Aloha! Adventures in Hawaii : )

     Hilo was amazing!!!! Deirdre and I had a blast! It took FOREVER to go through customs to get off the boat because one on the non-US citizens either didn’t show up or something was wrong with his paperwork because we waited for him for an extra hour.  We were supposed to get off before 7 but we didn’t end up getting up until 8. We were waiting by the door to get off the ship though so we were the third and fourth people off the boat! We decided to check out the black sand beaches first. There was this great bus called the Hele-on bus right near that was free so we decided to take that. We accidentally stood at the wrong bus station to go to Richardson beach though so ended up waiting a long time for the bus and then getting on at the wrong point so instead of taking 10 minutes to get there the bus driver said it would take an hour! It was only 9:30 at this point but it was blazing hot out so we didn’t mind sitting in the air conditioned bus…. Getting on the bus ended up being awesome though because it gave us a tour of most of Hilo!! We saw the shops in town and figured out where the Walmart was and saw some gorgeous sights. Once we got to Richardson Park we got to see the black-sand beaches, which are there from the lava, it was gorgeous! We walked out on the lava rocks and the waves were breaking right in front of us just a few feet away. After hanging out there for a while we headed back down the road towards the Hilo Homemade Ice Cream shop. The shop was further than we thought but luckily the nice bus driver was really nice and picked us up and drove us to it! Once we got there the owner let us try all the flavors and then once we got our ice cream told us to go out back and check out her garden. It ended up being a smaller version of the famous botanical gardens. It was indescribable, incredible. After that we walked the mile and a half back to the ship to have lunch. We ate out on the deck and ended up seeing a whole bunch of whales frolicking in the water. They were blowing water out of their blowholes and jumping high out of the water. They looked like they were playing and having a great time! We had been waiting this whole trip to see whales so we were so pumped!! After that we went to Walmart to get a few things we had forgotten and a few snacks. The trip to Walmart was interesting because we ended up getting a free cab ride from this taxi man named Joe. He was extremely nice and gave us a ton of information about places to go see since he was a local born and raised in Hawaii.
     Finally it was time for the Luau! They took us on a tour of the University of Hawaii Hilo, which was actually really pretty. They showed us a few other parts of Hilo and then took us to the luau location. We first made leis out of tealeaves and then ate and finally watched some traditional Hawaiian dances. They offered all traditional Hawaiian food such as edaname, pork they roasted underground, squid, salmon, asian noodles with chicken, rice, and poi. Poi is a traditional Hawaiian food that comes from the root of a plant and is considered a comfort food for them. One of the Hawaiian’s described the texture to us as wallpaper paste. Let me tell you, that is exactly what I thought of when I tried it. Generally you dip another food in poi. All I could think about was eating glue when I tasted it. It was even what I imagined glue to taste like which was also most people’s reaction. Needless to say you definitely need to acquire a taste for it. I had never been to a luau so it was a lot of fun!
     On the second day in Hilo I was mauled by a dog. I’ll get to that later. Anyways, we had planned to go see the boiling pots, an idea we got from Joe the taxi driver, but the day ended up way better than that! We first took the bus downtown to shop at the local market and downtown stores. The market was very cute. It had all different items from custom-made jewelry to produce. The produce was sold at insane prices! It was $1 for 6 papayas! Deirdre and I both had never had one so we bought one of those and gave the other five to another family at the market – we had tried to explain to the woman we would give her a dollar but we only wanted one but she didn’t understand. Regardless, she cut one in half for us and it was delicious! While walking around the downtown shops we ran into some of our friends from semester at sea who recommended stopping into this little café which had delicious brownies and Kava – an ancient Hawaiian medicine that comes from the root of a plant to relieve pain. The café was adorable and the owner Dan was so nice. He showed us the traditional way to drink the Kava and gave us a free sample. You drank it out of wooden cups that were rounded on the bottom so you couldn’t set them down until you drank all of it. He warned us it was a drink you gulped or chugged not sipped. Before drinking the drink everyone drinking it claps twice in unison. Then you flick some from the cup to the ground to give back to the earth and some to the sky to give to the Gods. After that you gulp it as quick as you can – which is probably best because it literally tastes like I would imagine licking tree bark would – and when your finally done you put your cup down and clap once. It was an interesting tradition to experience. We chatted with Dan for a while and he showed us a few cool places to go. We took his dog for a walk to a few blocks away where you could supposedly see sea turtles although we didn’t see any. On our way to drop the dog – Rufio – off at the shop, he started biting his leash so I was playing with it like I would with Molly. Apparently that wasn’t the right thing to do because Rufio ended up jumping up and throwing his paws around my legs leaving huge scratches. As if that wasn’t enough, he jumped a second time in what appeared to be him trying to hug my arm. He left some more scratches there too. Apparently Deirdre thought we were just playing because she was no help at all and just stood there laughing. What a good friend.
