Week 50- Part 1 Oahu

Saturday 23rd June- For the second time. When I landed there was a slight issue that I didn’t know where exactly I was staying. Eventually I was allowed into Hawaii after I cleaned my shoes and then I set about trying to get to my host. Frustratingly, the WiFi wasn’t working at the airport so I just had to head to town. Being unable to buy a new SIM card for the USA I just found WiFi and got the bus to Jared’s (with the help of Kate, a medical student from Detroit). On the way I also chatted with a stereotypical surfer dude from California. Jared works in the US navy and lives with his dog Fuser having separated from his second wife about a year ago. He’s a pretty senior guy and does communications for submarines. It is of little surprise when you learn that he speaks English, Spanish, French, Italian and Hebrew and that he’s from Guatemala. I managed to use up much of the day getting to Jared's so I decided to head back to the city to go see the Manoa falls. I didn’t get to the trial head until 16:45 and at this point I was feeling like I had managed to waste an entire day. I soon completely forgot this as I stepped from brown, sunny city Hawaii into rainforest Hawaii. I entered the rainforest and was blown away by the size of the trees, the noise of the macaw, the gorgeous bamboo and of course the humidity. I climbed along the path for 30min to a big 100ft waterfall, chatting to people along the way (though I found it more difficult than in New Zealand).

Once at the falls I decided I had not done enough exploration for all my bus efforts so (after watching a man record his dog with a go-pro on it's back) I found a side trail and began heading up. Through the dense bush, switch-backing as I went and then as I entered the cloud, the rain began to fall and I was in my element. As I came to the summit I only had glimpses of where I had come from below, through the bamboo. As the wind blew, the tops of the bamboo was knocked together and at first I thought a big tree was going to fall. By 18:45 I decided I had to turn back because of losing light. I jogged my way down just as the rain got really heavy. I reached the bottom about an hour later and, suddenly, as soon as I left the forest the rain stopped. I caught the bus back to town, got food and oats at Walmart, and then had to wait over an hour for the bus I wanted, only to discover that it wasn’t running so I had to take a different one which took two hours to get back to Jared's. At this point I was dry but smelly, muddy and wrecked but I didn’t want to wake anyone so I just got into bed.

I woke at 06:30 and again at 08:00 to shower. I managed to wake up Richard (the other German couch surfer who is staying here), had my expensive Quaker Oats from Walmart, watched Colombia beat Poland in the world cup and then walked Jared’s dog, Fuser. Jared went to borrow his cousin’s car but forgot the keys so had to come back for them before going to the North shore with us. We drove to Waianae beach first before stopping at a local coffee place. To their dismay, I wasn’t a huge coffee fan! Jared then bought us both Açaí bowls (my first) and also a lemon pastry thing.

From there we waded into the bush to do the Crouching Lion Trail. It was supposedly closed due to the shear cliff face but we were careful as we climbed. We passed the point where most people stopped to see some spectacular views as we chatted about Christianity, Mormons, traveling in South America and about relationships. It was very easy conversation. The paths weren’t as well kept as in New Zealand which made it fun, though I had to be wary of my shoulder. Once down we went to a permanent food truck area to have good Thai food for dinner before walking up Sunset Trail to watch the sunset. We shared some jokes about pirates, green lights and conspiracies as the sun descended. It was a very fun day. When we got home I jumped in the shower. Jared made me a root beer float which is vanilla ice cream in root beer – an interesting combination to say the least. We watched ‘Snatch’ together which was quite entertaining (I was the only one who could understand parts of Brad Pitt’s Irish accent) before heading to bed late. Richard very kindly gave me his copy of ‘Into the Wild’ to read and then pass onto another traveler.

I woke just after 03:00 to go to the airport for the next stage of my journey. Jared kindly gave me a lift before he went to work. I reached the airport before it opened but soon got through all security and boarded my 05:00 flight. I was going to sleep but decided to watch the sunrise instead.