Plants in Human Affairs, weeks one

I was in an odd space following Christmas and the new year. It was cold and wet and lonely. Spending time with my mate and helping him build his shack was nice but also intense. This made dropping into a Uni course even more of an event.

The big island is huge and I had yet to make it to the Kona side of the island. This is where old fishing villages were, it is in the rain shadow of Mauna Loa and so is the dry side of the island. The region grows heaps of coffee and mac nuts now as well as being a retirement colony for faded hippies and the new age.

I was dropped at the airport by friends and met up with Momi, a hawaiian women who was teaching us somewhat in the course and helping out with driving and that sort of stuff. We smoked cigarettes and played ukulele while we waited for other students to arrive. Arriving were Patrick and Therese, like most of the class participants, from Minnisota where the center running the course was based. We drove to the B&B where the course was being held at Kealakekua, the bay where Cpt. Cook was killed. I talked with the other students and we ate Pizza that Dennis had bought. I was beat and so went to bed fairly early.

On sunday we had a day to adjust to arriving, but I was ok. I did some course reading and we went to the open market where I got some great drawings from a botanical illustrator. Other than that I tried to get to know the other students, being so starved of good company my age for some time. The class was an interesting mix of heads (myself included) and muggles who were taking the course as part of a horticulture degree, to "Expand the scope" of their pre-med studies or to go to hawaii. Psychedelic enthusiasts talked at length about inner realms and plant metaphysics while the muggles seemed taken aback. I met a really nice girl called Rebecca who was a pre-med student studying chinese and the chinease medicine system. We talked at length over the two weeks about limits to rational conceptions of health and healing and the notion and effects of intuition and intent when practicing and receiving healing.

In the first week we looked at the botanical dimensions of the world. We had two key lecturers, Kat Harrison and Dennis McKenna. They covered various different topics concerning plants in human affairs. Dennis looked at the complexity of plant chemistry and how plants use chemicals rather than motion or movement in order to communicate with and interact in the environment. Using molecules for scent, sight and direct communication with other plants and organisms they have substituted behavior for chemistry. We then looked at these classes of compounds and also at issues surrounding the patenting of nature and bioprospecting, how to remediate traditional healers if they choose to share this knowledge. With Kat we looked at plants in human affairs with things like the spice trade, domestication of plants and the birth of agriculture and the use of plants in healing practice. The food was amazing, prepared by a caterer and i felt really good doing the course and reinforcing alot of knowledge about humans and plant uses. On Friday we went to the Awa bar in town to talk story and Saturday we cruised the island going to the volcano and such. Sunday was a day of rest but I had a great time cruising down to the canoe club and talking with the guys. In the old days they would bring 50m tall acaica koa trees down and carve canoes out for battle in that spot.

It was time for week 2

29th till the 3rd- Punatics

So I was at my friends house in Puna, well it wasn't his house, he lived in the chicken coop behind the house. He was a Vietnam veteran who pursued armed revolution in Hawaii following what he saw and the conclusions he reached. He then eventually sold out and worked the Honolulu fish market, he was the king of the market. He could play the game and as such they built a $7m dollar empire from the ground up. However, my friend realised that they were fishing the world's breed stock, and that rich americans could go by fish from a place like Fiji, destroy the island's fishstock and turn a few million in the process. When the first gulf war began he droped out, it was too much. He left the buisness to his brother and headed to Pahoa, hippy haven of the big island, where he was a tomato grower for a number of years. I met him through a friend who stayed at a farm I was on who knew him from activist work during the build up to iraq this time round. He was also a renowned hemp activist and was integral in changing peoples perceptions around the world through information campaigns about

I arrived, it had been torentially raining for the past week and I was cold wet and smelly. I'd only had a few hours sleep cause I'd been out at the lava and was relieved to get to my friends place. We had some whiskey and joints and talked story about the state of the world and reflection on a radical life. I helped him build a cinder floor in the hot house that he was moving into and we rolled out carpet and a tarp and moved his books and clothes across from the leaking chicken coop. Over the next few days I helped cut trails and tried to dig a outhouse hole in the lava but to no avail.

My friend was depressed and crazy and cynical but I guess fighting in war and seeing no change will do that to someone. He has enough military pension to get by but no way to build anything or get off the ground. It was an interesting few days, great to have company but so sad that people are so lost about how to act or what to do in the world today.

I left on Saturday the 3rd when my course was begining. I rode into town and showered at Sharrons and then they gave me a lift round to the Kona side where I met my pickup for the course, Plants in Human Affairs.

Christmas to 29th

Arrived at Sharrons smelly and wet. It was christmas eve. I washed all my clothes and myself an did some cyber errands. Was Christmas in Australia so talked to both my families between the air. It rained all day so we listened to music and talked story. Dennise came over later on and we had dinner and watched a movie in what they termed a slumber party. They were old new age women but were not totally on it. Dennise said she wa abducted by aliens, she was from Ohio. Sharron was not aducted by aliens but a character none the less.

