in itself. As we were splashing around doing that we were approached by a young guy called Eli who engaged Sarah in deep conversation while I continued the splashing, thoroughly enjoying being able to dive properly for once because I’d taken my contact lenses out. Eli was also talking about going to this thing in Hilo and offered to drive us there if we let him have a shower at ours, so with that deal set into place we soon started packing our stuff together and went home to get ready. On the way to Hilo we stopped at a supermarket to get some drinks - our decision fell on the legendary Fireball again.

With its dashing mascot.

Arrived in Hilo, shortly after nightfall, we now had to find out where the hell we were actually going. Luckily we ran into Sarit the artist soon who told us to go to some sort of Cultural Art Centre – and bingo, we went there and walked straight into a crowd that was saturated with all the hippies we knew, all gathered around a short catwalk on which various people covered in tattoos or body-paint or wearing weird costumes were strutting about, which was not quite what we had expected but entertaining nonetheless. That bit ended pretty soon after we got there and two belly dancers started performing, which is when we headed out because the heat inside the room was stifling. We were told of some kind of afterparty that everyone would be going to now and soon managed to locate ‘our’ hippies by the incessant wolf-howling they frequently emitted – Thiago, Five, Lee the snake man were al there just to name a few. We stood with them in the car park for a while and met a bunch of cool new people like a guy called Drew who told us about his plans to conquer the island by bicycle or a Jamaican musician called Magpie. The dance itself took place in some sort of warehouse but was pretty empty when we got there, leading to a lot of flitting in and out and the eventual sudden decision by Sarah to leave this place and check out a venue nearby called 'Coqui’s' where some sort of reggae event was happening. We sneakily managed to get the entry-armbands from some people who were leaving and attach them to our own wrists with the help of gum and got in for free, which was nice because we’d already paid a ten dollar entry fee to the other place. A lot of other people we knew were here, such as Shawn, Austin and his girlfriend and, to Sarah’s delight, Jon. We danced until the place shut down and were driven back by Eli – Jon and Sarah however had gotten the idea of going to the warm ponds into their heads again. Eli and I felt quite tired so we dropped them off and went home, and because Eli didn't have a place to stay for the night I offered him the bottom bunk that had only recently been evacuated by Jason, and soon after Sarah and Jon re-emerged as well.

They'd had a GREAT time at the warm ponds.

DAY 81 - Last Ecstatic

Since our groceries mission had so miserably failed yesterday we were once again not able to cook lunch today and therefore had to seek nourishment in Pahoa again. We returned to our favourite spot, Luquin’s, and had some amazing burritos, true to tradition. Since this was our last Thursday our plan for the evening was to go to Garden Temple again for a last ecstatic dance, and since we got there so late last time we kept a very keen eye on the time today and, after having a small drink in the Kava bar and purchasing some ciders for later, headed down to the Island Naturals Health Food Store (or ‘The Natch’ as the locals call it) where we were sure we would run into someone who could give us a ride there. Uncharacteristically however no-one that we knew was there, so after hanging around for a while we got a bit restless and decided to hitchhike the old-fashioned way, just when we got spotted by white-haired John, who, of course, was going and had already invited a guest to come with him, a young guy wearing a bandana called Anthony as well as two more girls that he was on the way to pick up. So soon we were squeezed into ‘the blue canoe’ as he affectionately calls his car, and on the way to Garden Temple in plenty of time. Because we got there so early we didn’t go in straight away but rather enjoyed some cheeky ciders while lying outside in the field while the sun was setting. 

The dance itself was amazing once again and we ran into a bunch of people, like Devon the seamstress, old James and Sarah’s guy Jon. After it was over we John offered to drive us back which we gladly accepted, not quite feeling up for another crazy night out, and, after thankfully being able to distract him from his plan to go skinny-dipping in the warm ponds, arrived home at a very reasonable hour. At home Stephen and Cedar were busy in the kitchen making popcorn and were behaving rather strangely – one could almost expect the vino (as Stephen for some indiscernible reason calls wine) to have played its part in Stephens insistence of being hand-fed a KitKat by Sarah. The weirdness only increased when Ana arrived in the kitchen wearing a ‘towel-dress’ that she’d just made, essentially a poncho made from a towel, the idea being that she could now change anywhere without flashing anyone (theoretically) which she swiftly demonstrated by taking her bright yellow bra off and flinging it across the kitchen before leaving again. Cedar went to bed shortly after as well and somehow Stephen managed to turn the conversation into a deep therapy session on our inner feelings which was quite weird at first but interesting nevertheless.

