This post was meant to be written yesterday night but I was caught up with the delivery of kharma. I have for the past two nights stayed at the home of a local friend I made. His name is Timtim. A 20 kilometer crater on the top of one of the largest mountain here in new zealand make up the town of Rotorua. The top of this mountain blew off around 300 years ago. When seen from a high peak you can actually see a town in the center of a huge crater in the middle of a mountain. This formed a habitable yet volatile area that is Rotorua. The true Rotoruans are the Maori people. Timtim is Maori as is Chess who you see below acting as my tour guide. He's been giving me tours of sights that would not normally be seen. His ancestors were buried right there next to his house going back to great great grandfathers. Its now 2 Maoris that have purely welcomed me into their homes. They are truly kind and great people. Their rituals and traditions interest me much. It is said and I firmly believe that the Maoris are the 12th missing tribe of Israel, of the Jewish people. Their beliefs revolve around appreciating and loving the smoky fertile land they discovered 700 years ago. Very similar to buddhism. This land is New Zealand. The Brits came and took over some 200 years ago. The Maoris say they gifted it to them but I dont much believe that. The Maori were less developed but indigenous people and their mineral rich land was too much to resist for the queen of England. The Maoris learned to use this volcanic ground for heat, to bathe daily, even to cook. Timtim is a sort of Bob Marley singing activist for the cause of his people. He is a religous Maori and very much loves his land. I spent a day with Timtim in the village where he works and where he is originally from. It is the oldest Maori city. It's a huge tourist attraction and flocks of asians brits and whoever can afford it (cause its costs dearly to enter this village) come to be amazed. The actual Maoris do not pay to enter as it is there land and so I did not pay either. By way of ritual and initiation I have become Maori.
Generally tourists aren't much respected around here and are simply looked at as prospective customers. The Maoris have several tribes. The one that governs this village also governs the one that Chess lives in. I was taken to the medicine man. He asked me my name and we chatted for a bit. He played his flute like instrument and did a ritualistic blessing on me. I love these people. Keeping a promise I made to myself, I have attained a stamp from the Maori People. It is of a young phoenix taking off in flight. I have seen alot of New Zealand so far but it has been here that I chose to rest my head for a little while. In the coming days I will shoot south to the south island where they shot Harry Potter and Lord Of The Rings. I will not spend much time there as its expensive and cold. I will shoot document and write as much as I can in a few days down there. So, the tourists come to visit this village where I am now a regular. They come and take photos of us bathing in our natural jacuzzis. And of the smoky and unfamiliar land. In here Waka village its a communal bathing type of thing and of coarse since it is a small place with ancestory going back 100s of years everyone knows one another.There are these tracks molded into the ground that bring the very hot near boiling water from the volcanic spring just meters away. It is funneled into 6 primitive jacuzzis. All different temperatures. All too hot for me to just plunge into. Its amazing that when I go in I do very slowly, inch by inch as the water is simply too hot. The locals including Timtim and Jaypee (The Village wiseone and medicine man) just jump full in. Yesterday night while bathing in our communal bath Timtim and I were hungry and so we were going to get food nearby. There was someone there that was not a Mauri. He seemed like a Hawain of some sort. Very fat and sumo like. Uncivil and tribal looking. As im talking to my new friends about how much I love their land and their ways this guy said he would run up and get the grub for us. OK I figured. The smallest bill I had was a $100 which is around $70 US. I gave it with unswayed confidence from the kindness these people have instilled in me. This bloke did not come back. Having faith in human kind we waited patiently. 2 hours actually. My patience wore thin and I realized I was just taken for a ride by this savage. He might not have achieved the awareness of knowing that this world is not round it is oval and the deeds we do good or bad can return to us 10 fold. This is the teachings of Dharma. Jaypee who is the elder in the village and probably the wisest said he rested his eyes on this man earlier in the day and conveyed to me that he drives a station wagon that has a surfers sticker on the back. I thought nothing more of it until I ran into this fat fucks car on the way home. It was parked in a shady area (or dodgey as they say here)near the village. With a firm grip of the two wheels on one end of my skateboard and with a round about swing I introduced the other end to this dumbshits windshield. I doubt he'll ever be coming back to Waka again and if he does he wont be met with smiles. They are not much liked by the true Maoris. Its sad that such a thing had to shatter the bliss I was feeling with everything and everyone around me. Every now and then I guess a good slap into reality is a positive thing. A good thing for both me and the dickhead that robbed me Perhaps I did not choose the correct path with the given circumstances but I feel damn good about it. I cant stand being a victim and wherever I go myself comes with me and wherever I roam it doesnt allow for my lose of sleep because someone got over on me. I guess in the future Ill just let the natural harmonic balance of Dharma and Kharma take its coarse but this night he wasted my time and this is very valuable to me. All that aside, I am so very blessed to have made friends in this town. Genuine ones. This town is one that I surmise I shall visit many many times. It is the finest and richest land I have seen so far.
