Hawaii, Day 3

Mele kalikimaka! We had pineapple (sliced with a pilfered butter knife) and coconut (salvaged and broken open on nearby rocks) for breakfast, together with our perennial peanut butter and cheerios (cheap, filling, doesn't need refrigeration). While we were eating, Ryan spotted a sea turtle in the water just down from the shelter, so we ran for snorkels and swim suits. To my surprise, we were fast enough into the water to swim alongside it! There also turned out to be a lovely patch of coral and many types of fish in the water.

We packed up tents and drove to Wai'pio Valley. Against all odds and warning signs, Rick drove our rental car down the 25% grade road to the valley's base. We'd read up on the various available hikes, and my strong vote for the beach hike won out: 45 minutes or so over volcanic beach rock, between the waves and a cliff, culminating at a waterfall from the cliff to the water. Unfortunately, we had neglected to check a tidal chart, and the beach thinned as we approached. Finally, though we could see the waterfall around the next outcropping, we elected to turn back. Of course, it was at this point that Ryan sprained his ankle. We wrapped it up in my towel and handkerchief, and he hobbled back to the car. Eileen hiked up the road to the top of the valley, making it in an impressive 15 minutes. The rest of us elected for the adventure of driving up the very steep road (well, except Ryan, who would have preferred to walk, given the option).

We had recieved an email that morning from some orienteering friends from Canada we hadn't seen in a few years, stating that they were not only in Hawaii for Christmas, but nearby, and that we should come for dinner. Despite an inability to return the communication, we waited in Hawi for a bit to see if they would turn up. Sure enough, by the end of an hour, we knocked on the door for the address they'd given us, and they were home! Not only were we introduced to the whole family and welcomed to dinner, but we were also offered showers and beds for the night- beautifully generous, especially since our other option was a few-hour drive across the island and setting up tents in the dark.

It was a lovely Christmas.

Hawaii, Day 2

There was a trail I hadn't noticed the previous night through a forest along the waterfront. We then drove north, to a wind farm, and walked barefoot along some seaside cliffs to another Heiau. Our guidebook promised us heebie jeebies, but we were somewhat disappointed on that front. It was structurally interesting, though: the black stones of the volcano were light and jagged enough that they required no grouting to stack into high walls.

Another drive away, we hiked down a steep hill to a beautiful beach and lagoon- the two bodies of water separated only by a thin strip of black sand. The area on the far side had once been 100-foot-high black sand dunes, but it has since coalesced into firm dunes which played home to tens of rope swings, made from washed-up fishing ropes, which earlier visitors to the area had hung high from the trees.

At the far side of the beach, we discovered a trail leading up- and up, and more up, as we soon discovered. The better part of an hour later, (Eileen and Dana dropped out), Ryan, Rick, and I reached a viewpoint from which we could view much of the seven steep valleys beyond while feasting on our bananas.

Back at the car, we drove into the nearby town of Hawi, where we refilled water bottles and had Tropical Dreams ice cream- some of the best I've had. Mine was coconut ginger.

Returning to our campsite, we treated ourselves to showers in the ceiling-free structures at the beach. The water was cold, but we needed the wash- our next event was a nice night out to dinner for Christmas Eve at Pesto's. Our food was beautifully plated, with edible tropical flowers all across the top. Definitely a rare treat, though: food in Hawaii is ridiculously expensive... and I had the steak and lobster.

Hawaii, Day 1

We arrived in the afternoon, me in my all-weather heavy black coat, and walked into the humid, balmy Kona airport. I'd had a few hours home for the first time since May- flying in from Boston. Not a problem- Hawaii was a good choice for Christmas.

After a stop at Costco (the same as any I've ever seen, but with all tropical shirts in the men's section) for the week's worth of food, we drove north up the West coast.

Our first stop, in accordance with tradition, was a beach for swimming. We chose Wailea, which proved, as our guidebook suggested, to be the locals' gem: a small, sandy cove with some snorkeling at one end. After luncheoning on Costco rotisserie, naan, and hummus, we dove in. It wasn't hot out by any means, but the ocean managed to be both warm and refreshing. Ryan, Dana, and I spotted a beach just around the rocks, and decided to swim to it. I had goggles, Ryan a snorkel, and Dana nothing at all for her face. Upon our approach, Dana helped us discover that there was a great deal of brain coral not far below the surface. In fact, on closer inspection, we were basically surrounded by it- so we decided to turn back.

A short drive later, we arrived at Spencer Beach and set up camp. Our tents (one for us kids, one for Rick and Eileen) had a nice view of the beach (though there were other tents closer to the water). Rick and I walked past the beach and locals on the basketball court to climb the interwoven trees at the beach's far end. I taught myself to climb a palm tree: both arms around the back of the trunk, and both feet pushing upward.

