Aloha! Greetings from my villa at the Fairmont Kea Lani on the island of Maui. Day 4 went great. Went on a "snuba" cruise to an island, saw dolphins, sea turtles and a humpback whale close up. Was the only "single" woman on a boat of retired couples. Also the only person to shoot off the side of the boat on a water slide. A couple of the men looked interested, but were too fat.
My take-aways are:
1) the locals say "how long have you been on island?"
2) Mainland/mainstream americans in general think we are human "doings" rather than human "beings" I'm no exception.
On Maui, the native energy of the island is about "be-ing". It's okay not to do anything. Tourists have an exchange rate for "be-ing". If we pay enough money, it's okay for us just to be. As a type A, yang-infested classic westerner, this puts me in a bit of a dilemma. I am here on the island of be-ing. I have not paid what this experience is worth (due to my extreme luck) so have I earned the right to "be"? My roommates, Nancy and Nancy, have no trouble with days that look like this: beach to pool to bar to beach to pool to bar to nap to restaurant. I think they should look like swim to run to hike to read to write to nap to restaurant. But beach to pool to beach to pool is pretty darn awesome (and can include reading and napping).
3) I just figured out why men don't have to dress up but women do. It's so simple. And really now that i know it I realize that there really is no inequality. Women are dressed up because they're dressed up and Men are dressed up because they're with a woman who is dressed up. We are their clothes, their jewelry, their makeup. And it takes them a long time to get ready.
