Rambutans! or Make it Wayne or The Epic Hawaii Adventure
So, I just got home last night at close to 2am and found out I had to wake up at 8 (read:6am HI time) to go to Point Reyes. Instead of finally getting a good nights sleep. And I haven't gotten out to the photographing mindset. It's weird. But it's all good. Because I just went to Hawaii for the first time ever. It was a photography program through Carleton. I had a blast! And am super tired right now. But here goes nothing...
A word on the people:
we traveled with two pretty famous photographers, once from Minnesota (Doug Beasley) and one from Hawaii (Franco somethingthatstartswithanSwaitiwroteitdownletmelook Salmoiraghi) and they were our 2 drivers. And then we traveled with our professor, Carlo Linda Rossi. We also got to meet a couple of sculptors (clayton somethingineverfoundout and randi takaki) and some other photographers (Wayne Levin who has the most awesome underwater photography pretty much ever and the volcano man, brad lewis, famous for, well, that's self explanatory) and then this jerkface ethnobotanist named bobby camara with a huge ugly antique weird earring.
And then there were 10 of us students. 4 sophomores, me, Jaime (from NY), Luke (from CT), and Irene (from MA, near Boston) and 6 juniors, Liz (from IA), Caitlin (from St. Louis), Meeks (from Philadelphia), Erica (From LA) and Ashley (From MN). They were a good group, and, characteristic of me, I liked them all. sure, some of them had their annoying quirks, but all in all, they were great.
alright, i dunno where to start. so hmmm. i'll write something about each day...
December 1: Traveling. Nothing too exciting just yet. watched bourne ultimatum on the plane. No leis coming off of the plane. I've watched too many movies/have a romanticized view of the island.
December 2: We had the best weather this day. And went to a place that pretty much looks like everything you would imagine and hope it too...palm trees and all. For once, it completely lives up to the romanticizing of Hawaii and the exotic. Poor Luke however, spent the day puking and then had to go to the hospital and get an IV. sadface. but he turned out okay for the rest of the trip.
December 3: It rained, so we went to Kailua, this lame touristy town, where i didn't take too many pictures, and we sat in the King Kamehameha hotel lounge. Wayne Levin came this day, and we went to dinner with him, and he was really cool, and so, well, for real. didn't really say bullshitty artsy things. so that was cool. like when he was like, hmm, see, i don't ever remember actually taking this shot...
December 4: Walked out to a beach, then it started raining. We went to Holualoa, saw a studio/gallery, met the owners/artists and checked out this pink hotel's bathroom that was down the street--the best view from a bathroom anywhere. it was a sweet view.
December 5: Went snorkeling for the first time. It was pretty freakin awesome! i loved it. and SEA TURTLES!!! hooray! of course, the camera confused me, and half my pictures missed the fish...heh. oh well. it was still fun. so we were supposed to do this night manta ray dive and then this other day time whale watching/snorkel trip, but naturally we're on the island when they get the most amount of rain they'd had in a very very long time. It poured so incredible much (also, we seriously did not go a single day without at least a little bit of rain. and that's not even exagerating. at all. every day.) so today we drove around, took some pictures, ran around and got soaking wet with meeks, and we stood in a fountain and it was sweet. we also took the tram at the Hilton (you have to take a tram to get to your room, and they have a huge lake-like pool and boats and things. of course, this was just some random rainy day waste some time activity. we weren't actually staying at the Hilton).
December 6: We left Kona for Hilo. Most of today was driving. We stopped at Franco's sons house to get Francos slides, and there were CHICKENS! this preety much made my life. no joke. everyone was suprised I just went and picked one up, and that i grew up with them and such. but really, it was great. also, there was this crazy cat. we called him jungle cat. Then we got to Akiko's Buddhist Bed and Breakfast in the middle of this rainforesty area. First off, Akiko, and Aunty Puna (another old woman who came to stay with us) are the most wonderful old women ever. Aunty Puna taught us to make crepe paper leis. and we had amazing home cooked food, and fresh fruit (and avocados) and freshly brewed green tea and coffee Akiko grew and made.
