People Also Disappear Here

Old Man Winter has arrived on the Puna coast, which means rain. A little double rainbow to start the day

Joseph on the left, a reformed pastry chef from Germany, giant bonfire builder and co-mayor of upper tentland with Tim, a retired fireman and grief counselor from the Bay area, solar expert and off grid liver as well as co-mayor with Joseph, survey their ward as the constituents meander by, going about the routines of their new jungle life. 

So I just passed the two and a half month mark living in a tent at a retreat center in an isolated part of the Big Island Hawaii. What to make of it? In a previous post, I mentioned how time is different here. Sometimes it speeds up, sometimes it slows to a crawl...hence two months can alternatively feel like two days or two years. People also disappear. They literally go POOF!

Of course guests are coming and going all the time, most stay for a one week workshop, although some of the in training yoga and massage guests stay as long as five weeks. But I spend every waking moment with a rotating roster of "volunteers". At any given time, Kalani has ~135 volunteers from all over the world, and every imaginable profession. I would say from every race as well, but this is educated almost all white-ville, as opposed to outside "the bubble", where it is tanned-ville brown-ville and haggard-ville. Most stay from one to three months and are in some kind of transitional period in their lives: graduating from college, divorce, death, sickness, early retirement, loss/change of employment, alcoholism/substance abuse and general existential despair. Some others are here to party their ass off in Paradise.

When I first got here, I bonded with the newbies that had arrived more or less when I got here, August 19, 2013.We climbed volcanoes, swam at isolated beaches, did yoga with friendly, at least for me,

world class yogis, got drunk at Uncle Robert's on Wednesday nights, hiked, philosophized, made trips to the Wall Mart 45 minutes away for toothpaste. Now almost all of the people that I did these things with and mentioned/ photographed in previous posts are gone. POOF!

Did they really exist at all?  Did they really exist at all?

Meet Becky and Mike from Phoenix, having early morning coffee. Becky was a receptionist at a spa and Mike was an optometrist.They lived in the Waipi'o Valley for a month in a tent, were guests at Kalani and liked it so much, they returned as volunteers. Becky works in the kitchen with me and Mike works in maintenance. We have become longer term friends, as Mike plays guitar and knows of people like Tom Waitts, Little Feat and Frank Zappa.We went into Pahao today and drank beer in a dive and watched Arizona as well as the Redskins.They are also looking at property around here, contemplating an off-grid life.

I just signed up for a year here, so slowly I am becoming a local. I recently was made a shift leader, which is a paying position and offers many other benefits, such as moving out of tentland into an A-frame house. I look forward to having electricity again.

This is the park like entrance to a subdivision called Sea View estates. Evidently it was built in the 70's, with great plans to be the next Waikiki, and things kind of fizzled. Not your average subdivision mind you, but off grid bungalows can be had very inexpensively. Some live in tents on their two acre plots, awaiting their big financial break. Some long term Kalani members move here and have parties from time to time. On Sundays, the park is packed with locals digging the Pacific view.

Abby, on the left from Austin, who you met at the tidal pool earlier, has just signed up for a year as well and is considering changing her name to complete her escape. Maribelle, from Quebec (oui, elle parle anglais) has returned to Canada to her job in a water treatment plant. Here a few of us went to town to say au revoir to Maribelle, after a three month stay.

Ed from Seattle and a former Starbucks executive. He came to Kalani to pursue his real passion, cartooning and sketching. After Margaritas at Luquan's, a Mexican restaurant across the street, Maribelle went POOF! and done gone disappeared and all.


Leis on the table before the weekly morning meeting. They are given to staff that are getting ready to disappear.

Check out Kailani in her goodbye lei. She is from Santa Fe and is 18. I can't imagine 56 year old me having had the wherewithal  to make it happen for 18 year old me to be hanging at Kalani for several months: wouldn've known how to make it happen. Kailani is going POOF!, but not too far. She is moving about 5 miles down the road to work at a permaculture farm with about 20 volunteers. Kailani worked in the kitchen with me and is a master at the double Hobart dishwasher.You go girl!


That would be LJ, the director of Kalani "lei-ing" (A common come-on around here is: "wanna get lei-ed, maybe some real aloha?") Jonathan as he get ready to go POOF!. Richard Koob, the founder of Kalani, is on the left. Read about Richard here: The Founder of Kalani He really should be proud of his life's work and what he has created here. Jonathan is basically Hawaiian Royalty at Kalani. His official title was Ho'okpie, in charge of Hawaiian hospitality on property. He is in charge of leis, Hawaiian chants, spirituality and Hawaiian vocabulary. He has been here for nine years and is moving to Kona for a year's sabbatical to become a kumu-Hula, a certified master of Hula.

Charlotte, from Providence, Rhode Island lived across from me in tentland.  I kinda lost track of her when she moved to A-frame land.....until she moved again to a bigger A-frame and I moved into her old one. Written on a beam above the bed reads "There is no place like OM". I asked her how many people on this planet have lain in that bed and read that sign. Then I move into her larger A-frame. I had to promise Charlotte that I was not stalking her. Charlotte made documentaries in Manhattan in her old life and now works in guest services. I knew her as a unbelievable Hula dancer until I saw her ferocious pose as she exhibited her Flamenco skills at a recent volunteer burlesque night.

Ryan and a friend practice aerial dance for the burlesque show.

Anna Marie from Finland and restaurant management student, applies make-up for the show

Ryan from the Bay area and worked in restaurant management in his old life, works in the to-go arm of the kitchen, known as Hale Aloha, which provides great luncheons for volunteers and guests going on adventures and tourists stopping by from Red road

This was the male "Five o'clock shadow" which segued into Thundering Grace; she did a great gender-bending burlesque
These volunteers practiced at a four day burlesque work shop taught by Thundering Grace, to prepare for the big show. Many work in the kitchen for their day job.
Although I have gotten sort of used to it, and maybe it was just me that it happened to more than once, of being stood up. One of first few days here, I was going to the beach with a woman here and she didn't show. Because of scheduling and the general "let it flow" mantra, I did not see her for several days.When I finally ran into her, I asked her what happened and she said "Oh...I decided to do yoga." Now how could I reasonably argue with that logic?

Recently, my radical vegan friend and fellow chef, Marianna moved off property to a house in SeaView Estates and invited me to a dinner party there. She was very explicit, and said to meet at the bench in front of Guest Services at 5:30 and someone would pick me up. In the normal world, that sounds like a definite invitation, no?

So I am sitting on the bench, showered and shaved, Hawaiian shirt and all, and box of wine in hand. Then it becomes 5:45....uh I see where this is going....back to my tent. Just then Founder Richard sits next to me and asks to help him make some goodbye leis. He says that he is going to a celebratory good bye dinner in town, for two friends that are about to go POOF! back to Florida. He then says it looks like he had been stood up as well.The fact that even the founder gets stood up around here made me feel better that it wasn't just me. So off we went and it flowed into something better.

The next thing I know I am having pints of Kona beer, calamari, macadamia nut crusted ahi tuna and local duck breasts at Keloa's restaurant with 25 interesting people. Thanks Richard for letting me tag along....e ho mai, sometimes you just got to let it flow and see what happens.

A smiling, portly Buddha I stumbled upon somewhere in the jungle. Thanks for stopping by