Generally tourists aren't much respected around here and are simply looked at as prospective customers. The Maoris have several tribes. The one that governs this village also governs the one that Chess lives in. I was taken to the medicine man. He asked me my name and we chatted for a bit. He played his flute like instrument and did a ritualistic blessing on me. I love these people. Keeping a promise I made to myself, I have attained a stamp from the Maori People. It is of a young phoenix taking off in flight. I have seen alot of New Zealand so far but it has been here that I chose to rest my head for a little while. In the coming days I will shoot south to the south island where they shot Harry Potter and Lord Of The Rings. I will not spend much time there as its expensive and cold. I will shoot document and write as much as I can in a few days down there. So, the tourists come to visit this village where I am now a regular. They come and take photos of us bathing in our natural jacuzzis. And of the smoky and unfamiliar land. In here Waka village its a communal bathing type of thing and of coarse since it is a small place with ancestory going back 100s of years everyone knows one another.There are these tracks molded into the ground that bring the very hot near boiling water from the volcanic spring just meters away. It is funneled into 6 primitive jacuzzis. All different temperatures. All too hot for me to just plunge into. Its amazing that when I go in I do very slowly, inch by inch as the water is simply too hot. The locals including Timtim and Jaypee (The Village wiseone and medicine man) just jump full in. Yesterday night while bathing in our communal bath Timtim and I were hungry and so we were going to get food nearby. There was someone there that was not a Mauri. He seemed like a Hawain of some sort. Very fat and sumo like. Uncivil and tribal looking. As im talking to my new friends about how much I love their land and their ways this guy said he would run up and get the grub for us. OK I figured. The smallest bill I had was a $100 which is around $70 US. I gave it with unswayed confidence from the kindness these people have instilled in me. This bloke did not come back. Having faith in human kind we waited patiently. 2 hours actually. My patience wore thin and I realized I was just taken for a ride by this savage. He might not have achieved the awareness of knowing that this world is not round it is oval and the deeds we do good or bad can return to us 10 fold. This is the teachings of Dharma. Jaypee who is the elder in the village and probably the wisest said he rested his eyes on this man earlier in the day and conveyed to me that he drives a station wagon that has a surfers sticker on the back. I thought nothing more of it until I ran into this fat fucks car on the way home. It was parked in a shady area (or dodgey as they say here)near the village. With a firm grip of the two wheels on one end of my skateboard and with a round about swing I introduced the other end to this dumbshits windshield. I doubt he'll ever be coming back to Waka again and if he does he wont be met with smiles. They are not much liked by the true Maoris. Its sad that such a thing had to shatter the bliss I was feeling with everything and everyone around me. Every now and then I guess a good slap into reality is a positive thing. A good thing for both me and the dickhead that robbed me Perhaps I did not choose the correct path with the given circumstances but I feel damn good about it. I cant stand being a victim and wherever I go myself comes with me and wherever I roam it doesnt allow for my lose of sleep because someone got over on me. I guess in the future Ill just let the natural harmonic balance of Dharma and Kharma take its coarse but this night he wasted my time and this is very valuable to me. All that aside, I am so very blessed to have made friends in this town. Genuine ones. This town is one that I surmise I shall visit many many times. It is the finest and richest land I have seen so far.
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