Go Big (Island): Is This a Vacation?

Hello everybody,

This post might be a contemplative one, as that is the mood I am in. Please excuse this, it may be a bit rambling.

Rachel on a cool bridge near the Kamehameha statue

Recently, the three of us have had discussions concerning our time here on Hawaii. We've lived here now for over a month, with two more months to go. None of us have jobs (Tamarah quit hers, story will follow.) None of us do anything all that productive with our time (as far as contributing to our larger society.) We work on the farm, sure, but that definitely does not take up the majority of our time. We explore the island a little bit, and that's always fun (there really is no end to what you can explore while you're here.) But largely we spend our days just spending time with each other (and sometimes Sanji.)

Sunset in Kona

Our mornings are now mostly the matter of a slow and steady routine. We wake up early (now we are all usually awake at 6:30 or 7,) which is good. Rachel will go on a run or a bike ride (Tam's starting to run now too, on occasion.) Then the two of them usually do some sort of workout (as Tam addressed in her post...I prefer to work out in a solely incidental manner) While they're busy refining their bods, I usually wake up slowly and leisurely. I stretch, write, and sometimes meditate; sometimes I play music off of my device or play the ukulele, to provide some sort of inspiration for them. Then we walk down to the kitchen and eat our breakfast. Then we usually garden for a bit. Then we do WHATEVER WE WANT FOR THE REST OF THE DAY. That often means just talking to each other. A lot, about everything. Boys, our health, our futures, our dreams (both the sleep kind and the ambition kind,) our bowel movements (nope that's not a joke,) our insecurities, our families, our interests. The 3 of us spend just so much time together. All of our time. If we are apart for ANY amount of time, we require an update on anything that happened while we were separated.

So that is what we do. We are learning about ourselves and eachother. Personally, I love it. Having had anxiety for the past 6 years of my life, I'm relishing this time where I am so completely fortunate to not have to work, to spend my time freely with 2 of my best friends in one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I'm sorry if this seems like I'm bragging. I am a little bit. But mostly I just want to express my gratitude for my situation.

Rachel with King Kamehameha the Great

Sometimes the 3 of us talk about how much we miss home, and how excited we are to go back. We miss our friends (they're simply the best friends,) our families, our dogs, the mountains, the change of season, the things we've grown to be comfortable with (and not being subjected to ants ALL OF THE TIME.) We need to remind eachother of where we are. Of what we're doing. Of how just unbelievably fortunate we are.

Anyways, here's what we've been up to for the past week or so (in a more focused manner):

Rachel and I have been going on little dates while Tamarah was at work. We had to do something while she was there, so we would go and do little touristy things, such as visit Coconut Island (mentioned in a previous post.) We also went to the King Kamehameha statue, commemorating the first king to ever unite all of the Hawaiian islands as one kingdom. We took walks around ponds, climbed banyans, took photos on cool bridges.

Rachel (in the blue shirt) starting the 10k

Last weekend we made yet another trip to Kona. Rachel, who is a beast, decided to try her hand at a 10k. The 10k was held at Pu'u Wa'awa as a fundraiser to help save the Dry Forest. On Friday Rachel and I waited until Tam was done with her shift at Cronies, then the 3 of us drove to Kona. We spent the night sleeping in Lil Red again (more comfortable with 3 instead of 4 people,) then woke up at 6 to drive to the race. The 10k consisted of running up and down a steep hill; roughly the first 5k was a pretty gnar incline, with the second 5k being a steady decline followed by a sharp decline. She did awesome, 2nd in her age division. We nabbed some free food (croissants, bananas, coffee and the like,) then headed out to explore around Kona a bit more.

Rachel's race results. We're so proud of her!

We had breakfast at a cafe (Kona is well known for it's coffee, supposedly some of the best in the world, naturally not as bitter as other coffee beans,) stopped by Creative Costumes to find stuff for our Halloween costumes, then went across the street to Original Donkey Balls Factory and Store to try some donkey balls. Donkey balls are a favorite dessert in Hawaii; they consist of a macadamia nut covered in chocolate. We personally really liked the "Chocolate Peeper-mint" chicken balls, which had a minty center and chocolatey exterior and were smaller than donkey balls.

Yummy Chicken Balls!