     After that experience I was more than ready to give Rufio back to Dan and to head up to Rainbow Falls. We walked the few miles up there, which was definitely worth it. The view on the stairs on the way up to the falls was gorgeous. I ‘ve never seen a more beautiful landscape in my life. Along the way we ran into a creepy man who basically asked us if our ship was like a Spring Break Girls Gone Wild episode. We quickly got away from him and finally hit the falls. There wasn’t actually a waterfall because it hadn’t rained in so long which ended up being better for us because it left so many pools of water to swim in. We of course hiked over to the pool that was right along the edge, where if there was enough water the waterfall would pour over the edge. It was the most beautiful view I’ve ever seen. I won’t be able to share it with any of you though because we forgot our cameras today so you’ll just have to take my word for it that it was breathtaking :) After relaxing and swimming we started heading back to town to catch the bus back to the ship. We ended up missing the bus and walking to the ship. Let me just say we thought it was much closer than it was! I think from the falls to the ship we walked about eight miles if I had to guess. By the time we got to the ship we were exhausted, but it was by far the best day in Hilo.
     Honolulu was completely different from Hilo. Hilo was much more laid back and filled with more local Hawaiians. Honolulu was definitely a city with lots of hustle and bustle. However, it was nothing like most other cities I’ve seen before – it was SO clean!! The bus system there was great! With our student IDs it cost us only $1 per ride with one free transfer and all the bus drivers were so helpful as to when to get off and what bus to transfer to! I wish more of Americans would be as nice, friendly, and helpful as we found the people in Hawaii. The first day in Hawaii we took about three busses to get to Diamond Head. When we got to the park we ran into our friend Bernie and ended up hiking it with him. The hike was nothing like I thought it would be! There were clear paths for us to walk up instead mountainous trails as I had imagined. However, it was way harder than any other hike I’ve ever been on – we were all drenched in sweat by the time we got to the top!! The paths were rocky and even cut right through the mountain at one point. There was a section that was just a huge set of stairs that felt never ending when you looked at it from the bottom. It was well worth it because the view from the top was gorgeous! When you finally reached the top you were in the bunker they had previously used for the military; the metal that used to hold the machine guns were still standing and everything. You had to crouch low to get out of the bunker to finally see the breathtaking view. It overlooked the beaches and the whole city of Honolulu! I was extremely surprised at how many elderly people did this hike and give them so much credit because the three of us were huffing and puffing the whole way up.  When we got to the bottom, we stopped to get shaved ices. They were by far the BIGGEST shaved ice I’ve ever had and so delicious!!
     Next Bernie took us one-by-one on the back of his moped to the beach so we wouldn’t have to wait for the bus. We hung out on Waikiki beach for a while until it started to get windy and cloudy when we broke for lunch. Later we hung out with more people from Semester at Sea on the beach and then went shopping in the shops near the beach. There was international market nearby that had hundreds of vendors where we purchased our first t-shirt for our quilts we’re going to make of our trip! The next day we rented mopeds and headed up to North Shore. The place we rented it from was really nice and gave us a quick lesson of how to use them before we set off which was extremely helpful. Turning was hard so I think without it I would have turned into oncoming traffic the first time. We got lost a few times on the way up there to say the least! The mopeds were not allowed on the H1 highway because it went to quick for our bikes to handle but we couldn’t get over in time to not merge onto it so low and behold we ended up driving on the shoulder of it for a little bit with nails flying at us and other pieces of metal. We got off at the first exit which ended up being the airport. We circled through there until we found our way onto the right road. After that we were home free and headed for the North Shore. The whole trip, which should have taken an hour and a half, took us three hours. Oops! It was well worth it because the views were amazing. We went from the hustle and bustle of the city roads to one lane roads that snaked through mountains and rolling farmlands and then finally hit the beach. We drove right along the shore for about twenty minutes, getting to watch the waves get bigger and bigger as we traveled. We finally found the pipeline beach we were looking for and stopped to watch the Volcom Professional Surf Competition. It was outrageous to see the surfers catch the ENORMOUS waves!! If I had been in the water I would have been swimming like hell to get away from those monster waves but they managed to surf them well! After about a half hour it was time to head back to Honolulu to return the bikes which needed to be back by four – that left us two hours. We thought we would never make it aka it was a wild chase back. The gas tanks said they were half full which meant we should have been able to make it back just fine however that was not the case. Thirty minutes later they were displaying below empty and I was praying like hell that we would make it to a gas station. We made it literally in the nick of time!  After that it was a straight shot back to Honolulu with no other stops made. We literally made it back JUST in time, arriving at 3:56! Whew. Then we had to catch the right bus and hope we got back onto the ship by 6 so we wouldn’t get dock time at the next port (for every fifteen minutes your late to the ship you get 3 HOURS of dock time which means you cannot get off for 3 hours after everyone else can!!). Needless to say we were very relieved that we made it back!! That about sums up our AMAZING time in Hawaii!! Now we just need to get through the next 12 days of classes and then we’re in JAPAN!!!