Entries this day: AM_dreams Beach Island_tour Rock_hoppin The_blue_room Zachs_house back_home zzzzz

AM dreams

4:48am HST Monday 10 February 2003

a rooster is crowing across the street.

Janette and I were walking and climbed up a sand hill. a bad guy came up behind us and a friend came up on the other side of this hill. I told the friend if the bad guy shoots at us, you run to the cops. There were cops sitting in police cars not too far away.

The bad guy shot a nail gun at me and I blocked it, ending up with a small pierce in my hand, but I started hollering like "hey there's some guy with a nail gun!" and ran over toward the cops and one came over and tried to diffuse the guy holding the nail gun. I didn't have to prove he shot me; the cat had a nail gun and the cop was stopping him for that.

The guy had a knife too and it took a few tries for any of us (cop, Janette, me) to get him. Finally I got him by his wrists and woke up.

Earlier dream:

Driving with Jennifer Nunnaly from PT! over a bridge under construction. She had done it many times before, but I had not. she was driving.

We got caught while on the bridge and she tried to ignore them, navigate around all the consruction materials and get down safely without being caught. She put a strip of burlap over an identifying feature of her car and we finally got down.

A guy found us and was trying to negotiate with us and he said he needed a pair of white underwear so I was all if I give it to you will you forget this ever happened? He thought for a minute and said he'll forgive all past events but if we go up again, that would have to be dealt with at that time.

Beach

10:37am HST Monday 10 February 2003

This area is definitely on my list of acceptable places to live for a while. I wonder what vocation I could do for money around here. Could be washing dishes like Zach or organizing beach cleanups and somehow raising money or food that way.

This morning I joined Janette and Reenie for a walk along the beach after getting some tastey beverages at a local drink shop. I got a mango banana soy vanilla yogurt smoothie, which didn't taste a lot like mango or vanilla yogurt. More like banana and soy, but hey. I cleaned up trash along the beach and ended up mostly filling a 40 gallon trashcan. Probaby about 1/2 full and most of that bulk was big sections of rope washed up and lodged in among rocks of a jetty pier thing a majig. Whatever one calls a line of rocks sticking out into the ocean.

I felt pretty successful in my mission, also tossing an unbroken clear glass beer bottle full of muck (Whatever one wants to call black colored oil and poo smelling stuff capped with a layer of sand. (I made up the fragrance, but it looked like it would smell that way.)), a plastic net flotation ball, and a large 20 or 30 or 50 pound piece of iron broken off of what had been a square manhole cover.

- - - -

Now I'm just kickin' it on the upstairs back porch of this awesome hostel.

Janette and Reenie have just walked up; looks like they have a small bag of food goodies.

Island tour

2:27pm HST Monday 10 February 2003

Walked with Janette to get fruit and then munched pizza at Blossoming Lotus. Saw Zach and a girl who was "going back home;" she turned out to know Zach; her name is Tamera.

Now Zach is driving; his mom is shotgun; I'm between Tamera and Janette in the back. Tamera's been telling us cool things about cool places and people and languages. She lives several miles past the end of the road, which means literally that. The highway around Kaua'i doesn't go all the way around. She lives right in the middle of that 11 mile gap, in a valley, with basically no people around. She met Matthew while he was hiking back there.

She told us about the pidgen language the locals speak, a wacked out English, for which books are available. The books are apparently really funny ... and accurate in their portrayal of the language.

I wonder if Hawaiian will be my third language in which I'll become conversant.

She's living illegally; I didn't realize that it's "totally illegal" to live back there.

How weird for it to be "illegal" to live back there. How did these lawmakers get the right to make such laws? Pretty fucked up.

- - - -

"Excuse me, does your watch tell the year?" That's Tamera when she comes out of the valley.

3:13pm

We have just arrived at the end of the road. "BEACH CLOSED" while bunches of people are on the beach. Hahahahah

Rock hoppin

5:12pm HST Monday 10 February 2003

Before visiting what was not the blue room, we checked out the beach at the end of the road and Janette, Zach and I went rock hoppin', which is what I have previously described as "climbed all over the rocks [usually without using my hands]."

I'll use "rock hoppin'" from now on.

Awesome we just saw a sign for "snorkel depot"

I could barely keep up with Zach and we both left Janette in the dust, though I made sure she was cool with that first.

Got to the end of the rocks and the start of a lava rock cliff thing, steep, sharp, sometimes slippery where the water kept everything wet. I watched the wave motion and chose a moment to step quickly and daintily over the smoothish rounded rocks and spidermanned onto the lava face before getting wet.

Slowly carefully spidermanned around the face of the lava, mostly on flat-ish surface that it would be vaguely easy to catch myself if I slipped. But a slip would certainly cause a deep gash at worst and a set of scrapes at best, like the top view of a crop of red in a field.