DAY 80 - I feel... SPOOKED

Our little crew was joined today by a new couple, Kathleen and Jeremy from New York. We also had some very interesting conversations with Stephen in the kitchen (involving, amongst other topics, getting a handjob from a handicapped person) before getting our work done and relaxing for most of the day. Joy had promised to pick us up and show us the mermaid ponds today, but, none too surprisingly, never actually showed up. In the evening we obviously planned to go to Uncle Roberts again, but once again missed the opportunity to get a ride with Cedar in the early evening and left the house when it was dark already again. We wandered all the way down the road again before being picked up, and even then the people only went part of the way which resulted in us walking along the Red Road in complete darkness with a car only coming by every ten minutes or so, and even then mostly from the wrong direction, with ominous looming bushes behind us and a Hawaiian graveyard before us - it was rather spooky. 

We felt spooked.

Finally of course someone stopped for us, a lovely father-son duo who gave us beers and blankets to use while riding on the back of their truck with their three huge dogs. We arrived safely at our favourite venue soon and, aware of our imposing departure, were extremely appreciative of all our friends there and took photos and gave hugs left and right, and the euphoria was crowned only by the band playing the classic ‘uhyeh’ song. We got talking to Natasha and her friend Sarah who suggested going to the ‘Lava Shack’ in Pahoa after Uncle Roberts quite unexpectedly wound down rather much earlier than normal, which sounded good to us. The Lava Shack wasn't too excited and we only played a couple of rounds of pool until then going home.

DAY 79 - Gecko

Another rather uneventful day. I finally drew a gecko though which I'd been wanting to do for a while:

They're called 'Gold Dust Day Gecko' which is just a kickass name for a beautiful animal.

DAY 78 - High Energies

The morning's work was the regular preparation of rooms and doing the laundry - I felt like I should at some point draw the laundry area that Sarah and I spend so many hours gossiping in and that of course houses the world's loneliest and most annoying cat.

It would benefit greatly from getting a life.

After work we made our way to Pahoa again to get some groceries that we’d run out of and maybe to get some lunch. Being offered some pakalolo again on the way there ensured that we were thoroughly amused and confused when entering the Malama supermarket again, making straight for the vegetable aisle since we’d decided to eat healthily again for our remaining time here. Unfortunately the prices were extortionate, and after much flapping the bundles of greens about we decided to get a tiny bunch of kale (we never appreciated it enough when it was for free at Judy’s) for nearly five dollars. At this point however Sarah had a desperate need to go to the toilet, which led to us abandoning our sad little bundle of kale in the shopping cart, telling some employee there that’d we’d be back soon and fleeing from the scene. Getting the key to the bathroom from a Chinese restaurant proved to be a bit of a hassle but it all worked out, except that now that we’d been looking at all the pictures of food while waiting in line, had developed quite the appetite and decided to eat lunch first before attempting to do any more shopping. 

The decision of whether to stay in the Chinese place or go to the next-door subway was quickly solved with a game of rock-paper-scissors and so soon we were sat in Subway gorging our faces with meatball footlongs (the vegetarianism (and the eating healthily) is definitely going down the hill), talking about stupid things and giggling a LOT. Of course drinks in Subway are refillable which meant that somehow we ended up sitting there for multiple hours getting about seven refills of coke and slowly ascending into quite a caffeine-high before suddenly realizing that we were supposed to get back to KMEC for 5 o’clock to assist in some waitressing for some sort of dinner that Stephen was hosting there. So the kale we’d left in the supermarket was abandoned indefinitely and we hitchhiked home, only to find that Stephen had decided that he didn’t need our help anymore but invited us to join the dinner anyway. This turned out to be a promotional potluck for this guy Tiger’s (or ‘Tigmonk’s’) spiritual program (‘Tigmonk’s School of Blooming’) which meant that a lot of our spiritual friends had ended up coming as well – Billy was there (constantly in tears from all the spiritual awakening he’d been going through), Van the hobbit man and Bonnaville with his charming girlfriend. The dinner was delicious (even though we definitely did not need any more food) and was followed by a short lecture by Tigmonk about his general manifesto, before everyone disbanded again – I got involved somehow in smoking a joint out in the orchards with some people, being a complete kill-joy with my constant insistence to be careful not to get caught on the property. After that however everyone left to go to the Kava bar in Pahoa and even though we contemplated joining them for a while, we spent quite a quiet evening in the kitchen with the gang instead.

