more filling in
OK, on to November 12th. As I mentioned, we watched the sunrise on that beach by the YMCA. Then we sat on the steps of our bunkhouse, pondering the idea of leaving without paying, but then the guy who ran it came by with his hyperactive attention-deficient dog huey and collected the $12 apiece we had to pay. huey came by again a little bit later. we gave him sound effects. it was funny.
we drove on to ke'e beach, which is the end of the road on the north side of the island (i really mean it when i say there's one road and it doesn't go all the way around. to get from the north shore on the west side to the west west end, you have to drive all the way around. it's kind of cool.). we hiked the first part of the kalalau trail next, 2 hours in, 2 hours on the beach at hanakape'ai (where we ate :), i napped :), and lost half of the chest strap of my day pack :( ). Notes about the beach: the undertow is really heavy - on the way in we saw a sign warning us not to swim and it had a tally of how many people had been killed there: 82. There were some cats there. nabia tried to feed them seaweed, but i don't think they went for it. Also, there was a guy laid out on the beach with really long hair and beard and he was just sleeping away. i don't know how long he'd been there, but he didn't look like he was leaving anytime soon. he was cool.
on the way out, we did our first water filtering from the river you had to cross to get to the beach. there had been signs saying that stream water was unfit for drinking, and we had each finished off our water bottles and it's not such a good idea to hike all the way out waterless, so we filtered. then we put iodine in. and then we waited the requisite half hour. and then we drank. and we didn't get sick. and we didn't die. cool. so now we think we know it works. and the iodine didn't taste THAT icky.
We finally made it out of the trail, both of us exhausted and a little grumpy and having decided to just stop avoiding the mud because there was no point anymore. We returned the hiking sticks we had borrowed at the beginning to the trailhead and bought ourselves some fresh coconuts from a truck that was there selling them. they hack a hole in the top of the big green thing, and stick a straw in. they tried to get us to have some rum in it, but we declined. we drank the coconut milk and then, when it was empty, they hacked it in half for us with a huge knife, accidentally mutilating a soda can in the process, and then we scooped out the meat and ate that too. it was very mild and yummy. even though i don't really like coconut. it was quite refreshing at the time.
We decided not to stay at the cold and uncomfortable ymca again (i wonder why?) and treated ourselves to a stay at the hanalei inn. It had a real shower and a big soft bed. that was really all we needed. we showered all the mud off and went to grab some dinner at a little dive place. i then didn't feel so good so we headed back to the inn (after finding nabia a cookie because she was craving dessert and listening for a minute to the live music guy playing van morrison and other classic rock tunes - i think his name was vito).
I laid down on my left side to help my digestion and promptly fell asleep.
That was the end of the 12th. man these things take a long time...
Someone else wants to use the internet. I should get off it. We're back at home base now and the weather is completely different on this side of the island. gray and rainy over here. too bad this is the side the airport is on. we fly to oahu (honolulu) tomorrow and then to fiji on friday night.
and don't worry mom, i'll get to ray. all is well. i'm gonna try and get up to date tonight. so more later. i hope.
we drove on to ke'e beach, which is the end of the road on the north side of the island (i really mean it when i say there's one road and it doesn't go all the way around. to get from the north shore on the west side to the west west end, you have to drive all the way around. it's kind of cool.). we hiked the first part of the kalalau trail next, 2 hours in, 2 hours on the beach at hanakape'ai (where we ate :), i napped :), and lost half of the chest strap of my day pack :( ). Notes about the beach: the undertow is really heavy - on the way in we saw a sign warning us not to swim and it had a tally of how many people had been killed there: 82. There were some cats there. nabia tried to feed them seaweed, but i don't think they went for it. Also, there was a guy laid out on the beach with really long hair and beard and he was just sleeping away. i don't know how long he'd been there, but he didn't look like he was leaving anytime soon. he was cool.
on the way out, we did our first water filtering from the river you had to cross to get to the beach. there had been signs saying that stream water was unfit for drinking, and we had each finished off our water bottles and it's not such a good idea to hike all the way out waterless, so we filtered. then we put iodine in. and then we waited the requisite half hour. and then we drank. and we didn't get sick. and we didn't die. cool. so now we think we know it works. and the iodine didn't taste THAT icky.
We finally made it out of the trail, both of us exhausted and a little grumpy and having decided to just stop avoiding the mud because there was no point anymore. We returned the hiking sticks we had borrowed at the beginning to the trailhead and bought ourselves some fresh coconuts from a truck that was there selling them. they hack a hole in the top of the big green thing, and stick a straw in. they tried to get us to have some rum in it, but we declined. we drank the coconut milk and then, when it was empty, they hacked it in half for us with a huge knife, accidentally mutilating a soda can in the process, and then we scooped out the meat and ate that too. it was very mild and yummy. even though i don't really like coconut. it was quite refreshing at the time.
We decided not to stay at the cold and uncomfortable ymca again (i wonder why?) and treated ourselves to a stay at the hanalei inn. It had a real shower and a big soft bed. that was really all we needed. we showered all the mud off and went to grab some dinner at a little dive place. i then didn't feel so good so we headed back to the inn (after finding nabia a cookie because she was craving dessert and listening for a minute to the live music guy playing van morrison and other classic rock tunes - i think his name was vito).
I laid down on my left side to help my digestion and promptly fell asleep.
That was the end of the 12th. man these things take a long time...
Someone else wants to use the internet. I should get off it. We're back at home base now and the weather is completely different on this side of the island. gray and rainy over here. too bad this is the side the airport is on. we fly to oahu (honolulu) tomorrow and then to fiji on friday night.
and don't worry mom, i'll get to ray. all is well. i'm gonna try and get up to date tonight. so more later. i hope.
posted by theonetheycallamy at 11/17/2004 06:16:00 PM
2 Comments:
Amy, who is Ray ? Your aunt, me, wants to know too. Nabia hasn't answered this question either. Well I do love a mystery,,,but don't make us wait too long.
Reading your words makes this amazing adventure come alive. Stay well, dahling! I look forward to reading more.
Amy, I thought you promised not to tell anyone about me!
Oh well. Hello, everyone, this is Ray. I'm the old guy with the long hair who lays on the beach at Hanakape'ai (she mentioned me recently)... I've convinced Amy to ditch Nabia and that "trip around the world" and join me for a "trip around consciousness and existence."
Mainly we just lay on the beach, go on the Internet, and watch I Heart Huckabees a lot.
-Ray
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