But I didn't fall. Not even when I had to sneak past another part where the ocean waves would douse every other time they blasted past. Once I was surprised by a wave (before my sneak-past part) and got water splashing effectively onto my shorts and a little bit on my shirt all the way up to the T of Trix are for Kids!

I looked back and barked "Zach" over the sound of the surf. He looked up and I pantomimed to him how high the wave hit me. It took me a while to get the idea across but he seemed to be in approval of the coolness when he understood.

When I had to get past the water blasting part, I was ready for the waves to hit and pressed my back up against the wall as well as possible, hanging onto the rocks backwards with my arms.

Once the wave had passed me, I felt pretty slick (not like slippery but like cool) and I gave a whutwhut and raised the roof over toward Zach when I saw he had been watching me.

One weird thing was all the crabs scuttling away from me. I had to keep from jerking back; that could be a bad slip and possibly falling and possibly dying.

I didn't fall and didn't die, but looked back at Zach and Janette to see if they were seeing me go around the corner past where they could see me. I didn't want them to think I had fallen. Janette was watching (though I didn't see her) but Zach was looking elsewhere. I gave a mental blessing to my trek and continued on.

Slowly, carefully, watchfully, calmly I wound past the point where anyone could see me except God and maybe some people on boats with really good binoculars. I got to a little impression in the rock where I could crouch and chill for basically as long as I wanted. I considered getting naked and basking in the glory of the sun and Pacific ocean, but chose not to. The wind was enough to easily take my undies and probably take my shirt. Plus if I fell, I'd definitely be fucked.

Watched the waves crash 50 feet below me for a bit then chose to head back.

Carefully edged back past the tricky bit and made it to where the lava was basically easily navigable and completely dry and non slick.

I didn't go down the rock really, and even tried to climb up way up the mountain so I could sneak down on the other side of Zach and be all WAZzaaaaahh and have him not know how I got past him. I made it to a valley thing and started to climb up through the sharp motherfucking yucca plant things that have given me many small slices and scrapes. It was really scary at times cause my feet were no longer on solid lava. As sharp as it had been, it didn't move. Now that the plants had been growing on the rocks, they were not all stable, and mostly there was broken dead leaves and sticks and some sharp pokey things sliding under my footses and making it possible to slip and fall and get shredded falling through all the slicey leaves and die on the rocks once my dismembered parts reached them.

I got stabbed in the head a bit by a pokey thing and oh so cautiously grabbed a fallen log to see how stable it was. It was vaguely stable enough to hold me for a brief bit as I tried to step over to a lump of dead plant material that I hoped would not collapse and fall. It held and a big moth tickled on my toes and made me jerk a bit as I was startled by it. Just a moth. whew. I didn't fall and was able to reach a living plant that happened to not be part of a set of ginzu knives. I pulled myself up with that, hoping to find something else I could latch on to climb. Nothing but serated edges all around and above me. The thing about these knife edges is I could brush past them away from the base of the plant and have no problem. But the needles all pointed out from the base, so I couldn't push myself through toward the bases of all those plants. Couldn't move enough of anything out of the way to get through anything to get to anything I could grab or stand on.

Sigh. I looked for another way to get up and over the hill to the other side of Zach, but saw nothing that looked particularly simple.

Big sigh and headed back down. Same super caution, but it was pokier this time since I had easily gone past plants going up, but now was going down, basically following my same path. Couldn't really see where my feet were going as I used the fallen log as support. It started to slip some, but I made it past without falling (or dying).

Grabbed the living tree that could pretty easily support my weight and lowered myself as far as I could, making it to some stable lava with my outstretched bare foot.

The rock was a tiny bit moist as plants were all around it, but I didn't slip. Whew. Made it past the hard part there. Down down down basically feet first in a crabwalk position, sometimes not using my hands. Got to the solid rock face again but was significantly higher than I had been on the way out toward the water. I was about 15 feet higher and therefore in no danger of getting wet (unless I fell) or slipping on wet rocks. But there was some danger of slipping on dirt as the plants slowly converted the lava to sand and lived and died and made dirt.

Tiny steps at a time, and my foot ledge was not even a ledge but just parts of the lava that stuck out. Same for my hands, and I made sure I always had three points of contact as I carefully negotiated my way across the sharp face of the rock. At one point my shirt got stuck on a rock and I had to unhook my shirt with one hand while my other hand was slipping a bit, but I already knew where my one hand planned to latch onto the rock. Whew.

Inch by inch, reminding myself to remain calm, for I knew I simply could *not* afford to freak or try to hurry or anything like that. No way no way. Even though I had the keys. Especially cause I had the keys. If I fell, Janette, Reenie and Zach wouldn't be able to get back.