We decided to check out Kealakekua Bay, where Captain Cook landed on the Hawaiian Islands (the second time,) and where he was killed. The Captain Cook/Hawaii story is completely fascinating to me, and I'll probably tell it in full in a later post for people unfamiliar with the story. There is a monument for Cook in the bay, at a site that can't be reached except for by a two mile trail. We were going to try to hike to it, but ran out of time (there's supposedly astounding snorkeling in the ocean by the monument.) A weird fact about the monument: the patch of land that the monument is on is owned by Great Britain. Anyways, we were going to go swimming in the bay but the tide was really rough, so we went swimming at a public beach park right down the road. We went shopping at Costco (which was very exciting,) then went out to dinner at Kona Brewing Company. Kona Brewing is definitely the most popular micro-brewed beer in Hawaii. I personally LOVE it (neither Rachel or Tam really like beer.) I'm a big fan of wheat beers and they have an excellent selection. Their most popular beer is their Longboard Lager, which is delightful. I also really enjoy Big Wave Golden Ale and Wailua Wheat (which has passionfruit in it and is unfortunately only available in Hawaii.)

Kealakekua Bay (Captain Cook monument is white obelisk on left)

On Monday Tamarah and Rachel decided to do the lemon juice cleanse. Rachel did this cleanse when she first got here, so by now it was old-hat to her. For Tamarah, on the other hand, it was a new experience. Tamalam is usually a sweet little bumble bee of a person, but on the cleanse she became a bit of an adorable grumpy puss. She was so tired and hungry from the cleanse that she quit her job on the first day, then promptly gave up the cleanse the next morning. It was quite funny and endearing. So now Rachel and I have Tam all to ourselves again, which we quite enjoy.

Tamarah and Rachel with a lava tree

On Wednesday we decided to check out the South-Eastern side of the island a bit more. Our first stop was Lava Tree State Park. This is a state park created to showcase lava trees, which are literally trees that were caught up in lava. It was a nice little park with a quick loop that took us about 10 minutes to walk. We really wanted to check out Champagne Cove near Pahoa, which is a calm inlet pool that has some hot springs pouring into it, to make it an entirely pleasant swimming temperature. It's not really a hot springs, more tepid, but still very nice. Champagne Cove is sort of inside this private sub-division, however; but we got around that by driving a mile or so North of the cove to this light beacon on the coast, and then walking along the coast until we got to the cove. While we were there we noticed a helicopter consistenly hovering over the beach, and men on skidoos searching the waves. We later learned that a local girl had gone missing while snorkeling there a few days before, which is pretty scary. Sanji knew the girl, she was his friend's girlfriend.

Tamarah at Champagne Cove

That night we went to Kalapana Night Market, a hidden farmer's market that occurs on the now lava-covered town of Kalapana on Wednesday nights. It was a truly wonderful experience. There was live music, craft and food booths, and a collection of wonderfully eclectic Hawaiian locals. We all got really yummy food (Rachel broke her faste at the market,) I got some beer, and we just sat and absorbed the pleasant atmosphere. The road to the night market was single lane for most of it, and wound through these really beautiful forests right along the ocean.

Yesterday we went to Kolekole Beach Park, right down the road from Honomu. It was pretty neat. It is located at a junction of a river joining the ocean, and has a lovely waterfall. We enjoyed a nice picnic there of this sort of kasava salad we made, to which we added artichoke hearts, and artichoke heart/mustard salad dressing that Rachel made, tomatoes, hot sauce, avocado, and hummus.

Rachel and Tamarah at the waterfall at Kolekole

Rachel's friend Riley is coming to visit for 9 days tomorrow. Today is Halloween, and we're going to watch Rocky Horror Picture Show at the legendary Palace Theater. Tamarah is Ariel (The Little Mermaid,) Rachel is an 80s rocker chick, and I'm a stormtrooper. My costume was made for an 8 year old boy, and so doesn't fit me super well, but I wanted it SO BAD.

Some Notes from the Past Week:

• There is an invasive frog species on the island called "coquis," and they sing throughout the night every night. When Tam and I first got here we thought they were birds, only to be corrected by Sanji. Frogs makes more sense.
• The cop cars here look like normal cars, with a blue siren light on top. We've been told that this is because the police department pays for half of the car and the cop pays for the other half. This is supposed to encourage the cops to take better care of their cars.

  

  The Dry Forest at Pu'u Wa'awa'a