December 7: We learned to meditate and had a morning prayer (also, the whole time we were at Akikos breakfast was at 7:30, and a couple time I got up and went running with Liz and Caitlin before breakfast. this also meant that every night all of us were so tired by, say, 9) That morning I was brushing my teeth and this gecko pretty much falls onto the bathroom counter (out of nowhere), scurried across the counter and launches itself off. it makes a sort of splat sound and then runs off again. hilarious. This day we went into Hilo to the Laundromat! excitement! and then went to Clayton's to see his kin, and had dinner at this thai place, where the tai pizzas (aka quesadillas with a ton of stuff in them) are HUGE. me, jaime and luke all ordered one. and ended up cancelling the last one, because we didn't realize we could easily share. Also, we'd been lighting Channakuh candles.
December 8: We went to the Hilo Farmer's market, I learned about coconuts, wandered through the market and got some mmm fantastic shaved ice (mango, lemon-lime and vanilla). Then we went snorkeling again! me and luke chased some sea turtles into the ocean, then gave up and went back to shore. and there was another sea turtle literally 10 feet off shore. craziness. took a bunch of pictures of it. The water was a mix of fresh and salt and super cold and warm. craziness. then Luke and I had a sand fight in the water, and I'm pretty sure I lost. (I got sand right in the face--we were wearing snorkle masks) but it was super fun, and it was nice to act, like, seven. and just hang out without worring about photography. This is also Linda's birthday, and Aunty Puna did a hula dance, and we watched a documentary about Molkai (Kalaupapa Paradise) about the leper colony, and Aunty Puna was in it-her late second husband is buried there-was a patient thogh he never had the disease, and she and her sister did/do volunteer work there. Also, we gave this sweet gift to linda--a picture of all of us mooning her, with HAPPYspaceBIRTHDAYspaceLINDA written on our butts. it was pretty awesome.
December 9: We learned to "hula" from Aunty Puna. Hula has all these crazy sexual hidden meanings, which was entertaining to here about. Then, we went to Akaka falls, and did the whole loop even though half of it was roped off with danger signs and stuff. but all it was was missing railings a couple of places. That night we learned a chant from Akiko. then we saw Franco's slide show, 1 out of 3. He's been everywhere. craziness. we also cooked dinner ourselves and had s'mores.
December 10: We went to a Rambutan farm! these are like the best fruit ever, and the coolest looking thing i've ever eaten. they're bright red and kinda spiky outside, and you peal them, and it's like an egg sized pealed grape with a seed in th middle. mmmm. And then we went to this huge botanical gardens (the paths confused me like hell), stopped at a tasty smoothie place, took pictures at a catholic graveyard and tried to body surf. we were failing, and then some guy randomly gave 5 of us a super short intro to surfing. which was awesome. and now i really want to actually learn to surf! it was crazy fun! also, the drive back included singing along to American Pie...and even though we got home, we stayed in the car till the very end...Then, it was sushi night! with a real sushi chef, and fried coconut icecream, and probably the best meal on the entire trip. seriously. and there was a palm reader. she told me i am confrontational. haha. good one. but she said some other stuff that had a basis in truth, so there you go.
December 11: meditated with Akiko, Liz and Caitlin at 6am, walked down to the ocean and back. then we drove to volcano. stopped at the natural food store, got to the Military Camp we stayed at and I checked my email for the first time in ages. then we met jerkface ethnobotanist, saw the sunset over mauna loa and saw steam vents. made tacos for dinner and played salad bowl.
December 12: Walked into the lava, hiked to Byron's Ledge (sorta) through this crazy fairy-tale forest and got pretty wet. (again, it rained at some point, every day). Then we saw Brad Lewis, and saw some lava trees. then, Franco's talk part 2. another side note: we probably saw a rainbow every day. then, in volcano we saw multiple rainbows today. it was totally crazy.
December 13: We did a sunrise walk and saw the sulphur vents and went to the visitor's center. walked through a lava tube. did a sweet hike with only 5 of us, barely took any pictures (refreshing) and played the Mr. F game. (which is super fun). then met Randy Takaki. he's got these tiny little pieces that are ridiculous in price. played more salad bowl and had homemade quiche and pasta. i think this was the night we watched a river runs through it. maybe that was last night and this nigh we watched knocked up. i think that was it. whatevs.
December 14: Last full day. so many rainbows! saw some nene-hawaiian goose/state bird. were along the ocean, did a petroglyph hike, made dinner (burgers) and saw Franco's last slideshow, met his son, saw Doug's iphone picture collection, and that was that.
December 15: headed to the airport, hung out there from like 10:30 until my flight at 4:30. (finished a book, did some crosswords, started another book i'd bought for a dollar somewhere along the trip, watched friends and ratatouille and slept some. then drove home, and didn't get too much sleep. good times.
hmmm, sorry for writing a book there. i'll be surprised if anyone reads the whole thing...but that's my trip in a nutshell, probably forgetting something major, or actually interesting...