DAY 77 - They're bringing out the pumpkins

Today was a big day for KMEC in that Stephen had organized some sort of Ayahuasca ceremony to take place in the half-finished ‘yoga-hale’ and was stressing out about the necessary preparations all morning. While I was sweeping the floor and making a few last-minute beds, Sarah had been positioned at the entrance to aid the arriving guests with the parking and welcome them, and soon a whole crowd of white-clad hippies were strolling around the property and congregated in the yoga hale from which then soon intense chanting and drumming could be heard that lasted throughout the day. Two of the people partaking had brought round their eight-and-ten-year-old children who sat around rather miserably in the kitchen with their little gameboys so we (Sarah mainly) entertained them for a while and shared our gourmet meal of rice and beans with them. 

We wanted to go to Kehena beach again for the afternoon even though the dark clouds looming in the distance did not look promising. Sure enough it started raining before we even left the house and continued to do so for most of the way while we tried to brave the weather and kept telling ourselves that further down there surely wouldn’t be any rain - just a BIT further…. Unfortunately however that was not at all the case, and just as we got dropped off at Kehena it just started pouring it down like never before. We sought shelter under a little table there and sat there hunched over quite pathetically for a while watching the feet of all the people who’d been at the beach scuttle past in the direction of their cars, before finally giving up any hope we had left and dejectedly found someone to hitchhike home with. Under the slight delusion that at least some people would be at the lawn we went there first but it was completely deserted and so we ended up walking the last mile to our place in the pouring rain, barefoot because our flip flops were getting too sloshy, towels wrapped around our heads, feeling like long-suffering pilgrims or something. At home we settled in Sarah’s bottom bunk bed and talked for a while, interrupted occasionally by the sounds of copious retching right behind us, which led to the evenings main activity being a rather voyeuristic experience of hiding in our darkened room and peering through the window at the Ayahuasca enthusiasts stumbling out of the room at random intervals and vigorously puking into the bushes somewhere. Soon after nightfall suddenly our boss Stephen (Mr ‘I’m-not-going-to-partake-in-the-ceremony-because-I’m-the manager-and-I-need-to-keep-an-eye-on-things-I’ll-be-right-back’) arrived at our cabin with a serene smile on his bald face and told us that he needed to lie down now and whether we could make sure that the other people left soon. And so all over sudden the two of us plus Mick were in charge of getting the thirty or so hippies out of the property before 9 o’clock and before Leonard found out about all this, which had definitely not been in the job description. 

It took us long enough to coax them out of the yoga hale (by passive-aggressively shining torches on the path to help them walk down it) but then they congregated in the kitchen and were mostly completely oblivious to our mumblings from the corner where we sat, the exact opposite to them with our scant black clothes. 

GLARING at them.

Every time there seemed to be an advancement, suddenly something else appeared that kept their attention (such as the unexpected arrival of two pumpkins out of the oven) and they all could just not stop talking about all of their profound spiritual experiences they'd just gone through. After much persuading they finally got the message and were suddenly all rushing around and were miraculously gone at exactly 8:59, after which we breathed a huge sigh of relief and vowed to not let Stephen hear the end of this.

DAY 76 - Dogs and Birds

As we emerged from our cabin this morning we were greeted by Stephen and his new ‘baby’, a little puppy he had somehow acquired, completely out of the blue, named Rumi after Stephen’s favourite poet. From this day on walking him was considered part of my duty here which is definitely not something to complain about. We didn’t do much else all day – in the evening Sarah got strangely restless and was suddenly inspired to create a painting based on our time in Hawaii:

Hope I posted it the right way around. It's a flying bird.