COCO WASI

From 2006 to 2010 Victoria Bliss owned a retreat center in sunny Kapoho on the eastern part of Hawaii's Big Island, called C.O.C.O.'s, the Center of Conscious Oneness. It had been a community gathering place for 20 years prior to Victoria's ownership. And her coming to own it is a story unto itself. During that time a gentleman named John Kimmey came to help manage and live at Coco's. He was a caucasian man that lived for years with a Hopi elder that entrusted him to carry the Hopi Prophecy.

In fact, John was good friends with my friend Jim who does sweat lodges and vision quests near Taos, which I didn't learn until later.

The economic downturn occurred in the housing market and Victoria lost Coco's to the bank. It was bought by a couple who keep it as a private home but the legacy of what Coco's brought to the community lives on. It has been a place of growth and change and fun for many. We have enjoyed on occasion visiting the land and being shown around, seeing the improvements and changes. And the couple that bought it, the woman, used to play on the land as a child when her uncle owned it many years ago.

So, jump forward to October 2015 and we are in Peru, riding horses back from a day of ceremony at the sacred mountain base of Ausangate, a nearly 21,000 foot mountain. Victoria begins to feel the energy of John Kimmey. She feels his connection and love for the earth, his connection to the ways of the indigenous, she feels his gentle way, his Spirit. She cries.

And two days later in Pisac, Victoria opens up an email that was sent from John Kimmey. It was to a group of people who were participating in an event that was happening in the community. Everybody on the list received the email. The thing is Coco's for the last five years has been a private residence and no public events have taken place, also, John Kimmey died two years ago. The email had been from seven years earlier that wound up in everyone's mailboxes.

Everyone started to dialogue and discuss how strange that was and that they should all have a reunion. Victoria asked if anyone knew of any property available on that part of the island and we were told of a large acreage place that drew our interest.

After arriving on island in January 2016 we went to look at that land. We liked it but it didn't feel like the right spot for us. So, as we drove away Victoria asked to drive down to where Coco's used to be. I stopped in front of the gate and Victoria placed a note on it, saying who she was and if they were ever interested in selling the place to please call her. Well, two days later she received a phone call from the owner saying she would be open to selling the property to us.

After our retreats in March, we began the paperwork process and moved in six weeks later on Earth Day. What magic for us to have the land. We love being here, tending to it, sculpting it to our tastes. It is a sacred space, a land of transformation and healing, creation and possibility.