So, if you want to see pictures, sometime in the near future i'll be posting some on facebook. so check that out!
A word on the people:
we traveled with two pretty famous photographers, once from Minnesota (Doug Beasley) and one from Hawaii (Franco somethingthatstartswithanSwaitiwroteitdownletmelook Salmoiraghi) and they were our 2 drivers. And then we traveled with our professor, Carlo Linda Rossi. We also got to meet a couple of sculptors (clayton somethingineverfoundout and randi takaki) and some other photographers (Wayne Levin who has the most awesome underwater photography pretty much ever and the volcano man, brad lewis, famous for, well, that's self explanatory) and then this jerkface ethnobotanist named bobby camara with a huge ugly antique weird earring.
And then there were 10 of us students. 4 sophomores, me, Jaime (from NY), Luke (from CT), and Irene (from MA, near Boston) and 6 juniors, Liz (from IA), Caitlin (from St. Louis), Meeks (from Philadelphia), Erica (From LA) and Ashley (From MN). They were a good group, and, characteristic of me, I liked them all. sure, some of them had their annoying quirks, but all in all, they were great.
alright, i dunno where to start. so hmmm. i'll write something about each day...
December 1: Traveling. Nothing too exciting just yet. watched bourne ultimatum on the plane. No leis coming off of the plane. I've watched too many movies/have a romanticized view of the island.
December 2: We had the best weather this day. And went to a place that pretty much looks like everything you would imagine and hope it too...palm trees and all. For once, it completely lives up to the romanticizing of Hawaii and the exotic. Poor Luke however, spent the day puking and then had to go to the hospital and get an IV. sadface. but he turned out okay for the rest of the trip.
December 3: It rained, so we went to Kailua, this lame touristy town, where i didn't take too many pictures, and we sat in the King Kamehameha hotel lounge. Wayne Levin came this day, and we went to dinner with him, and he was really cool, and so, well, for real. didn't really say bullshitty artsy things. so that was cool. like when he was like, hmm, see, i don't ever remember actually taking this shot...
December 4: Walked out to a beach, then it started raining. We went to Holualoa, saw a studio/gallery, met the owners/artists and checked out this pink hotel's bathroom that was down the street--the best view from a bathroom anywhere. it was a sweet view.
December 5: Went snorkeling for the first time. It was pretty freakin awesome! i loved it. and SEA TURTLES!!! hooray! of course, the camera confused me, and half my pictures missed the fish...heh. oh well. it was still fun. so we were supposed to do this night manta ray dive and then this other day time whale watching/snorkel trip, but naturally we're on the island when they get the most amount of rain they'd had in a very very long time. It poured so incredible much (also, we seriously did not go a single day without at least a little bit of rain. and that's not even exagerating. at all. every day.) so today we drove around, took some pictures, ran around and got soaking wet with meeks, and we stood in a fountain and it was sweet. we also took the tram at the Hilton (you have to take a tram to get to your room, and they have a huge lake-like pool and boats and things. of course, this was just some random rainy day waste some time activity. we weren't actually staying at the Hilton).
December 6: We left Kona for Hilo. Most of today was driving. We stopped at Franco's sons house to get Francos slides, and there were CHICKENS! this preety much made my life. no joke. everyone was suprised I just went and picked one up, and that i grew up with them and such. but really, it was great. also, there was this crazy cat. we called him jungle cat. Then we got to Akiko's Buddhist Bed and Breakfast in the middle of this rainforesty area. First off, Akiko, and Aunty Puna (another old woman who came to stay with us) are the most wonderful old women ever. Aunty Puna taught us to make crepe paper leis. and we had amazing home cooked food, and fresh fruit (and avocados) and freshly brewed green tea and coffee Akiko grew and made.
December 7: We learned to meditate and had a morning prayer (also, the whole time we were at Akikos breakfast was at 7:30, and a couple time I got up and went running with Liz and Caitlin before breakfast. this also meant that every night all of us were so tired by, say, 9) That morning I was brushing my teeth and this gecko pretty much falls onto the bathroom counter (out of nowhere), scurried across the counter and launches itself off. it makes a sort of splat sound and then runs off again. hilarious. This day we went into Hilo to the Laundromat! excitement! and then went to Clayton's to see his kin, and had dinner at this thai place, where the tai pizzas (aka quesadillas with a ton of stuff in them) are HUGE. me, jaime and luke all ordered one. and ended up cancelling the last one, because we didn't realize we could easily share. Also, we'd been lighting Channakuh candles.
