Oh the sites we've seen. Hawaii is wonderful--the beaches are gorgeous. Christina (my sister) found a guide book in the condo we're at and it seems to be giving excellent and precise insider tips. We've found beaches in the middle of no-where. We've seen a rare green beach as a result of this book. We geared up for a hike into the beach as it in a secluded location-- paths are fairly rugged and we were told there was no vehicle trespassing allowed. When we first started walking we were in good spirits. After what seemed like a good hike in (I thought, "Certainly we MUST be arriving soon!) we saw a parking lot that was actually supposed to be the starting point for the walk. Oops.
But the Thiele family isn't made of wimps. We persevered. Even after running into other people retreating from the path (We asked, "So, did you make it to the Green beach?" "Yeah right. We're turning back-- way too long of a walk in the blazing sun") we still continued on. We walked and walked for a little over 3 miles and finally we arrived at the beach. It was well worth it. We found some shade under a rock and changed into our swimming gear for a cool-down ocean dip. It was a lot of fun and I'm really glad I bought a one-piece swimming suit... the waves were fairly choppy and a couple people lost their tops. I don't want to be too descript but my straps needed to be tightened after one of those waves! Hahaha.
But I digress. After we arrived, panting, sweating, 3 applications of sunscreen, we saw jeeps at the top of the beach front. These 4x4's made it down to the beach without the strenuous walk-in. We were talking to some of these people in the water and we jokingly asked, "Have any extra seats in your vehicle?". As it turns out, they did. Mom, Amy and Rafi hitched a ride back to the car and the rest of us hunkered down and walked back in. Tiring but fun nonetheless.
We've also been doing snorkeling at another secluded beach recommended by the guide book. I've never been snorkeling before so to see a glimpse of what's happening 'unda-da-sea'. At one point I was hovering right over a sea turtle. When it started to come up to the water's edge I realized it was a much faster swimmer than I and well, honestly, it freaked me out a little bit. But if you don't bother them, they don't bother you... apparently it's against the law in Hawaii to touch sea turtles. You could get arrested-- yikes! We had an excellent time relaxing and sunbathing.
One day we went to the farmers market. As you start things are quite expensive, for instance you could purchase a papaya for $1.00. Yet as you progress through the market fruit gets cheaper and cheaper... We ended up getting 7 papayas for $1.00!! Can you believe it? I guess there are a bunch of wild papaya trees and the locals have to find uses for them beside reveling in their deliciousness. From what I understand, papayas are an excellent meat tenderizer. Who knew?
That's it for now. I'll post some more later.
1 comments:
Meat tenderizer, I didn't know that, but yet I do remember that the papaya is rich in enzymes (aids in digestion), maybe those enzymes are multi-tasking!
Great story Anna!
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