After sunset, we made a short night hike up to a Heiau, a stacked-rock plateau which was the site of thousands of human sacrifices to Pele, the volcano goddess.

Upon our return, the picnic shelter was host to a rehearsal for some traditional dancers- involving stick-dancing and zydeco. We Texas two-stepped outside and played cards until bedtime.

Typical Adventures

In case it comes up: the side of the road can be a great place to sleep; 24 miles is doable in a day (but not recommended if the other people with you aren't used to long walks); hiking at night isn't really that much fun, but it's a good temperature.

On Friday night, Kat and I drove our new friends from Capitola/Santa Cruz (a good group of college-age people) down to Big Sur for a camping trip we had all been planning for a week or so. We were all pretty busy, but we checked what hike we wanted, made sure we had the right gear, driving directions to parks and campgrounds... so we set out. It's about an hour down to Big Sur, so after getting everything together after work and getting everyone in the car, the drive down was mostly after sunset. A little more planning, it turns out, would have been useful; due to the US Open golf tournament, every campground, cabin, and motel was full. We drove around for a good while, stopping occasionally to ask if anything was open- including, around 12:30, at a campground bar, which had very comfortable couches and the World Cup game. But then they closed. Finally, I went into a big lodge-type place and told the guy at the front desk that we were desperate and just wanted to sleep by the side of the road- did he know anywhere that would be mostly legal? He drew me a map to a mostly abandoned road about 8 miles up the way, so we drove to the place, turned, passed the "2 wheel drive not recommended" sign, wound up the gorge for about a mile, and found a pullout where we laid out our sleeping bags on the ground all together and slept beneath beautiful stars.

I woke first, just before sunrise, to discover that we were at the edge of a beautiful cliff, with a view of a bridge and the ocean, and that everything was covered in lupine, fennel, wild sage, and morning glory. Everyone else woke slowly, and we packed up, breakfasted, and drove to Big Sur Station, the trailhead for our hike.

After distributing food and water to various packs, we set out on what was labeled a ten mile hike to the hot springs (the internet, however, had told us nine miles). We walked up and over hills, through beautiful redwood forests and fields of wildflowers above the tree line. We crossed streams and small rivers which flowed across the path. Finally, after a few hours of solid hiking, we arrived at the first campground along the trail. The posted sign, we read as we soaked our feet in the stream, read 5 miles to Sykes Hot Springs. Halfway there...

I'll cut short here; hiking doesn't really read well as a blog post. Just envision my perspective as a montage: braiding wildflowers into a crown (trailing behind the group slightly to pick them, then running short sections to catch up); chewing on wild fennel; stepping into streams in my Vibram 5 Fingers toe shoes for the cold of it; sweeping views down the valley. At some point, we ran low on water, so some of the guys started to fill their bottles from the stream. I advised them against it (though some of them drank the clear mountain stream water anyway), and showed them a better place, later on, where a stream waterfalled down onto the path after filtering though twenty meters of moss.

Anyway, we eventually got to the hot springs. It was a long way. They were beautiful, though- six pools built beautifully and privately into the hillside above a cool, wadable river. I wished, briefly, that I had backpacked out there with a tent and infinite food supplies; I would have loved to stay forever.

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay long. The hike up had taken longer than we'd allotted, and after a half hour at the springs, we had to head back, racing daylight.
The walk back was much less leisurely, and people were a bit tired. Increasingly so, as we chewed through the last of our food supplies. After about seven miles, the sun set, and I was very glad for the forethought that had made us pack a few flashlights even though we intended to be back well before dark.The trail was rocky, cliffy, thin, and downhill. I took a couple of packs and positioned myself at the rear of the group, which helped alleviate stress levels a bit. We were closer to the end than to a campground (or any flat spot, really), so we pushed on in the light of a half moon and a few battery-operated luminary devices. I passed off my headlamp to someone in front, as I could see well in the dark. The light of the highway was a welcome sight to everyone, and as we entered the last patch of woods before the lights of civilization, the mood was almost buoyant, though our group was distinctly weary. Then we crossed a river no one could remember, and came to an intersection, both of whose forks appeared to lead backwards. We elected to bush-crash, instead, towards the lights we could see not far away- and came out in a campground a few miles up the road from the trailhead where we had parked the car. There was considerable groaning as we realized our location, but I was really glad to know a sure route- I had driven past the campground earlier that morning. And we arrived safe and sound. I got to drive back home, where we arrived at one in the morning.


A few this week's other adventures:
-Hiking at Henry Cowell State Park (full of redwoods!) with a guy named Goat, who we met at the Sunday night hoop/poi/staff burn
-Midnight soccer with new friends at a local park- talking in Spanglish throughout and then running through the sprinklers in the night and swinging on the de rigueur swingset
-Picking 70ish pounds of ollalieberries (they're a lot like blackberries) at a u-pick, then making jam from (all) of it with Kat's family's friends.

