Puna WTF!?!

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Hawaii, or I should say the Puna region of the Big Island, has been blowing my mind. I used to think that the heart of American counter culture was somewhere in the San Francisco Bay area. But now I'm beginning to think that it's actually out here in Puna.

The locals aptly call themselves "Punatics." Every conversation I have with a stranger here quickly veers off into deep waters of ayurveda, ayahuasca, how to sync your vibrations with those of the Earth, or better yet, the universe, sustainable permaculture, the importance of blessing one's food, how quantum mechanics gives rise to consciousness, the finer points of astrology - I'm sure you get the idea 😉 Disapointingly, there doesn't seem to be much awareness of bitcoin here. I'm doing my best to remedy that 😉 At the beaches here, you can get stoned merely by breathing the air. All-in-all it's quite a precious scene out here, a Mecca for those looking for alternatives to the materialistic lifestyle of the developed world. However, the amount of wooism taken for granted in normal conversation would eventually wear me out if I were to stay here for a long time. Hilo, on the other hand, is more down-to-Earth, and I wouldn't mind spending some extended time relaxing at that chilled-out beach town.

It's quite stimulating for a visitor, and I've already tried a number of local delicacies, such as checking out the community Kalani and their ecstatic dance party, going au naturelle at the nude beach, and trying some Kava (relaxing, but I also felt kind of spaced-out after a coffee). Some ayahuasca is next on the menu.

I'm grateful to be hosted here for a few days by the bitcoin-accepting masseuse that was seated next to me on my flight over to Hawaii. I'll take off to Kona on the other side of the big island pretty soon, where a fellow meditator has kindly invited me to share a condo that has serendipitously fallen into her lap for 5 days. So far, I've been blown away by the generosity of fellow travelers. Maybe I've just gotten lucky so far, or maybe the Big Island is just a special place (woo woooooo 😊 ). We'll see.

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