December 8: We went to the Hilo Farmer's market, I learned about coconuts, wandered through the market and got some mmm fantastic shaved ice (mango, lemon-lime and vanilla). Then we went snorkeling again! me and luke chased some sea turtles into the ocean, then gave up and went back to shore. and there was another sea turtle literally 10 feet off shore. craziness. took a bunch of pictures of it. The water was a mix of fresh and salt and super cold and warm. craziness. then Luke and I had a sand fight in the water, and I'm pretty sure I lost. (I got sand right in the face--we were wearing snorkle masks) but it was super fun, and it was nice to act, like, seven. and just hang out without worring about photography. This is also Linda's birthday, and Aunty Puna did a hula dance, and we watched a documentary about Molkai (Kalaupapa Paradise) about the leper colony, and Aunty Puna was in it-her late second husband is buried there-was a patient thogh he never had the disease, and she and her sister did/do volunteer work there. Also, we gave this sweet gift to linda--a picture of all of us mooning her, with HAPPYspaceBIRTHDAYspaceLINDA written on our butts. it was pretty awesome.
December 9: We learned to "hula" from Aunty Puna. Hula has all these crazy sexual hidden meanings, which was entertaining to here about. Then, we went to Akaka falls, and did the whole loop even though half of it was roped off with danger signs and stuff. but all it was was missing railings a couple of places. That night we learned a chant from Akiko. then we saw Franco's slide show, 1 out of 3. He's been everywhere. craziness. we also cooked dinner ourselves and had s'mores.
December 10: We went to a Rambutan farm! these are like the best fruit ever, and the coolest looking thing i've ever eaten. they're bright red and kinda spiky outside, and you peal them, and it's like an egg sized pealed grape with a seed in th middle. mmmm. And then we went to this huge botanical gardens (the paths confused me like hell), stopped at a tasty smoothie place, took pictures at a catholic graveyard and tried to body surf. we were failing, and then some guy randomly gave 5 of us a super short intro to surfing. which was awesome. and now i really want to actually learn to surf! it was crazy fun! also, the drive back included singing along to American Pie...and even though we got home, we stayed in the car till the very end...Then, it was sushi night! with a real sushi chef, and fried coconut icecream, and probably the best meal on the entire trip. seriously. and there was a palm reader. she told me i am confrontational. haha. good one. but she said some other stuff that had a basis in truth, so there you go.
December 11: meditated with Akiko, Liz and Caitlin at 6am, walked down to the ocean and back. then we drove to volcano. stopped at the natural food store, got to the Military Camp we stayed at and I checked my email for the first time in ages. then we met jerkface ethnobotanist, saw the sunset over mauna loa and saw steam vents. made tacos for dinner and played salad bowl.
December 12: Walked into the lava, hiked to Byron's Ledge (sorta) through this crazy fairy-tale forest and got pretty wet. (again, it rained at some point, every day). Then we saw Brad Lewis, and saw some lava trees. then, Franco's talk part 2. another side note: we probably saw a rainbow every day. then, in volcano we saw multiple rainbows today. it was totally crazy.
December 13: We did a sunrise walk and saw the sulphur vents and went to the visitor's center. walked through a lava tube. did a sweet hike with only 5 of us, barely took any pictures (refreshing) and played the Mr. F game. (which is super fun). then met Randy Takaki. he's got these tiny little pieces that are ridiculous in price. played more salad bowl and had homemade quiche and pasta. i think this was the night we watched a river runs through it. maybe that was last night and this nigh we watched knocked up. i think that was it. whatevs.
December 14: Last full day. so many rainbows! saw some nene-hawaiian goose/state bird. were along the ocean, did a petroglyph hike, made dinner (burgers) and saw Franco's last slideshow, met his son, saw Doug's iphone picture collection, and that was that.
December 15: headed to the airport, hung out there from like 10:30 until my flight at 4:30. (finished a book, did some crosswords, started another book i'd bought for a dollar somewhere along the trip, watched friends and ratatouille and slept some. then drove home, and didn't get too much sleep. good times.
hmmm, sorry for writing a book there. i'll be surprised if anyone reads the whole thing...but that's my trip in a nutshell, probably forgetting something major, or actually interesting...
So, if you want to see pictures, sometime in the near future i'll be posting some on facebook. so check that out!