Cali Culture

Well, a bit more specific than California, in some cases, but here's some things I find weird about life here:
-"Beach traffic": the phenomenon of so many people going to the beach that it has its own rush hour
-really cheap, delicious produce! Got 6 avocadoes for a dollar today.
-At the Naval Postgraduate School, they have peacocks wandering around.
-Names are interesting. I'm working with a Lt Love, Chief Fury, and Capt Wink.. and I met a really excellent hooper the other day named Mary Jane.

Hello, California!

Today was lovely. After skipping security lines and getting promoted to seat 1A because of my Alaska Airlines MVP status, I was served an arugula-apple-gorgonzola salad. First class! I was first off the plane, and met Kat at the airport, no trouble. I was introduced to my new room and the house, and then we walked to and along New Brighton beach, which is very close by, across some train tracks.

The beach was more populated than I had imagined plausible, but it was nevertheless lovely. In fact, I liked it so much that I went back later, after getting fresh California produce, by myself- a walk which inspired not-my-best-idea-ever. I reached the train tracks, then turned right and walked along them until the way opened up again to the sides (the tracks are rather path-like and secluded), at which point I turned down a road to the water, discovering Capitola beach. The end of the beach, back towards New Brighton, was a rocky cliff, but I peered around it and judged that I could make it to the sandbar around the corner. This done, I continued along the strip of sand which edged between the cliff and the water, climbing increasingly large boulders and rounding point after point. Finally, one of the corners was a large cliff which did not show sand at the ebb of a wave. But it didn't look deep. It wasn't, even. Not until I took too long crossing, soaking the entirety of my floor-length skirt, splashing until I gave up and waded. That was the worst of it, though; just around the corner was a sand strip clear to New Brighton. It was fun. A word to the wise, though: if you happen to be hiking in an ocean, don't carry your cell phone in your pocket.

Nicaragua

TL;DR*: I went to Nicaragua for spring break and had a great time. Scroll to the bottom for cultural fun facts.

(I’d have sent this in increments, but there wasn’t any internet)

*too long; didn’t read

Trip premise: This trip was largely inspired by super-cheap plane tickets and spontaneous decisions. Andrea is a student at my college who lives in Managua, Nicaragua, and she invited a group of us to come spend break with her. The group: her, me, Rachel, Jessica, and Dugger.

3/15

I woke up yesterday morning in a hammock in the shade, watching three monkeys gambol in a nearby tree, silhouetted against the wide blue lagoon.

We got in from New York two afternoons ago, drove around, had dinner at Andrea’s dad’s house: avocado-tomato-palm salad, steak, rice with corn, and white wine. Then we rode out to the lake house (Laguna Apoyo) at night, and went swimming. Floating on our backs in the warm silence of the rippling water, we watched the stars. A little later, we swam back to shore to board the sailboat, then rode on the very front, tipping nearly sideways with the wind and trailing our toes over the side.

The lake house itself is two stories: rooms upstairs, and the downstairs a kitchen, chairs, and hammocks with walls which open down to become a porch, which overlooks the lagoon. Andrea fell while she was lowering the walls- a substantial drop, so kind of exciting, but an incident without too grievous of injury.

Yesterday afternoon, we went on a canopy zip line tour. Our guides let us do tricks- hanging upside down or backwards as we rode. After zip lines, we drove out to Lago Nicaragua. Andrea drove on the beach, partially in the water, and then we went swimming. The water was warm and the lake big enough to have sand and waves. Later, we headed back to the lake house. I slept part of the night on the docked sailboat, rocking in the water. Turns out the bugs bite in the night, though; I got four giant bug bites all in a row.

This morning, we took the sailboat out without Andrea’s dad. It didn’tgo so well: the sail got stuck halfway up while we were out on the water, and I had to climb the mast to un-stick it. The climbing was easier than expected, but I punctured my right foot on a screw that was sticking out, so now that foot’s taped. It was all right, though, and we made it back to shore.

After playing around with surf boards in the water, we packed up and left the lake house. We drove to a volcano crater (Volcan Masaya)- youcould see the smoke curling out of it. Apparently, it was one of those volcanoes that natives used to sacrifice young children into; it looked the part. Then we hiked with a guide into acave full of bats. The end of the cave, he said, was the site of selection for human sacrifices. The cave was really cool: temperature-wise, a welcome break from the day’s heat; geologically interesting; and bats flew everywhere in it- I got to feel the air from their wings on my face.

3/16

Las Isletas is a group of tiny islands, each of which is someone’s private property. Andrea’s mom’s friend owns one, so we took alauncha (small boat) out to it for the day and just played- canoeing and water skiing and swimming and eating. He has a Jacuzzi pool-thing and mango trees, and he took us for a boat ride at sunset, where we saw monkeys and played guitar.