Christmas breakfast I went and got some bagles from the only open Cafe in Hilo, Hilo is fairly rundown since sugar died and all the shops and in stripmalls by the highway not the town center. Sheltered from the rain which was getting torrential. At 6pm I set off again with my bike and stuff for the Dements for Christmas dinner. They were a nice enought family. I had a shower and shared their food, we didn't have much in common. Their son in law told me how to hike to the lava flow and I was beat so went to bed early.

Boxingday it rained and rained and rained. Bill gave me a ride to Pahoa where the farmstay guy was gonna pick me up. He did, he was a loose unit. Ed Frazer. His place was overgrown, he farmed nothing and the digs were abysmall. I had no options due to the rain and stayed on a tent platform. There was an old retired aircraft mechanic who had been in jail and had moved to Hawaii to be homeless and try and eat fruit. He ended up at this guys place sleeping in a bus. And a loose guy from South Carolina, with a net of dreads and beard. His name was Ryan. Fred Razer said he let him stay around so that someone was watching the place. Nothing could be grown, the place was like a junkyard. I rode around for 2 days with occational rain and read my book. I missed home and my friends and family. I was eatting out in Pahoa town just to be doing something. It was a weird period. I called my family for conversation and good vibes. I tried to reach some friends but phones were not answered. I cheered up though and then rode back to the hostel. The next day I rode out to the lava flow and set up camp.

At 4am I headed across the lava flow out to the molten rock hitting the ocean. It was small kind from far off but clamboring past the baricades to the shelf I headed over the rocks. I can not explain in words seeing hot lava pour into the sea, there were fountins, I was warm, one near molten rock landed near some french guys, when the rocks hit the sea they floated for a while because they were so hot. I stayed out and watched it spew steam and rocks into the sea until 7am when I headed back to camp for an hours nap and then packed up on the bike to ride to Pahoa. I warmed up with strong coffees and a muffin at the coffee shop and booked things on the internet. I turned my phone on and a hawaiian friend wanted me to help him move house for a couple of days so I headed over to his place.

Pre-Christmas

Well, I think when I left off I was headed out on the bike to adventure the island a bit.

Step one was riding up Mauna Loa, the largest land mass in the world. A massive mountain sitting on the continental plate. This volcano is dormant but they say overdue for eruption. Was 20 miles up, took 6hrs and my 0 season tent ensured I felt the wind all night up at 10,000ft above sea level (The bulk of the mountain is below da sea)

The next day I hiked from the observatory I was outside to the summit, a huge snow covered culdera. Was great seeing snow in the tropics but I guess everest is the same latitude as Florida so it don't mean much. Hiked back down to camp and got another great night sleep on the lava rock.

Third day and I started around the 4x4 ring road that cuts around Mauna Kea. Manuna kea is an older volcano than Manua loa and so is more biologially developed. The road cut through disused and still used ranch land with some gum trees, native acacias and gourse bush. A state ranger listed off the the things that could kill me: wild dogs, pigs, poachers, etc but I was not to be discouraged. I rode 25 miles of the 44 miles road and camped at state cabins on the mountain. Was beautiful, looked like Australia (Overgrazed disused ranch land) and in the areas they had excluded cows the native hawaiian acacia was growing and I even found a blue gum forest which i plundered to have an aussie campfire. At the cabins was a mountain bike family who I basically left alone.

The next day I rode down off the hawaiian mauka lands (mountain lands) and along the coast. The rest of the mauna road was rough and I accidentally disembarked the bicycle twice and also buggered one of my paniers and had to stitch it back up whilst being watched by some very observant cows. Reaching down into Waimea I saw the bike family and they invited me to Christmas dinner, ah the gift of the gab. Rode down the Hammoukua coast, stopping for portuguese fried food to make up for 3 days of cans of beans and crackers since the TSA nabed by stove. The coast was stunning and the old highway followed the old cane train trusses which cut and zagged along the coast.

I pulled into kolekole state park as the sunset and was invited to drink beers with 3 vagabond locals in the tent shelter, they were living in the park. Charlie, Jimmy and Akon. We listened to the radio and talked story, among constant jokes about kangaroos and "Down under". I camped next to Akon and we ate avocados, drank cheap beer and smoked shake. He was a recovered meth head who had once been at school on the mainland on scholarship for football with his girlfriend who was also Hawaiian but she got pregnant and they moved back here and then he started doing meth and was an adict and now she has an AVO (restraining order) on him plus he has a bunch of other kids with his old lady (as opposed to his old old lady) whose parents dislike him. It was the night before christas eve. We listened to the rain and the radio in the park shelter.

Woke with the wild roosters and went with Akon to call his old lady to arrange to see them for christmas. We had avocados for breakfast and set some chicken snares in the hopes that he would catch one to sell to phillipino hawaiian cock fighters for $300 he could make the down payment on a public housing rental to get custody of his kids. I bid him fairwell and rode the old cane train rode to Hilo and arrived at Sharon's place ready for a shower.