Inch by inch until I got to the trickest bit: I basically had to arch my back out to get my stomach past some jutted out rock, and I couldn't really see my feet as they felt their way for footholds. I trusted all the lava was stable and that which I felt wouldn't move when I put weight on it. I made extra sure my hands were locked well on their spots before I moved my feet. Once I made it past that I figured I could make it past anything. Then I discovered I had hit a horizontal dead end and had to climb vertically to where there seemed to be some manuevering space, but a lot of dirt so my hand and foot holds might not be as good. Thankfully there was a tree well rooted and I used it to pull myself up to the next level. I moved horizontally again pretty easily for a moment, then had to inch by inch my way again. Found a little cubby hole in the rock where someone had placed a rather large piece of coral. What was the story behind it... I wonder. Has it been there a year? ten years? fifty? How often do maniacs climb on this face of rock? I didn't have anything I could add to the cubby hole (that would last more than some days) so I just blessed it as proof that someone was able to get up to this point with a piece of coral and hopefully able to get down again. I presume they had been there at least once without a piece of coral and came back after finding the cubby hole.

I found my handholds were sandy; was this a stage between lava and dirt with plants? Seemed likely. Extra super careful that my hands wouldn't slip on the sandy lava as I grabbed. But I couldn't really dust off the sand; the lava was too sharp for that. Just grip and hope I didn't slip. My feet had the same sandy situation. They are more calloused so I brushed some of the sand off, but I coudln't get all of it. Step step step no slipping allowed.

Inched my way down toward the rocky beach below. So tempty to just jump the last 5 feet down, but realized those rocks are really really hard and pretty sharp and could move when I landed on them, which would suck bigtime. Falling backwards onto them would suck more so I kept my careful three or four points always connected as I worked my way down the lava cliff to the rocks. Once my feet were level with a big stable looking rock about four feet away, I jumped to it.

Success.

Whutwhut!! Way joyful that I had successfully navigated such a dangerous climb, freeclimbing with no ropes and no shoes and all the fabulous beauty of nature all around. Yay yay yay!

Rock hobbled back to the sandy beach. Found my pace a lot slower at first, but then got into the groove of rock hoppin again and made good time. Got to the sand and just ran happily back. Janette had seen me and was walking smiling toward me. Big smiles, big hugs and showed her my injuries and summarized the scary parts. What a great climb!

HI to Reenie and Zach and we headed back up to the car. Zach took pictures of us by the BEACH CLOSED sign and pictures of us in a tree.

Heard a woman holler and then saw a dog running after the wild chickens that have found easy livin' on the island. I just laughed at the chickens' plight, knowing they are doing quite well for themselves populationwise. Apparently a hurricane blew apart some chicken coops and they've been wild ever since. Same for some pigs on the island, though I haven't seen any of those. With the dog I nicknamed Chicken Hawk running around, I learned that peacocks can fly quite well when necessary. Wow.

Blessings to Tamera as we left the end of the road; she should hopefully be at 6 Mile by now.

7:57pm HST Monday 10 February 2003

The blue room

4:54pm HST Monday 10 February 2003

We're at a big hole near the end of the road. I've already got big stories to tell from rock hoppin'. brb.

4:58pm

We just saw a cave full of water that turns out it's an old school volcanic tube. People were kick paddling on boogey board things, hollering with the echos all reverberating through the whole area. As they got past where we could see, and a bit past where they could hear anyone from shore (since they were yelling so much), someone on shore suddenly started yelling, "that's not the blue room!!! That's not the blue room!!!"

So funny. Not like oh shit you're going to die that's not the blue room, but just that's not the blue room. Not important enough to yell it through the tunnel.

Turns out the blue room is 1/8th of a mile further away from the end of the road. It's called the blue room because for about an hour during the day in the summer, if one goes way back into the tube, the room appears blue as the sun shines through all the water. Zach says it's pretty much a sacred spot to the locals and he's only swam in it once.

Zachs house

6:36pm HST Monday 10 February 2003

Now we're at someone's house in the middle of forest.

- - - -

Met Djinn Jah and Ashira, who are on the fourth day of a ten day fast. They might not finish all ten days as this is their first cleansing fast. Master cleanse, I think they said.

They are living on 3.4 acres of land that some cat owns and is building a house on it. Zach lives there too, in a secluded tent tucked away in a bamboo forest. So awesome.

back home

7:21pm HST Monday 10 February 2003

Just got back. Jaimie and a local cat named Wally were chillin' at the picnic tables out front. Wally had a Winnie the Pooh stocking cap on and was all, "when else have you seen a Winnie the Pooh gangsta?" as he did the stereotypical folded arms way up high. Funny. He offered me a hit of what appeared to be a fat blunt, but I politely declined. If it was what I think, it's the biggest I've seen in real life.

zzzzz

9:47pm HST Monday 10 February 2003

I just read today's journal entries to Janette as we're listening to fun accents on the back porch as people chat.