In the evening, we went to the movies- I saw Alice en el País de Maravillas. Strangely, it made sense.

3/17

Today we drove out a few hours to get to Cerro Negro. It’s the second youngest volcano in the Americas, and the only active volcano in the world you can sand-surf down. After getting a guide, we wound through back roads (stopping frequently for herds of cows, dogs, ox-drawn carts) to the base of the volcano. Carrying boards and protective suits, we hiked an hour up to the volcano’s rim (saw a seismograph!). Also, I wished I had an egg with me, because apparently you can boil an eggacouple of inches into the sand from the heat of the volcano. Anyway, sand surfing: essentially, it’s like snowboarding in concept. The key difference is that (well, obviously) you’re sliding on ashes and little volcanic rocks, and the slope is just short of straight down. It lookedreally scary from the top- a 700m slide with nothing to stop you. However, we all fell over enough that we never got going that fast.

After, we went to Andrea’s grandmother’s house for the night.

3/18

After waking up at Andrea’s grandmother’s house and having a nice breakfast (all the breakfasts here are awesome! Actually, scratch that, all the food!), we drove out to the beach. Andrea’s aunt has a little beach house that she lent to us, so we went walking along the shore, played in the waves, collected shells, etc. It was very nice and relaxing.

3/19

We woke up early to drive Dugger to the airport (a couple of hours jammed in the back seat of the car to get back to Managua) and then went to hang out at the mall. We ran into Andrea’s mom there and decided to go to a shooting range. It was kind of sketchy, so Rachel and I elected not to shoot, but Andrea and Jessica each tried shootinga pistol.

Afterwards, we drove out to fondue at restaurante Mil Flores, in a forest full of hydrangeas at the top of a mountain. The fondue was delicious- acheese one, then asteak one where the ‘fondue’ was boiling oil that we dipped raw strips of steak in, then a dark chocolate pot with fruit for dessert. Outside, there was a path to an overlook. We couldn’t see much but stars, but it was a lovely night.

In the evening, since it was the last night, we got all dressed up and went to club Moods, which was fun.

3/20

So now I’m sitting in the airport in San Salvador… we have a seven hour layover, but I just got internet! Time to catch up on all my emails from Olin…

Cositas

-It’s really hot here: eighty and ninety degrees. And the air conditioning in Andrea’s car broke … but squish the five of us into the SUV and turn up the dance music and it’s still a party,

-Lago Nicaragua is really big and really shallow, and it has waves. Also it has sharks.

-People walk everywhere on the streets. Where it looks like a shoulder-less steep road to me, there’s lots of people on foot and not too many cars. Bikes are fairly common, though.

-By fairly common, I mean very. Maybe half the traffic on the road is bikes or motorbikes- and the capacity of a bike averages about 2, but up to 4 people- handlebar riding can get really creative.

-Nearly all of the cars are SUVs, though some are trucks. It’s partly astatus thing, but mostly it’s just necessity: everything’s far apart and most of the roads are pretty rutted- to the extent that most Americans would think twice before driving them at all.

-I keep seeing spray painted messages about revolution and dictators. According to Andrea, the current president was elected by less than half of the people, but the other two candidates split the vote… she hasa bit more to say about him, too, but she might be a biased source.

-There’s definitely a divide in wealth- and we’re very much on the “have” side. There are children in the streets, and there are other kids who save their clothes shopping for Miami. It’s really obvious who’s in charge of who, and in general, the rich people are pretty white.

-Any time we’re conspicuously holding food, kids come up and ask for some.

-Things are pretty cheap here. The rate’s about 20 Córdobas (Cords) to the dollar, and an ice cream cone costs about 15 Cords.

-The national drink is Mancua (or something like that). Apparently, it was invented by Andrea’s uncle. It has rum and orange and lime and possibly something else- and it was available at the restaurant where we had lunch today.

-Typical foods: gallopinto is a rather ubiquitous red bean/rice dish. It’s quite good. They also eat plantain chips, chicharrones (fried pig skin), indio Viejo (acornmeal/chicken paste), and other tasty foods. Meat is at every meal, and the steak (churrasco) is delicious.

-School starts around 6 and ends by noon, and all of the kids wear the mandatory uniform of navy skirt/slacks, white blouse, and black shoes. We saw them all walking up the road today.

-Body modification is super cheap here. Just sayin’.

-When we went to Lago Nicaragua, Andrea pointed out a fruit tree. The fruits are called popoyo (I think) and are like very small mangoes- sort of in the way kumquats are analogous to very small oranges. I climbed around in the tree to pick them.

-Also, mangoes grow on the trees. I watched one fall, then picked it up and ate it. It was delicious.

-The jury’s still out on whether we can drink the water. I have been… and I’m not horribly ill yet! (written later: still fine!)

-Economy and politics aside, this place could approximate paradise.

Y colorín, colorado, ¡este cuento se ha acabado!