Hawaii, part three: The Zoo!
So, the second day there I went boogie boarding with some girls I met at the hostel. Here we have British girl and girl from New York. (Boogie board free courtesy of the hostel.) We had a lot of fun, even though it turns out I cannot catch a wave to save my life. We also discovered parts of the bottom of the ocean are made of very sharp rocks.
Sexy!
I'd post more pictures of having fun on the beach here, but somehow having fun in the water precluded me taking photos.
For lunch, I discovered this fabulous build a salad place, and then I decided to walk to the zoo. Yes, yes, I know. We even have one of them in Iowa. But, well, I like zoos. And this was the best for miles around.
I did not know this. Did you? There only mammal in Hawaii until the Polynesians showed up with pigs was a bat. It's weird to think about.
Okay, the cool thing about this koi pond was you could go inside it via a tunnel and stick your head up in the middle. For added fun, toss food in the water and watch the fish go!
Sadly, this picture does not quite express the sheer enormity of this cow. Like, you turned the corner and went "holy frick, that would make a lot of burgers!"
Nope, Iowa hasn't made a farm girl of me yet.
Birdy!
Hooved creature!
This was not taken with zoom. This peacock was sitting on a ledge six inches from the path. Either children are very behaved in Hawaii or else this peacock knows no fear.
The cool thing about this picture is you almost never see hippos out of the water at zoos, so I was really excited to see them walking around. Shortly after this they headed off to their privacy stable thing.
I just like this shot.
A view of Diamond Head from the zoo.
They had a few of these giant trees around the zoo grounds. This is the one that was inside. I think it's a mangrove? Anyway, trust me when I say it's very, very big and cool.
For some reason, a statue of Gandhi. With a lei. I thought that was nice.
Walking back after dinner, I encountered a husband-wife street performer team. Provided you gave them money, the husband would write/illustrate your name (or any other word you wanted to give him) in pretty Hawaii pictures, while the wife handled all the money and would try and upsell you on a frame, possibly with a matte. I admit, I did purchase one. (Yes, frame too, but not a matte. That would have been extravagant.) Later I discovered a number of other street performers also did this act, but I still think these two were some of the best.