Roosters please let us sleep...



I haven't found the time to write much this week because to quote Mindy "this side of the island makes you lazy."  I keep waking up at 5 or 6 and falling asleep around 10 exhausted.  We're leaving for the mainland tonight, but I thought I'd give this a try before we take off.
 Saturday we hiked Manoa Falls (a cute little waterfall that was a LOT of trouble to get to--Thank you Mindy's Cousin Steve for helping us find the way (from Chicago)).  It was a nice hike and fun to watch some crazy guys dip into the falls at the top--there was a race of some sort going on on the same small trail at the time so we made several friends with hellos and heckling. 

Later that day we went to Punchbowl National Cemetary (this area was once used for human sacrifices, but in 1948 the US turned it into a cemetary for our servicemen).  It was very nice (see picture) and we ran into a gentleman who was telling someone about his time on the pacific islands during the war (who was shooting how much from what side of the island, taking prisoners of war and how they weren't tortured because none of them wanted to be fighting in the first place, etc--very interesting).

Yesterday I had the chance to meet one of our Memorial Union Building Association Members in Honolulu.  We had lunch at a very nice and quite restaurant where she filled me in on a lot of things about the island--she's filled my list of things to do next time and made me really think about going to tibet....hmmmm.
Today we just finished cleaning up the condo and are headed to go turtle watching, then we'll catch our flight and be home Friday.

It's going to take a few days to recover from the salty air and transition to the ice storms that await us at home.

Popular posts from this blog

Weeks 29 & 30, Peru and Ecuador: Buses and the Galapagos

Image
I know, I've been home for about 6 weeks. Admitting that this chapter is closed is not my favorite. I'm determined to finish the blog though. This post in particular was difficult to write because it was AMAZING and the pressure to make it good was high. So quality be damned, I am putting something likely sub-par out there to close this out. The experiences It will be obvious in a minute why I'm combining these weeks, but this one will be a bit long because I had a new type of travel experience that I quite liked. I spent a few nights in Lima, Peru where I didn't do too much but relax, read, and book a bus to Quito, Ecuador from where my Galapagos tour left. I did, as usual, walk around the hostel neighborhood. I had to see Kennedy Park where 50 plus cats live. It's a very pretty park and the cats are just happily napping or being cuddled by people on a break from work. It does smell like a litter box though. Looks like a normal park.... Until you look ...
Read more

Week 21, Germany: Home

Image
The experiences Aside from a run to the mall to get comfort food (read: McDonald's), nasal spray, cough drops and a new kleenex supply I didn't see much of Leipzig. I did try to go see Woman in Gold but it was in German so I didn't. My German isn't that good and my mind was foggy enough that I wouldn't want to pay money to see it and get nothing out of it. My hostel in Leipzig was a fantastic place to be sick. The beds even had adjustable inclines so my head was comfortably propped up. I made cup upon cup of tea (my hostel in Prague was more of a hotel and I had to ask the bar for hot water every time I needed it). I had a very delicious breakfast and another long sit in the hot shower. I did enjoy the city even though I only walked around a couple times. I would definitely go back. It was a quiet, relaxed, university town recommended to me by Amin who I met in Vrindavan India. Also according to later conversations, though I didn't get to see it much i...
Read more

Week 22, Germany: Koeln, Heidelberg, and Muenchen: The castles begin...

Image
So, it's been a while and I've not been able to sit down, but I do remember what happened a month ago and it was entertaining, I think. The experiences I spent my first full day in Koeln on a walking tour, good move since this city like many others take Sunday off. The only things you can find open are cafes and restaurants--and churches (duh). And at some point I'll invest the time in learning the way to put umlauts on my vowels using my Surface . Koeln has some unique public artwork that's really fun and interesting history too, what was a little tough to figure out coming from a city like Berlin is what I needed to see. It wasn't a typical tourist destination. It does have an enormous Dom (Cathedral) but that seemed to be the main attraction. This is the city that reminded me I could relax in Europe too. Much of the last two months were about running non stop to see all I could or hop on to the next destination. Koeln was a great college city, fourth larges...
Read more