Things Are Looking Up!
By theprofessionalhobo ~ November 14th, 2007. Filed under: Hawaii.
SIDE NOTE: This post was written on November 6th. This entire side of the island has been without internet access for over a week, and they’re repairing it on “island time”. Them’s the breaks of living in paradise! Over the course of the last week, things have continued to improve, and although posts have been written throughout the week, they are only being posted to the net (and predated) today. Enjoy these and future posts, and little snipits of the trials and tribulations of getting used to living here!
Well, when the sun shines, and we get a chance to skip town for a day, things certainly improve!
After spending a full day in
After buying bicycles (we found two used mountain bikes for $300 cash, with the vendor’s promise to buy them back from us when we leave the island), and running around to purchase various odds and sods we need, we were off to find our way back home.
The bus system on the
The ride to Pahoa took almost an hour and a half, and was a unique learning experience for Kelly & I. Although the majority of Hawaiians speak the same language as us, there are still heavy accents and cultural differences that make communication difficult. We didn’t know exactly where we needed to go, and communicating with the bus driver was trying at best. We were tired, not looking forward to the long bike ride home (in the rain) from Pahoa, and getting frustrated with the whole situation. After a series of “I think he already went through Pahoa / He said he bypassed Pahoa / Why are we near the ocean? We’re in the wrong place / How the heck will we get home from here, that’s it we’re going to get lost and sleep in the jungle tonight” conversations, we finally determined that the bus driver knew where we needed to go and wasn’t about to dupe us!
All of course went well and we were on our way home, cruising the 11 mile, mostly downhill adventure. That evening although we saw some more showers, our spirits and tolerance for the different environment were vastly improved.
And today, although we didn’t get a full day of sunshine, we are not rained in, we have bikes to get around, and are enjoying the benefits of power for some of our luxuries – one of them being computer work! Mind you, the internet provider is down, so no surfing is to be had.
Our acceptance for the environment, each other, and getting acquainted with the idiosyncrasies of the property (and characters here) is much better, and we’re even getting used to composting our pee and poop! (still – ick).
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