Today was a fairly spectacular day in terms of my Fruitarian Bodybuilding Athlete Challenge. I didn’t get my full set of five stars but I felt great about my performance.
My First Day of Work at Gaia Yoga Gardens
I woke up early-ish, around 8 a.m. the morning sun was shining on my face and I was feeling rested and ready to start the day. It was very relieving to know that I didn’t have to be ready to work until 9 a.m., which is much different than the 7:30 starting time at the Kanekiki Farm.
The morning meeting at Gaia Yoga Gardens is also quite different than the work meetings we had at the Kanekiki Farm. At Gaia Yoga the work meetings are scheduled to start at 9 a.m. but there is flexibility to them. Before we start talking about work, everyone checks in by sharing how they are feeling physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. After that, there is a short discussion to talk about what needs to get done that day and who will be working on that. This is much different than the meetings at the Kanekiki Farm, where work was already decided ahead of time and all we had to do was put our name under the job we wanted to do.
I ended up working for 6 hours straight. First I helped with some tarp set up, then I helped to walk one of the cows. You can guess that I didn’t enjoy the second job, I could tell the cow didn’t want to be guided in the direction we were forcing here to go. It was the least vegan thing I have done in the past few months, aside from getting in a fight with a cat and killing a couple dozen mosquitoes. Working “with the cow” was something I certainly don’t want to do again, it only took a few minutes, but it was uncomfortable enough to show me I am, as some people like to say, “vegan as fuck”.
Losing a Star to a Coconut Binge
After that episode with the cow, I got assigned to move some massive branches and throw them over a fence. It was a fun, yet physical task that I enjoyed very much, expect for the fact that some of the branches I was picking up from the ground were covered in cow poop. I didn’t count any of that time towards my fruitarian bodybuilding workout hours but part of me things I should, it was hard work!
My last job for the day entailed helping with coconut harvest. This was quite fun and fairly easy. Ano (the owner of Gaia Yoga Gardens), his children and I got in the truck and headed south to pick some loaded coconut trees. I ended up eating a bunch of them, they were delicious and I simply could not resist. I must have eaten a little under 10 over the course of the whole day. They were certainly worth losing one star.
Coconuts are tricky and many fruitarians like to keep them as part of their fruitarian meal plan. To me, it is obvious that coconuts are not fruit. It is clearly stated in their name. They contain no seeds and no matter how hard we could try, the will never be (properly) considered fruit. That beings said, I think that the best part of my day was when we took a break after harvesting, walked to the beach, and I sat on some lava rocks, right by the water, eating a freshly picked coconut. Hey! At least it wasn’t a piece of bacon!
Kicking Ass with My Fruitarian Bodybuilding Athlete Challenge
I am proud to say that after getting back from harvest, and eating all those coconuts, I still managed to get on a 90 minute long walk. I would have done two full hours of walking but I had to be back for our Monday evening meeting.
The meeting lasted more than two hours and finished around 8 p.m. By then, I was ready to go to sleep and after having such a physically intensive day at work, I thought I could let this one slide and count in the extra star. However, my conscience was too strong and instead of falling out of integrity, I grabed my flashlight and headed to the road to get 30 minutes more of exercise.
Walking so late at night, in such a new and desolated place was quite an experience. At first I felt afraid, but then I began to relax and I even dared to turn off my flashlight and walk in pure darkness. The only thing that kept me from stepping of the road were the stars, and the shadows on the trees, which I used to navigate myself.
I didn’t have my phone with me to check the time (it was out of battery) so I decided to walk to a check point which I estimated to be 15 minutes away. When I got there I felt so great and inspired that I decided to run all the way back. I dimmed my headlight to its lowest level, so that I could see just enough to avoid running into a coconut tree, and then I began to joy back up the trail. I thought I was going to get tired and stop, but I didn’t. I ended up running all the way back to the entrance of Gaia Yoga Gardens.
Another Successful Day for the Fruitarian Bodybuilder
By the time I got back I plugged my phone back in and checked the time, my night time excursion had taken me just a little under 30 minutes. Add in the picture I took and the blog I just wrote and I can earn four beautiful stars to my Fruitarian Bodybuilding Athlete Challenge. Mission accomplished! =D
